New Sweden was the only Swedish colony in America. It extended along the Delaware River from the mouth of Delaware Bay to about what is now Trenton, New Jersey. Swedish settlers founded the colony in 1638 and built Fort Christina at what is now Wilmington, Delaware. New Sweden was a mildly successful fur-trading colony. About 350 farmers and fur traders lived there. The Dutch protested the existence of New Sweden because the land lay within the Dutch territory of New Netherland. In 1655, Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Netherland, led a military expedition against New Sweden and forced its surrender.
