Excerpt from 250th Anniversary of the First Swedish Settlement in America: September 14th, 1888, Minneapolis, Minn About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from 250th Anniversary of the First Swedish Settlement in America: September 14th, 1888 Trenton, embracing nearly the whole of the present State of Delaware, as well as a goodly portion of Pennsylvania, and extending westward without bound or limit. The colonists immediately built a fortress, which they loyally named Fort Christina, after their youthful queen; and they called their young state New Sweden, a name at once commemorative of the past and auspicious of the future. The Swedes found the climate pleasant, and the soil fertile. They built new settle ments along the Delaware, and they received important ao cessions from the mother country. The earth returned to them its increase in bountiful measure; their flocks and herds multiplied; they lived in peace and friendship with the red men, and in every way made a prosperous beginning in co lomial life. 'but a cloud hung over the infant state. The Dutch at New Netherlands saw with a jealous eye this young and thriving rival established on their borders, and by many methods sought to intimidate and drive away the Swedes. At last, in 1655, the Dutch suddenly appeared in Delaware bay with a force of six or seven hundred men and seven ships. Their coming took the Swedes by surprise. The tr00ps of the enemy outnumbered their own four to one. The Dutch first took Fort Trinity and then Fort Christina, and with these fortresses all New Sweden fell under the sway of Holland. Yet this conquest did the Dutch but little good. Only nine years later the English captured New Netherlands, and with it New Sweden; and the central portion of this continent passed forever under the dominion of the English speaking race. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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No ethnic group is so identified with a single state as the Swedes are with Minnesota. From before statehood, Swedish immigrants flooded into the small frontier towns of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Encouraged by agents who promised inexpensive and fertile farmland, they came by the thousands. By the turn of the twentieth century, over 126,000 Swedes lived in Minnesota--d their impact on everything in the state continues to today. In this concise history of Swedes in Minnesota, the newest addition to The People of Minnesota series, Anne Gillespie Lewis tells the rich history of this ethnic group in the state they would make their own. Swedes in Minnesota recounts the story of the great Swedish migration through numbers-- the census reports and settlement patterns. It also tells the story through the cultural institutions Swedes founded--e churches, schools, and lodges, the Swedish-language newspapers and businesses, the neighborhoods and the associations. But mostly this book tells the story through the people: the anecdotes, letters, and interviews from the immigrants themselves and from their grandchildren. For the many Minnesotans of Swedish ancestry, Lewis provides a remarkably concise portrait of an ethnic group striving to become American while struggling to maintain its ties to tradition.