Delaware Colony
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Delaware Colony was an English colony in North America.
[edit] Settlement
The area had first been settled by the Dutch, led by Captain David Pietersen de Vries in 1631 at Swanendael, now Lewes, Delaware, then by Sweden in 1638 as New Sweden, only to be retaken by the Dutch as the colony of New Netherland in 1655. English control began in 1664. Possession of the "three counties" of Delaware was disputed between the colonies of New York and Maryland. Delaware was one of the Middle Colonies. It was composed of New Castle County, Kent County, and Sussex County, the same three counties that today make up the United States' second-smallest state, Delaware. It was founded by Peter Minuit and the New sweden company by the year 1638.
[edit] Name
The area now known as "Delaware" had no official name before 1776; it was administered by the proprietors of Pennsylvania as part of their jurisdiction, even though it had a separate local assembly and courts. In contemporary documents from the early Revolutionary period, the area is generally referred to as "The Three Lower Counties on [the] Delaware [River]" (Lower Counties on Delaware) or by the names of the three counties. The term "Lower Counties" refers to the fact that New Castle, Kent, and Sussex were lower, or farther downstream, on the Delaware River than the counties constituting Pennsylvania proper.
During the American Revolution, the colony declared independence and became the U.S. state of Delaware. It was named after the Delaware River, which in turn was named for Thomas West, Lord De La Warr, the second governor of Virginia. The state was the first to ratify the United States Constitution on December 7, 1787. In 1776, Delaware wrote its first constitution.
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