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Chapter 4
fort. This made the Dutch governor at the
New York city location very angry.
Peter Stuyvesant, a one-legged governor,
gathered seven ships and 300 soldiers to
attack the Swedish colony.
Knowing they could not win against the
Dutch, the Swedish colony surrendered.
Surrender
means togiveupor bedefeated
in a fight. The Swedes were given a choice
of staying or going back to Sweden. If they
stayed, theywere allowed tokeep their land
and live under Dutch rule. Many Swedes
chose to stay. The Swedes are to be
remembered as the first group of European
people to settle in Pennsylvania.
The Dutch were located in New York
between the English settlements in
Massachusetts andVirginia. Both theDutch
andEnglishwereworldpowers. Thatmeant
they were fighting in many places in the
world to set up colonies. The English
claimed all the land along the Atlantic
Ocean coast of the “NewWorld.”However,
theDutch alsowere settled in this region.
With Dutch colonies at New York city
and near Philadelphia, the English king
became very nervous. He decided to send a
fleet of ships and an army to take over the
Dutch colonies. The Dutch surrendered
without firing a shot! The King made his
brother, theDukeof York, governor of these
colonies.Of course, thenameNewYorkwas
given to the defeated Dutch colonies. It is
time to wave good-bye to the Dutch. That
left the English and the French as world
powers fighting over the land in North
America. Spain was not causing a problem
at this time. The Spanish claimed land
much farther south, such as present day
Florida. However, remember that North
Americawas already “settled” by theNative
American tribes!
The Swedes andDutch left us with some
of their customs and names. The Swedes
showed settlers how to build log cabins.
They also introduced the first cows to
Pennsylvania’s land. Just think how
important the dairy industry is to our state
today. The Dutch brought sleighs and ice
skates toour colony. TheDutchhad a front
door on their homes that opened inhalves.
They also introduced the custom of St.
Nicholas, who is known as Santa Claus.
There are still Dutch names such as the
Schuylkill River. Thewords
cookie
and
waffle
came fromDutchnames.
Johan Printz, a Swedish governor,
built the first permanent settlement
on Pennsylvania soil.
