Pennsylvania History: Difference between revisions

'''1648-1651:''' The Dutch built Fort Beaversrede (now Philadelphia) inland from the Delaware River to be the first contact for Indian fur traders coming down the Schuylkill River.<ref>Johnson, Detailed Map.</ref><ref>Philip S. Klein, and Ari Hoogenboom, "A History of Pennsylvania, 2nd ed." (University Park, Penn.: Penn State Press, 1980; digitized by Google at http://books.google.com/books?id=AB24rFZOmzcC), 11. "Stuyvesant in the spring of 1648 sent an expedition to build a fort on the Schuylkill further inland than any of the Swedish posts. This he called Fort Beversreede — 'beaver road' — for its purpose was to be the first point of contact with the Minqua traders. But before the summer had passed, Printz built a Swedish fort, 'right in front of our Fort Beversreede,' wrote an indignant Dutchman. This building stood between the water's edge and the Dutch blockhouse, its back wall standing just twelve feet from the palisade gate of Fort Beversreede. The Indians thus found Swedes at the anchoring place, and could not even see the Dutch post from the water."</ref><ref>Peter Stebbins Craig, "Chronology of Colonial Swedes on the Delaware 1638-1712" in The Swedish Colonial Society [Internet site] at http://www.colonialswedes.org/History/Chronology.html (accessed 10 November 2008). Originally published in ''Swedish Colonial News'', vol. 2, number 5 (Fall 2001). "[1648] Dutch build Fort Beversreede on east side of Schuylkill, but Swedes thwart Dutch attempts to build dwellings in area."</ref><ref>John Thomas Scharf, and Thompson Westcott, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=BHkCAAAAIAAJ History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, vol. 2]'' (Philadelphia: L.H. Everets, 1884; digitized by Google, 2006), 1024. "The Dutch Fort Beversrede was built immediately opposite Minquas, or Mingo, or Eagle's Nest Creek, to command the trade in furs (skins) brought that way by the savages."</ref> The Swedes respond by building a blockhouse between the Schuylkill and the Dutch fort in order to obscure the view of the fort from the river.<ref>Johnson, Detailed Map.</ref><ref>Klein, and Hoogenboom."But before the summer had passed, Printz built a Swedish fort, 'right in front of our Fort Beversreede,' wrote an indignant Dutchman. This building stood between the water's edge and the Dutch blockhouse, its back wall standing just twelve feet from the palisade gate of Fort Beversreede. The Indians thus found Swedes at the anchoring place, and could not even see the Dutch post from the water."</ref>  

'''1680s:''' William Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania after receiving a grant in 1681 from the king of England. His colony offered religious freedom, liberal government, and inexpensive land. Quakers established the city of Philadelphia.