Evening star., 1938-06-12
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Three hundred years ago, in March
1888. after a perilous voyage out from
Gothenberg. Sweden, two sturdy little
wooden sailing vessels. the Fogel Grip
and the Kalmar Nyckel, made port at
what is now Wilmington, Del.
The tersely written log of that
lengthy journey, which was begun In
the latter part of 1887 not only re-
counts the extreme suffering of crew
and passengers from cold and storms,
but the sharp lookout that was at all
times kept for possible sea serpentS
and monsters.
The captain of this Swedish coloniz-
ing expedition was doughty Dutch
Peter Minuit. Already he had won
fame as the master real estate nego-
tiator of his age by securing the whole
of Manhattan Island from the Indians
for something less than $25, in the
establishment of New Amsterdam by
the Dutch on the present site of New
York City
With the one tiny cannon on each
Of the Swedish vessels booming its
salute as they reached their journey s
end, startled, wondering g-eyed Indians
emerged from their nearby tepees in
the primeval forests to greet these
strange newcomers whose like they had
never before seen.
BY virtue of charter of colonial
ton. evangelization and trade in North
America and elsewhere, previously is
sued by the late Swedish King, the
great Gustavus II Adolphus, Capt.
Minuit thereupon conducted friendly
parley with the Indians.
Subsequently, in the crowded cabin
OF the little Kalmar Nyckel, for a
consideration, land was transferred to
the Swedes by the Indians. Its extent
was from the mouth of the Delaware
up to the Schuylkill River. Almost
Immediately thereafter the Swedish
coat of arms was hoisted upon pine
tree, denuded Of its branches and used
for pole, and this vast territory was
proclaimed Swedish domain
The place where this Swedish ex-
pedition landed was given the name
of ChriStiana in honor of Christine
their Queen, daughter of the illustrious
Gustavus II Adolphus. Here was born
New Sweden, with Sweden thus be-
coming the third Old World European
country to establish thriving colony
in the New World
This coming June 81, three GEN.
nftos of ha ~ f,.,~
small Swedish sailing craft. the Fogel
Grip and the Kalmar Nyckel, Sweden
and the United States will Signalize
the era they inaugurated and its in.
fiuence upon our Nation in the making
Aboard the motor driven Kungs-
holm, pride of Sweden's goth century
sreyhounds of the sea, Crown Prince
Gustaf Adolph of Sweden and his
Princess Louise, who is also the grand
daughter of Queen Victoria, will head
the official Swedish delegation to this
country, commemorating that earlier
journey of 800 years ago.
With the honors befitting their high
Official rank. they will be met by rep
resentatives of our State Department
and the Swedish Minister and his
staff at the same port where in March
1888, those two little sailing vessels
and their crews and passengers made
safe harbor--and inaugurated a new
chapter in American" history.
Name Survives Centuries.
Fittingly. that tributary of the
Delaware River up which these pres
ent-day representatives of Sweden's
royal family will make their way tc
the place upon its shores where New
Sweden was founded, still bears Its
original Swedish name of Christiana
in honor of that Queen of Sweder
whom Swedish Greta Garbo has, ir
our day, made famous to thousands
upon the silver screen.
On The Rocks" at Wilmington, Del.
where the first Swedish colonizers ir
America actually landed, Sweden'S
crown prince and princess, will, in
the presence of the President of the
United States and various official rep
resentatives of our sovereign States
dedicate monument to commemorate
that earlier arrival Of their country
men. 1t is gift from the people
OF Sweden to those of our Nation.
Designed by the internationally
known Swedish sculptor, Carl Miles
this gift Of friendship from the Swed-
ish nation embodies the historic sig
niflcance Of that occasion whose ter
centenary Sweden and the United
States are observing this month. With
all sails set to favoring wind. it de-
picts the original Kalmar Nyckel. in
whose cabin the leader of the expedi-
ton, Capt. Peter Minuit, and certain
Indian tribal chieftains came to friend
ly agreement relative to the first Swed-
ish colonization in the New World.
Left Impression on United States.
The impress Of that colony of New
Sweden's upon the development of
America was lasting one despite the
fact that 1t was actually in existence
only II years befort it was conquered
by the Dutch from New York. Twelve
years later the Dutch were overpow-
cred in turn by the English, who
thereby made Of it, with the rest of
the Eastern seabaord, a part OF New
England.
DR.. Amandus johnson, director and
curator OF the American Swedish His
torical Museum John Morton Mu-
scum in Philadelphia, whose ceiling
mural portrays the first meeting of
the Swedes and Indians in America
assigns to the Swedish era in our
country's history series of significant
firsts.
10 the initiative of this sturdy peo-
pie ne ascribes the early development
OF important colonies in Delaware.
Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey. Swedish
Jonah Printz, he reminds you, was the
nrst Governor of Pennsylvania. Royal
instructions to this Governor from the
swedish throne have sometimes been
referred to as "the first constitution
OF the States of Pennsylvania and Del
aware, just as Printzhof, the Gov
ernor's residence on Tinicum Island is
OFTEN called Pennsylvania first State
House.
This same distinguished authority
on the history Of the Swedes in Amer.