New Sweden colony shaped early America

New Sweden (Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony in the Delaware Valley from 1638 to 1655, spanning parts of present-day New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

Swedish settlers introduced the log cabin, which became an iconic American frontier building.

The colony brought Lutheran Christianity to the New World.

New Sweden led one of the earliest civilian uprisings in the US colonies.

The colony was founded by Peter Minuit, who had previously purchased Manhattan for the Dutch.