The First State - Delaware 2

The First State – Delaware

With Delaware we begin our journey through the states and territories of the United States.  I briefly considered taking this journey in an alphabetical manner, but it occured to me that I go to pains to include some level of history in all of my flag blog posts that discuss flags of nations especially, so I decided to adopt an historical approach by flying the, and blogging about, the flags of the states and territories in order of their admission to the Union, in the case of states (ignoring readmission dates for those states which seceded during the Civil War) and date of acquisition for the territories.  Utilizing this ordering system, I will start with Delaware, the first state to ratify the United States Constitution.

 

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United States and Delaware Flag on Our Flagpole

Once all states have been covered then I will delve into the territories, or at least those that have flags associated with them, official or not.  This promises to be a lengthy undertaking as we journey through the United States which is a large country with much to discuss.

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Map of Delaware

Delaware is a small state, the second smallest, with only Rhode Island being smaller, as well as being the sixth least populous, but also the sixth most densely populated.

Located on the Atlantic coastline, Delaware is considered part of the Mid Atlantic region of the United States.  It is bordered by Pennsylvania to the north, Maryland to the west and south, and there is a water boundary with New Jersey to the east.

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Delaware on United States Map

Not surprisingly, Delaware was home to Native American peoples before the arrival of the Europeans.  These people were of the Eastern Algonquian tribes known as the Unami Lenape, or Delaware, who lived mostly along the coast, and the Nanticoke who occupied much of the southern Delmarva Peninsula.

After the defeat of the local tribes in the 1670s, many of the native peoples left Delaware and migrated to the areas west of the Alleghany Mountains by the mid-18th century.  Generally, those who did not relocate out of the state of Delaware were baptized, became Christian and were grouped together with other persons of color in official records and in the minds of their non-Native American neighbors.

According to multiple reliable sources:

“The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in present-day Delaware in the middle region by establishing a trading post at Zwaanendael, near the site of Lewes in 1631.  Within a year all the settlers were killed in a dispute with area Native American tribes.  In 1638 New Sweden, a Swedish trading post and colony, was established at Fort Christina (now in Wilmington).

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New Sweden

The colony of New Sweden lasted for 17 years. In 1651 the Dutch, reinvigorated by the leadership of Peter Stuyvesant, established a fort at present-day New Castle, and in 1655 they conquered the New Sweden colony, annexing it into the Dutch New Netherland.  Only nine years later, in 1664, the Dutch were conquered by a fleet of English ships by Sir Robert Carr under the direction of James, the Duke of York.  Fighting off a prior claim by Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, the Duke passed his somewhat dubious ownership on to William Penn in 1682. Penn strongly desired access to the sea for his Pennsylvania province and leased what then came to be known as the “Lower Counties on the Delaware” from the Duke.

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