They formed the small village of Shackamaxon. Most of the Delaware Indians were pushed from their lands in the 18th century by European colonists and by fighting between tribes. Europeans arrived in the Delaware Valley in the early 17th century, and the first settlements were built there by Dutch colonists (including Fort Nassau in 1623) and called the area New Netherland.
In 1638, Swedish settlers arrived there and, led by a rebellious Dutch settler, founded a new colony, New Sweden, in Fort Christina. They fought among themselves, in which the Dutch gained the advantage. In 1664, the English fleet took control of New Netherland, and in 1682, the English Quaker William Penn obtained the rights to this colony and founded Philadelphia.
