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Swedish Colonial Empire
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 The Swedish Empire in 1650.
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Sweden possessed overseas colonies from 1638 to 1663 and from 1784 to 1878.
The former Swedish colonies in Africa were:
- Swedish Gold Coast (1650-1663; lost to Denmark and the Dutch) Including the Cape Coast (1649-1663) consisting of the following settlements:
- Apollonia, presently Benin: 1655-1657.
- Fort Christiansborg/Fort Frederiksborg, which became the capital, presently Osu: 1652-1658
- Fort Batenstein, presently Butri: 1649-1656.
- Fort Witsen, presently Takoradi: 1653-1658.
- Carolusborg: April 1650 - January/February 1658, 10 December 1660- 22 April 1663
The former Swedish colonies in America:
- Guadeloupe (1813-1814; returned to France)
- Saint-Barthélemy (1784-1878; sold to France)
- New Sweden (1638-1655; lost to the Dutch)
- Tobago (1733; lost to the British)
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Americas
New Sweden
By the middle of the 17th century, the Swedish Empire had reached its greatest territorial extent. The Swedes sought to extend their influence by creating an agricultural (tobacco) and fur trading colony to bypass French, British and Dutch merchants. The charter included Swedish, Dutch and German stockholders. Once they landed they established, Fort Christina (now Wilmington, Delaware), named after Queen Christina of Sweden. Many of the settlers were Finnish; since until 1809 Finland was governed as the eastern third of the kingdom of Sweden.
The settlement was actually an invasion of New Netherland since it was Dutch territory. The founder and first governor, Peter Minuit, had been Director-General of New Netherland from 1626 to 1633. Disgruntled after being dismissed from his post, he led a Swedish expedition to a location which he knew to be strategic as well as a thorn in the side of his former employers. Minuit died on a return trip from Stockholm in a hurricane near the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts. The colony would establish Fort Nya Elfsborg north of present-day Salem, New Jersey in 1643.
In May 1654 the Dutch Fort Casimir, located in present-day New Castle, Delaware was captured by New Sweden. As a reprisal, the Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant sent an army to the Delaware River, which obtained the surrender of the Swedish forts.
Antillian possessions
As a result of Sweden's support of France's enemies during the Napoleonic Wars, the island of Guadeloupe was ceded to king Charles XIV John personally, not to his Swedish state.
However a year later the island was given to France by the Treaty of Paris. Sweden then forced a settlement with Great Britain because it had been guaranteed the island which was strategically close to its other Caribbean colony. This led to the Guadeloupe Fund which guaranteed Sweden 24 million francs. Because of how the money was used, Sweden was then given an additional 300,000 Riksdaler under the Riksdag of 1815 every year. The last installment was paid in 1983.
In addition to these the Swedes briefly attempted to settle Tobago in 1733, but were driven away by the English.
Africa: Swedish Gold Coast
Sweden temporarily controlled several settlements on the Gold Coast (present Ghana) since 22 April 1650, but lost the last when on 20 April 1663 Fort Carlsborg and the capital Fort Chistiansborg were seized by Denmark.
Cape Coast
In 1652, the Swedes took Cape Coast (in modern Ghana) which had previously been under the control of the Dutch and before that the Portuguese. Cape Coast was centered around the Carolusburg Castle which was built in 1653 and named after king Charles X Gustav of Sweden but is now known as the Cape Coast Castle.
The Swedish Atlantic slave trade
During this time the small Swedish slave trade began. However, after the fall of New Sweden to the Dutch, the slave trade ended. It would later be rejuvenated in 1784, when Sweden's monarch, Gustav III, began negotiations with France with a view to creating a new alliance between the two countries. Gustav offered Gothenburg as an entrepôt to the French, in exchange for the Caribbean colonies of Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin, in addition to subsidies. Although Sweden was successful in acquiring the islands in 1785, the colonies' combined population was less than 1000 people, and neither were particularly propitious trading ports—sugar and cotton only provided four shiploads a year, and many of the other resources were only produced in large enough quantities to provide subsistence for the inhabitants. However, the islands were in close proximity to the British and French trading posts of Leeward and Windward. A new town was also constructed,
Both islands were notable for their liberalism, particularly in regards to religious toleration. In Sweden, Lutheranism was strictly adhered to; people were obligated to attend a number of church services a year, and adherence to other religions or denominations was against the law (conversion to Catholicism, for example, often led to people being exiled). However, these two islands were inhabited by such a diverse group of people from European backgrounds, that French and English were also accepted official languages. On Saint Barthélemy, in 1787, only 21 Lutherans resided there, compared to over 500 Catholics, as well as several hundred people from different Protestant denominations. The government did not seek to suppress this: indeed, they ordered Saint Barthélemy's governor, Rosenstein, to salary a Catholic priest to come from Saint Martin twice a month.[1]
Sources and references
(incomplete)
- ^ a b Kent, Neil (2008-06-12) (in English). A Concise History of Sweden. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 134–138. ISBN 0521012279.
External Links
Wetaskiwin local heritage- Swedish settlers
See also
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