America’s Little Known Swedish Colony
When people think of early colonies in North America, most commonly images of Thanksgiving, the Mayflower, and Jamestown come to mind. However, England was not alone in colonizing areas now known as the thirteen original colonies. [1]The New Sweden CompanyJamestown, Colony of Virginia, was founded on 13 May 1607. As the colonists endured that first hard winter and eventually began to prosper in their new home, economic opportunities quickly presented themselves. John Rolfe brought tobacco seeds to Jamestown in the 1610s; tobacco quickly became the foundation for Colonial Virginia’s economy and a staple crop of the English Atlantic Trade. [2] Along with tobacco, other goods such as furs, sugar, and timber became staples of England’s triangular trade system. [3] Other powerful European countries were not ignorant of England’s success in the Americas and sought to also establish colonies and systems of trade of their own. Stockholders from Germany, Holland, and Sweden – …
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