Delaware

=Welcome to Delaware!=

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=**Delaware was founded in 1638.**= =**Delaware was founded by the New Sweden Company which was led by Peter Minuit.**= =Delaware was founded for 2 main reasons, trade and agriculture.= ==

**(1609)** Englishman, Henry Hudson, discovered Delaware Bay, River **1700's**
 * **(1610)** English sea captain, Samuel Argall, named bay and river after Lord De La Warr, Virginia governor
 * **(1613)** Explorer, Cornelius Jacobsen May, arrived in area, traded with Indians
 * **(1631)** Dutch colonists established Zwaanendael (present day Lewes)
 * **(1632)** Zwaanendael destroyed by Indians; all colonists killed
 * **(1638)** Dutch settlers, led by Peter Minuet, established Fort Christina, (now Wilmington)
 * **(1639)** First African slave brought to Delaware
 * **(1644)** England seized area, Delaware became part of New York colony
 * **(1651)** Peter Stuyvesant, New York Governor, established Fort Casimir
 * **(1654)** Fort Casimir captured by Swedish colonists, renamed Fort Trinity
 * **(1655)** Dutch captured all New Sweden, made part of New Netherland
 * **(1664)** Sir Robert Carr of England, drove Dutch out of Delaware, claimed land for James, Duke of York; Delaware became English colony
 * **(1673)** Dutch regained control
 * **(1674)** Dutch returned land to England
 * **(1682)** James, Duke of York, gave control of Delaware Colony to William Penn; Penn made it part of the colony of Pennsylvania, and established a representative form of government
 * **(1683)** Penn laid out city plan of Dover
 * **(1698 - 1700)** Pirates, including Captain Kidd, sailed along Delaware
 * **(1701)** Delaware region became known as Three Lower Counties, a separate legislature from Pennsylvania
 * **(1704)** First assembly of Three Lower Counties Upon Delaware met in New Castle
 * **(1731)** Willington founded by Thomas Willing
 * **(1739)** Willington renamed Wilmington
 * **(1754 - 1763)** French and Indian War took place
 * **(1763)** French and Indian War ended; Great Britain gained control of all lands held by France; England increased taxes on colonies to pay for war
 * **(1764)** Charles Mason, Jeremiah Dixon surveyed western boundary of Delaware
 * **(1765)** Stamp Act Congress held in protest of English taxation, Caesar Rodney and Thomas McKean represented Delaware
 * **(1774)** Delaware sent Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, George Read to First Continental Congress
 * **(1775)** Revolutionary War began
 * **(1776)** Delaware Assembly declared independence from England; Caesar Rodney, suffering from cancer and asthma, rode from Dover to Philadelphia to cast vote for independence; Three Lower Counties adopted constitution, became Delaware State
 * **(1777)** John McKinley became first governor of Delaware; Delaware signed Articles of Confederation; British troops marched across Delaware to Philadelphia; American troops retreated from British at Coochs Bridge; British occupied Wilmington; capital moved from New Castle to Dover
 * **(1779)** Delaware Assembly ratified Articles of Confederation
 * **(1784)** Thomas Coke, Francis Asbury established Methodist Church as separate denomination in U.S.
 * **(1787)** Delaware ratified U. S. Constitution; became nation's first state

=__10 Important Facts__=

10) The mascot for the Revolutionary War soldiers and also the state bird is a blue hen chicken.






- One major settlement in Delaware was New Sweden.
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