Delaware Colony

Delaware Colony was a British colony on the western shore of Delaware Bay, established in 1664. Its settlements became the U.S. state of Delaware in 1776.

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New Netherland: A Dutch colonial province in North America that existed from 1624 until its surrender to England in 1664. England took the region from New Netherland in 1664, beginning its rule over Delaware.
Lower Counties on the Delaware: The three counties that became Delaware, historically administered for periods alongside Pennsylvania. This was the political unit from which Delaware Colony developed.
Lenape: An Indigenous people of the northeastern woodlands whose homelands included the Delaware River Valley. Lenape communities inhabited the region before European colonization and negotiated changing colonial pressures.
Delaware in the American Revolution: Delaware’s participation in the American Revolution, including its vote for independence and military service. Revolutionary resistance transformed the colony into an independent state in 1776.
New Sweden: A Swedish colony along the Delaware River, founded in 1638 and conquered by the Dutch in 1655. Its settlements formed an enduring Swedish presence before English control.
Pennsylvania Province: An English proprietary colony founded by William Penn in 1681 and established in 1682. Delaware shared a proprietor and, for a time, an assembly with Pennsylvania.
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr: An English colonial official whose title gave the Delaware River and Bay their European name. The colony’s name ultimately derives from the waterway named for him.
Delaware Declaration of Independence: A 1776 statement by Delaware’s assembly declaring the colony’s separation from Great Britain and Pennsylvania. It formalized Delaware’s break from both imperial rule and its former political connection to Pennsylvania.
Peter Minuit: A Dutch colonial administrator who served as director of New Netherland and later helped establish New Sweden. His role in founding New Sweden connects the colony’s origins to competing European claims.
Delaware Assembly: The representative legislative body of Delaware, established as a separate assembly in 1704. Separate legislation gave the lower counties greater control over local affairs.