Dutch

• The first European settlement of the region was by the Dutch, who established a small village called Zwaanendael along the Lewes creek in 1631. The purpose of the settlement was primarily monetary, as the group of merchants financing the expedition sought to profit from trading with both the European colonists already in the New World and Native American tribes. The settlement did not last, however. A later Dutch expedition in 1632 discovered that the village had been destroyed and all of the settlers killed.
  
  

Swedes

• In 1638, the Swedes established the first permanent European settlement in Delaware along the banks of the Delaware River. One motivation behind the Swedish expedition, like that of the Dutch a few years earlier, was profit. Sweden hoped to make money from trading, but it also had another reason. The Swedes wanted a base in the New World to keep an eye on the Spanish colonies, as Spain was a political rival at the time.
  
  

William Penn

• In 1664, England gained control of New Amsterdam from the Dutch and Delaware became a part of the New York colony. However, in 1682 William Penn, an Englishman given control over what is now Pennsylvania by the Duke of York, asked that Delaware come under his control as well. He claimed that allowing Delaware to remain a part of New York would box-in Pennsylvania between two potentially hostile regions. The English government accepted his argument and Delaware came under Penn's authority.
  
  

Miscellaneous

• In 1776, the year after American Revolution broke out, Delaware established an independent state government and declared its independence from both Britain and Pennsylvania. The Delaware legislature unanimously ratified the Constitution in December, 1787. Approximately 12,000 Native Americans lived in the area around 1640. By 1700, due primarily to disease and migration, only about 1,000 remained. Although named the Delawares by European settlers, they were not a single tribe but a collection of separate groups.