Everyone was clamming to get a piece of the New World, although ultimately the English were the ones to get the largest hold of it. The Swedes and Dutch also had a great interest, and one of the earliest settlements in the New World was New Sweden.
On this day March 29th, in 1638, New Sweden is established by Swedish colonists. New Sweden consisted of parts of modern-day Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Swedes, Finns, some Germans and Dutch flocked to this colony.
The Swedes held onto this colony until 1664 when the English became interested in it. With the recent successful conquest of New Amsterdam in June of 1664, the English were headed to conquer more territory, which concluded in October when they took control of New Sweden as well. This began the second Anglo-Dutch War. During the third Anglo-Dutch War the Dutch would retake control of this area; however, the English would win it back and in the Treaty of Westminster in 1674, the Dutch were made to give back the colony of New Sweden to the English.