Colonialism in the Margins: Cultural Encounters in New Sweden and Lapland (The Atlantic World)

Colonialism in the Margins Presents a study of Swedish-Indian encounters in the New Sweden colony on the Delaware River that focuses on land, trade and culture from the founding in 1638 until the 1680s. This work compares these relations with Swedish interaction with Saami people. Full description

This book explores Swedish encounters with American Indians in the New Sweden colony on the Delaware River during the second half of the seventeenth century. To place Swedish-Indian interactions in perspective a comparison is made with Swedish-Saami colonial relations during the same time period. These were two expressions of Great Power ambitions that place Sweden firmly within the context of European colonialism, but also meant the two outstanding examples of Swedish encounters with indigenous populations. Focus is on issues of land ownership and transactions, on trade, and on cultural encounters.
The book is of particular interest to historians of colonial encounters in America and Sweden, but also in a larger context concerning European colonialism and its heritage today.

CONTENTS 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 PREFACE 10 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12 INTRODUCTION 14 CHAPTER ONE POWER ON THE PERIPHERY 30 CHAPTER TWO INTERACTION IN THE NORTH 53 CHAPTER THREE SWEDISH OVERSEAS EXPANSION 101 CHAPTER FOUR RIGHTFUL OWNERS—THE SWEDISH COLONY AND INDIAN LAND 113 CHAPTER FIVE TWO KINDS OF MIDDLEMEN 152 CHAPTER SIX STRANGELY KEPT AND PROTECTED 184 CHAPTER SEVEN ALIGNMENTS—THE INTERIM YEARS 1655–1682 234 CHAPTER EIGHT STORIES—SWEDISH COLONIAL ENCOUNTERS IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 260 BIBLIOGRAPHY 292 GENERAL INDEX 306