Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia
area was home to the Lenape (Delaware) Indians in the village of Shackamaxon.
Europeans came to the Delaware Valley in the early 17th century, with the first
settlements founded by the Dutch, who in 1623 built Fort Nassau on the Delaware
River opposite the Schuylkill River in what is now Brooklawn, New Jersey. The
Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New
Netherland colony. In 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established
the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina (present day Wilmington, Delaware)
and quickly
