History:

The history of Delaware begins with the early explorations of the Portuguese, Spaniards, and Dutch. The name of the state can be traced to an event that occurred in 1610. While attempting to seek shelter from a storm, English Captain Samuel Argall of the Virginia Colony sailed into a body of water that he later named the De Le Warr Bay, in honor of Virginia’s governor, Lord De La Warr.

In 1631, a group of Dutch colonists established the first settlement in the region. Located at the site of present day Lewes, it was called “Zwaanendael” – valley of swans. Within a year, the colonists had been massacred, and their buildings were burned to the ground. Evidently, problems had developed between these Dutch settlers and the Native Americans in the area. The Zwaanendael Museum in Lewes commemorates this first European settlement in Delaware.

Delaware’s first permanent settlement was not established in 1638 when the Swedish founded Fort Christina (named for the Swedish Queen), at the site of present-day Wilmington. Today, a statue in Fort Christina State Park honors these early settlers of Delaware and the many cultural contributions they made to the region.

The Dutch arrived in 1651 to establish Fort Casimir, where New Castle, Delaware is today. They soon established their authority throughout the entire region, ending Swedish rule.

In 1664, the Delaware region came under possession of the English. The Duke of York presented it to William Penn in 1681. Penn, founder of the colony of Pennsylvania, was happy to gain possession of this land that provided direct access to the Delaware Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Pennsylvania continued to govern this region until the Revolutionary War.

In 1776, just two months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Delaware region officially established a government independent of Pennsylvania and became known as Delaware State. It became the first state to approve the United States Constitution in 1787.

Delaware maintained strong ties to both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War (1861-1865). Although a slave state, Delaware fought for the North, even though many of its citizens felt that Confederate states should have been allowed to separate (secede) peacefully from the Union. Because of its loyalty, Delaware was not required to free its slaves when President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Slavery in Delaware ended in 1865 when the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, abolishing slavery, was ratified.