WHEREAS, sometime in November, 1637, an expedition of the New Sweden Company, consisting of two ships, the "Kalmar Nyckel" and the "Fogel Grip," departed from Gothenburg, Sweden, for the purpose of establishing a colony in the Delaware River Valley, and
WHEREAS, in the latter part of March, 1638, the two ships cast anchor off the so-called "Rocks" on the Christina River, about two miles upstream from the mouth of said river, and
WHEREAS, on March 29, 1638, the New Sweden Company, represented by the director of the expedition, Peter Minuit, purchased from five Indian chiefs the land on the west side of the Delaware River extending from Bombay Hook northward to the Schuylkill River, which land included what is now New Castle County in the State of Delaware, and
WHEREAS, following the sale of the land, and on the same clay, Peter Minuit, his officers, and men, landed at the "Rocks", with solemn ceremonies raised the Swedish coat-of-arms on a post, called the country NEW SWEDEN, and built a fort there, which was named Fort Christina in honor of the Queen of Sweden, and
WHEREAS, Fort Christina was the first settlement of the Colony of New Sweden and the first permanent settlement in the Delaware River Valley, and was likewise the first permanent settlement in the State of Delaware, and
WHEREAS, this first settlement and successive settlements of the Swedes marked the beginnings of government, religion, education, agriculture, commerce, and industry, in our State, and
WHEREAS, March 29, 1938, will mark the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the State of Delaware,
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, I, Richard C. McMullen, Governor of the State of Delaware, have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of this State to
(Great Seal) be hereunto affixed this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and thirty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundredand sixty-second.