That is where my ancestor came from -- Timen Stiddem, ship's doctor for the Kalmar Nyckel (containing the colonizers of New Sweden, or Delaware) back in 1638. His dad, Luloff Stiddem, was the first known minister of commerce for Gothenburg. I may be the only person on the planet who cares about this; but I think it's really cool.
- You're not. In fact, there are thousands and yet thousands of people who find these things interesting.
Sweden was one of the European countries who took part in colonizing North America. This historical fact is often overlooked, even here in Scandinavia.
This accomplishment by a small nation, that also was very poor at that time, goes hand in hand with the founding of Gothenburg. The struggle of colonizing America and the establishment of a port city on the Swedish West Coast north of Copenhagen was a bold one.
Simultaneously as Sweden was successful in these two endeavors, we also managed to lay siege to most of what today is called “Germany” for 15 years, but something that is of much more importance is the fact that Sweden secured the position of Lutheranism in Northern Europe.
Swedish Vikings founded the nation of Russia, yes, but crushing the corrupted Catholic/Habsburg movement of the 17th century is probably the most important thing my forebears have done so far throughout history.