Though smaller in scale than Britain, Spain, Portugal, and other European colonial empires, Sweden had several colonies around the world.
With several holdings in the Americas, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and Scandinavia, Sweden had aspirations of becoming a global powerhouse like its Western European contemporaries. From 1611 to 1718, the Swedish Empire was steadily accumulating power through empirical expansion and colonial exploration. At one point, the Swedish were a force to be reckoned with both in its native Baltic and Scandinavian regions and on the world stage.
Known as the Era of Great Power, Sweden was the main power of Northern Europe and a key European state. Under King Gustav Adolphus II, Sweden solidified its power for more than a century. The stability it provided to the region during this period encouraged the country to join in the age of exploration and acquire several colonial holdings in the new world.
Key colonies of Sweden’s empire
Sweden had several colonies in its empire which enabled it to expand its reach outside of the traditional Scandinavian and Baltic regions. Here are some of the most important territories in Sweden’s global empire.
New Sweden in the Americas
Located along the Delaware River and encompassing the modern-day U.S. states of Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, New Sweden was the first step of the Swedish Empire’s ambitious plans to become a major power globally. In 1638, two Swedish ships, the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel, sailed into Delaware Bay. They quickly built Fort Christina in modern-day Wilmington, Delaware, and thrived in the region for decades after purchasing about 67 miles of land along the river from the native Lenape tribe.
The governors of New Sweden had good relations with the Lenape, establishing flourishing trade in the colony and expanding their territory as time passed. However, their burgeoning colony would collapse just as quickly with the arrival of Dutch soldiers in the Delaware River. With weak defenses, the Swedes were quickly defeated, and their hope for a New World empire along with it.
African colonial empire: Sweden’s Gold Coast
In present-day Ghana and West Africa, the entrepreneur Louis De Geer established the Swedish Africa Company. They arrived in Capo Corso in present-day Ghana in 1650 and three years later the Swedish would build Fort Carolusborg after signing a treaty with the Bredewa people. The plan was to bypass the European slave market and sell slaves illegally in Spanish America, but that idea failed.
However, the Swedes left their mark by selling their holdings in the area to the Dutch, as they firmly established the slave trade on the Gold Coast of Africa and built Fort Carolusborg, which still stands today as the Cape Coast Castle.
Caribbean realm: Guadeloupe and Saint-Barthélemy
Though the Swedes ruled the Caribbean Island of Guadeloupe for only a year, its control of the island had a lasting impact and came as part of the Treaty of Stockholm, which rewarded Sweden for joining the coalition against Napoleon.
In 1814, Guadeloupe was given back to the French as part of the Treaty of Paris. However, the Swedish saw benefits as they received financial compensation from the French to the sum of 24 million francs (about US$3,750,000). The Crown Prince and Regent of Sweden at the time, Charles XIV John, used it to pay off government debts and to benefit the public. In recognition of this, the Guadeloupe Fund was established and paid the Swedish crown 300,000 Kroner (about US$26,000) up until 1983.
Sweden also colonized Saint Barthélemy, a small Caribbean island, from 1784 to 1878. The acquisition occurred through a treaty between Gustav III of Sweden and France, exchanging the island for French trading rights in Gothenburg.
Sweden sold Saint Barthélemy back to France in 1878 for 400,000 francs, which is equivalent to more than US$2 million today. The sale was driven by the financial burden of administering the colony and unsuccessful attempts to sell it to other nations, including the United States and Italy.