Delaware Colony

Delaware Colony originated in 1664, when the English took the Delaware River settlements from the Dutch after Colonel Richard Nicolls's capture of New Amsterdam, with Robert Carr securing the surrender of New Amstel, renamed New Castle. The territory was initially claimed under New York's proprietor, the Duke of York, until William Penn leased the three lower counties on the Delaware in 1682 and administered them as part of Pennsylvania, sharing Pennsylvania's governor. In 1701 the lower counties received their own colonial assembly, remaining a semiautonomous proprietary colony under the Penn family while still sharing a governor with Pennsylvania until 1776. On June 15, 1776, the Delaware Assembly voted to break its ties with both Great Britain and Pennsylvania, and the new state joined the United States on July 4, 1776. As a proprietary dependency of the Penn family under crown authority, it is grouped here among Kingdoms and Principalities, the closest available classification for such a grant pending a dedicated colonial-provinces category.