Delaware colonial history
Discover the people, places, and moments that shaped America’s earliest fight for independence, preserved and honored by the Society of Colonial Wars in Delaware.
Explore the History
It was shaped by decades of conflict, courage, and decisions made right here in Delaware. The Society of Colonial Wars preserves these stories, so they’re not forgotten.
The Delaware colony was founded in 1638 by European colonists from the Netherlands and Sweden. Its history includes occupations by the Dutch, Swedish, and British, and the colony of Pennsylvania, which included Delaware until 1703.
View Sites & Monuments
In 1892, a group of Americans set out to preserve the legacy of early colonial conflicts and the people who shaped them. Explore the origins of the Society of Colonial Wars and its enduring mission to keep these important stories alive.
Read Our StoryFollow Delaware’s journey from early settlement to revolution.
The Lenni-Lenape, a part of the Algonkians, settle along the Delaware River.
The Minquas, from the Susquehanna River Valley, began to attack the villages of the Lenni-Lenape.
English explorer Henry Hudson, sailing for the Dutch East India Company in the Half Moon, visits the Delaware Bay and explores the coastline while seeking the Northwest Passage.
The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of Delaware is instituted to perpetuate the memory of events in American Colonial history, and of the men who, in military and naval service, and in civil positions of trust and responsibility, by their acts or counsels assisted in the establishment, defense, and preservation of the American Colonies, and who were, in truth, the founders of the Nation.
