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Delaware Colony
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{{Short description|British colony in North America (1664β1776)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use American English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox former country |conventional_long_name = Lower Counties on<br/>the Delaware |common_name = Delaware |status = Colony of [[Kingdom of England|England]] (1664β1707)<br> Colony of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] (1707β1776) |government_type = [[Dependent territory|Semiautonomous]] [[proprietary colony]] |event_start = |year_start = 1664 |event_end = [[United States Declaration of Independence|Independence]] |year_end = 1776 |date_end = |p1 = New Netherland |flag_p1 = Statenvlag.svg |s1 = State of Delaware |flag_s1 = Flag of the United States (1776-1777).svg |image_flag = Colonial-Red-Ensign.svg |image_coat = |image_map =A map of Maryland with the Delaware counties and the southern part of New Jersey (page 1 crop).tiff |image_map_caption =Delaware in 1757 |capital = [[New Castle, Delaware|New Castle]] |common_languages = [[English language|English]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]], [[Munsee language|Munsee]], [[Unami language|Unami]] |currency = [[Delaware pound]] |leader1 = ''Territory contested'' |leader2 = [[William Penn]] (first) |leader3 = [[John Penn (writer)|John Penn]] (last) |year_leader1 = 1664β1682 |year_leader2 = 1682β1718 |year_leader3 = 1775β1776 |title_leader = [[List of colonial governors of Pennsylvania|Proprietor]] |legislature = [[Delaware General Assembly|General Assembly]] |today = [[United States]] |demonym=|area_km2=|area_rank=|GDP_PPP=|GDP_PPP_year=|HDI=|HDI_year=}} The '''Delaware Colony''', officially known as the three '''Lower Counties on the Delaware''', was a semiautonomous region of the [[Proprietary colony|proprietary]] [[Province of Pennsylvania]] and a ''[[de facto]]'' [[British colonization of the Americas|British colony]] in [[North America]].<ref name=Munroe>{{cite web|url=https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/ebooks/Colonial_Delaware.pdf|title=Colonial Delaware: A History|first=John A.|last=Munroe|publisher=Delaware Heritage Press|year=2003|access-date=December 22, 2023|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220215858/https://archivesfiles.delaware.gov/ebooks/Colonial_Delaware.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Although not [[Kingdom of Great Britain|royally sanctioned]], Delaware consisted of the three counties on the west bank of the [[Delaware Bay|Delaware River Bay]]. In the early 17th century, the area was inhabited by [[Lenape]] and possibly [[Assateague tribe|Assateague]] Native American Indian tribes. The first European settlers were [[Swedes]], who established the colony of [[New Sweden]] at Fort Christina in present-day [[Wilmington, Delaware]], in 1638. The [[Netherlands|Dutch]] captured the colony in 1655 and annexed it to New Netherland to the north. [[Kingdom of England|England]] subsequently took control of it from the Dutch in 1664. In 1682, [[William Penn]], the [[Quakers|Quaker]] proprietor of the [[Province of Pennsylvania]] to the north leased the three lower counties on the [[Delaware River]] from [[James II of England|James, the Duke of York]], who went on to become King James II. The three lower counties on the [[Delaware River]] were governed as part of the Province of Pennsylvania from 1682 to 1701, when the lower counties petitioned for and were granted an independent colonial legislature; the two colonies shared the same governor until 1776. The English colonists who settled in Delaware were mainly Quakers. In the first half of the 18th century, New Castle and [[Philadelphia]] became the primary ports of entry to the new world for a quarter of a million [[Protestantism|Protestant]] immigrants from [[Ulster]], referred to as Scotch-Irish in America and Ulster Scots in [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]. Delaware had no established religion at this time. The [[American Revolutionary War]] began in April 1775, and on June 15, 1776, the Delaware Assembly voted to break all ties with Great Britain, creating the independent [[Delaware|State of Delaware]].<ref name=Munroe/> On July 4, 1776, Delaware joined 12 other British colonies to form the [[United States of America]].
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