in the midst of that long and arduous campaign.
But a few days before he fell, the Protestant hero had spoken of the
colonial prospect as "the jewel of his kingdom."

[1638]

In 1638 Minuit, who had already figured as governor of New Netherland,
having offered his services to Sweden, was intrusted with the leadership
of the first Swedish colony to America. After a few days' stay at
Jamestown the new-comers finally reached their wished-for destination on
the west shore of the Delaware Bay and River. Proceeding up the latter,
one of their first acts was to build a fort on a little stream about two
miles from its junction with the Delaware, which they named Fort
Christina, in honor of the young queen of Sweden. Near this spot stands
the present city of Wilmington. The country from Cape Henlopen to the
falls at Trenton received the title of New Sweden.

[1650]

It was in this very year that Kieft came to supersede Van Twiller, who
had given just cause for complaint by his eagerness to enrich himself at
the expense of the West India Company. During the administration of
Kieft occurred the long and doubtful conflict with the natives detailed
in the succeeding chapter. Arbitrary and exacting, he drove the Indians
to extremities, and involved the Dutch settlements in a war which for a
time threatened their destruction. Not till 1645 was peace
re-established, and in 1647 the unpopular governor was recalled. In 1647
not more than three hundred fighting men remained in the whole province.
Its total population was between fifteen hundred and two thousand. In
1652 New Amsterdam had a population of seven or eight hundred. In 1664
Stuyvesant put the number in the province at ten thousand, about fifteen
hundred of whom were in New Amsterdam.

[Illustration: The old Stadt Huys at New Amsterdam.]

[Illustration: European Provinces 1655. Map of the eastern North
America. Latitude 25 to 50 North, Longitude 75 to 95 West.]

[1655-1663]

The next governor, Stuyvesant, was the last and much the ablest ruler
among those who directed the destinies of New Netherland. His
administration embraced a period of seventeen years, during which he
renewed the former friendly relations with the savages, made a treaty
with New England, giving up pretensions to Connecticut as well as
relinquishing the east end of Long Island, and compelled the Swedes, in
1655, to acknowledge the Dutch supremacy. It was while he was absent on
his expedition against