Present Day Delaware Research Paper

Before the Commonwealth was settled by Europeans, the area was home to the Delaware (also known as Lenni Lenape), Susquehannock, Iroquois, Eriez, Shawnee, and other American Indian Nations.[17] Both the Dutch and the English claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their colonial lands in America.[18][19][20] The Dutch were the first to take possession.[20]

By June 3, 1631, the Dutch had begun settling the Delmarva Peninsula by establishing the Zwaanendael Colony on the site of present-day Lewes, Delaware.[21] In 1638, Sweden established the New Sweden Colony, in the region of Fort Christina, on the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware. New Sweden claimed and, for the most part, controlled the lower Delaware River region (parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) but settled few colonists there.[22][23]

Penn

This grant was in conflict with the Dutch claim for New Netherland, which included parts of today 's Pennsylvania.[24]

On June 24, 1664, The Duke of York sold the portion of his large grant that included present-day New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret for a proprietary colony. The land was not yet in British possession, but the sale boxed in the portion of New Netherland on the West side of the Delaware River. The British conquest of New Netherland began on August 29, 1664, when New Amsterdam was coerced to surrender while facing cannons on British ships in New York Harbor.[25][26] This conquest continued, and was completed in October 1664, when the British captured Fort Casimir in what today is New Castle, Delaware.

John Dickinson
The Peace of Breda between England, France and the Netherlands confirmed the English conquest on July 21, 1667,[27][28] although there were temporary