Shards of the Atlantic: Sweden and 17th-Century Colonialism

Summary

This paper deals with expressions of colonialism and colonial ideology in 17th-century Sweden in the light of the New Sweden Colony in the Delaware Valley 1638–55 and contacts between Native Americans and Swedes and their exchange of material culture. Furthermore, the paper traces some of the objects in Sweden and discusses their meaning and use in the new context. An object-biographical approach underlines the complexity and relevance of material things in a colonial situation, in the colonies as well as in the mother country. The examination encompasses the journey across the Atlantic and deals with the use of material culture in New Sweden as well as the mother country. Both America and Sweden were influenced by the material culture of colonial contact, a material culture that became part of a process that changed both people and societies and being part of the foundation of the modern world.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013   •
• Colonial Scandinavia and Scandinavian Colonialism: Archaeological aspects of a forgotten past

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Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 481