Fort Christina

Fort Christina is a historic colonial fortification built in 1638 on the Christina River in what is now Wilmington, Delaware, representing the founding point of the New Sweden colony and the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley. The landmark marks the approximate location where a group of Swedish and Finnish colonists from the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip landed on a natural wharf of rocks in 1638, and the fort was named after the then-12-year-old queen of Sweden. Fort Christina was the first permanent European settlement in the Delaware Valley and the first in what would become Delaware — the future First State of the United States of America. Today, the site is administered as the Fort Christina National Historic Landmark, located at 1110 East 7th Street in Wilmington, and forms part of the First State National Historical Park.

Background and Founding

Following plans by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden to establish a Swedish colony in North America, the Swedes arrived in Delaware Bay on March 29, 1638, aboard the ships Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip under the command of Peter Minuit, the former director of the New Netherland colony. Minuit brought with him an unusual combination of experience and ambition: as leader of the Dutch province of New Netherland, he had previously bought the island of Manhattan from the local Indians in 1626, and after being dismissed by the directors of the West India Company from his post as director-general, he was lured by the Swedes for their New World venture.

The colonists landed at a spot along the Christina River at a stone outcropping which formed a natural wharf, known as "The Rocks." Minuit chose the locale for his base carefully — it was at the point where the smaller river, which the Swedes named the Christina River, flowed into the South River, and thus the natural spot to which Indians bearing furs from the interior would arrive in their canoes.

Minuit landed on the west bank of the river and met with the sachems of the Lenape and Susquehannock. They held a conclave in Minuit's cabin on the Kalmar Nyckel, and he persuaded the Lenape to sign deeds which he had prepared to resolve any issue with the Dutch. After the Swedes purchased land from the Lenape Indians, they built Fort Christina and established the colony of New Sweden, a thriving community based on fur-trading and farming.

At the time, the Dutch had claimed the area south to the Delaware (then called "South River"). The Swedes claimed an area for the Realm of Sweden on the south side of the Delaware that encompassed much of the present-day U.S. state of Delaware, eventually including parts of present-day southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey on the north side of the river. Since the Dutch had claimed this land going back to Henry Hudson's voyage in 1609, the new claim meant in effect that New Sweden would be a province within a province.

Life at Fort Christina and the New Sweden Colony

The fort's earthworks were strengthened in 1640 by Governor Peter Hollander Ridder to help defend against the possibility of Dutch or Native American attacks. As additional colonists arrived from Sweden in the years following the landing, homes and farms began to be built outside of the confines of the fort. The fort was rebuilt entirely in 1647.

In the following years, the area was settled by roughly 600 Swedes and Finns, a number of Dutchmen, a few Germans, a Dane, and at least one Estonian. The Finnish presence in the colony left a lasting mark on North American culture. Desperate for settlers to clear the land of their new territory, the Swedes rounded up Finnish woodsmen and shipped them to their New World colony. These Finns employed an age-old "burn-beating" practice, in which they cut down an area of forest, burned the wood, and then farmed the enriched soil. When Swedish and Finnish settlers arrived on the Kalmar Nyckel, they built the first log cabins in North America.

The settlement's location was not only advantageous for the fur trade, it was also strategic militarily. During the War of the Austrian Succession of the mid-1700s, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, the surrounding area became the location of several defensive outposts providing security against naval and land invasions.

Dutch Conquest and English Rule

The colony of New Sweden remained in constant friction with the Dutch. In 1651, the Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant established Fort Casimir at present-day New Castle, only 7 miles south of Fort Christina, in order to menace the Swedish settlement.

In May 1654, soldiers from New Sweden led by Governor Johan Risingh captured Fort Casimir and renamed it Fort Trinity. In November 1654, the directors of the Dutch West India Company ordered Stuyvesant to "drive" the Swedes from the river. In the summer of 1655, Stuyvesant sailed from New Amsterdam to Delaware Bay with 7 ships and 317 soldiers and quickly retook Fort Casimir. Stuyvesant then proceeded to besiege Fort Christina, which surrendered on September 15, 1655. During the siege, the Dutch plundered houses and killed livestock in the vicinity of the fort. New Sweden was formally incorporated into New Netherland, although the Swedish and Finnish settlers were allowed local autonomy.

When Delaware fell to the English in 1664, it was the Swedish settlement that remained the heart of the village spreading along the banks of the Christina, becoming, in the next century, Wilmington. The fort itself eventually fell into disuse and disrepair, and during the nineteenth century, the peninsula where the fort once stood became heavily industrialized, and included factories for the Jackson and Sharp Company and Mingus Iron Works.

The Swedish Tercentenary and Park Dedication

In 1938, the State of Delaware created Fort Christina Park, which contained The Rocks of the first landing and a new Swedish Tercentenary Monument to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish colonization of the area. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the park and the monument in a ceremony on June 27, 1938. A crowd of 20,000 attended the opening, despite heavy rains, and distinguished guests included U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Swedish Crown Princess Louise, Swedish Royal Prince Gustaf Bertil, as well as a large delegation from Finland.

The monument was a gift of the people of Sweden to the people of the United States and depicts the Swedish colonial vessel, Kalmar Nyckel, surmounting a column of Swedish black granite. It was crafted in 1938 by renowned Swedish-American sculptor Carl Milles, containing several bas-reliefs that provide insight into the unique history surrounding the fort.

In May 2013, for the 375th anniversary of the Swedish landing, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, along with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, reenacted the landing of the Kalmar Nyckel at Fort Christina Park on a replica of the original ship.

Historic Landmark Status and Modern Significance

Fort Christina State Park, originally administered by the State Highway Department, was transferred to the Public Archives Commission in 1961 before being transferred to the Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, which administers it today as the Fort Christina National Historic Landmark. Fort Christina was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.

In December 2014, the historic site became one of the components of the First State National Historical Park. Fort Christina Park is one of six sites that make up Delaware's First State National Historical Park.

The Rocks at Fort Christina are also an official site on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, used as a landing place for freedom seekers on the maritime Underground Railroad. In addition, there is a marker within the park commemorating Anthony, the first free Black settler in the colony.

Old Swedes Church, located one block from the landmark, was completed in 1699 by the descendants of the original Fort Christina settlers. The building is one of the oldest structures in the United States still in use as a house of worship.

Efforts to develop the area into a first-class historical and cultural destination on Wilmington's East Seventh Street peninsula include integrating the historic and cultural attractions of the Kalmar Nyckel shipyard, Fort Christina National Historic Landmark, Old Swedes Church and the Hendrickson House, along with the Christina River water taxi and other Riverfront attractions.

Site hours and activities are supported by a partnership between the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs, the National Park Service, and the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation.