New Sweden Rises - 1649 to 1650
New Sweden was a talking point in many of Charles’ meetings as of 1649. In response to the conjuncture of the colonies of New Netherland and New England, Carolina would attempt to create an alliance with Sweden, and thus her colony of New Sweden. The main reason behind this was to provide a counter to the influx of settlers to the north, as well as to entice more Swedish to move to the region. A meeting was made between the two nations in Stockholm, where Charles sent a diplomat to convince Queen Christina it would be in her best interests. He promised a larger amount of immigration to New Sweden, especially from Carolinian tenants. He also promised a trade agreement, which would be quite easy to accomplish, due thankfully to the large amount of tobacco crops in Carolina. Queen Christina was not entirely interested until Charles offered her the military support of Carolina. If she ever got into war with any major European nations over the state of her North American colony, Charles was required to send in his small militia to help. When news got back to Charles of the demands used to make the deal, he was furious.
“His anger seeped through the walls. I could sense how the meeting went the moment he came out of the room. It went well, apparently, but he still didn’t get exactly what he wanted from it. He lets his temper get the best of him, sometimes.” - Excerpt from the journal of Charles’ attendant.
New Sweden’s population in 1649 was around four hundred, which was nothing compared to the near two thousand person population of New Netherland. Nonetheless, the population of Carolina was nearing thirty thousand, with the city of Charleston having over five hundred tenants. Over the next twelve months, Charles would move another six hundred people north, to form Carolinian settlements in the area of New Sweden. Nya Stockholm quickly became a port of trade between New Sweden and Carolina, as well as the newly formed towns of Aikensburg and New Jamestown. Exploration and trade began to boom and expand in the region, with both Dutch and Carolinian settlers going on long expeditions to buy furs and other materials from the Iroquois. Charles’ plan was shaping up to be a successful one, which lead Christina to begin to rope more colonists to move to New Sweden, after seeing the success of his idea. However, this only made the strain between Carolina and the Netherlands even larger. The large English plurality in New Netherland was all against growth from the south, and called upon military help to solve it. The leader of the Dutch declined for the moment, but was very close to forcing his hand to go up against New Sweden.
The settlements of New Sweden as of late 1650.
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