Antique Maps and Prints of Historic Delaware.

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This short REFERENCE PAGE is designed to provide no more than a 'glimpse' of the history of Connecticut,
with a couple of examples of antiquarian maps and engravings of the State and some interesting Links.

This Page is provided as a REFERENCE RESOURCE - it is NOT an Inventory.
Genuine original antiquarian maps and authentic historical engravings, printed at the dates stated.
We do NOT deal in modern reproductions.

We supply genuine historical maps and prints by mail order - all are eminently suitable for framing and are offered On Approval, which
GUARANTEES YOUR ENTIRE SATISFACTION!

Topography: The State has an extreme length north and south of ninety-six miles; a breadth of about thirty-six miles on the south line and ten miles on the north; and an area of 2,050 square miles, or 1,312,000 acres.

There are no mountains in Delaware. The southern portion is almost level, and sandy, with large marshes abounding in cypress, cedar and other trees; but the northern half is undulating, and contains some beautiful though not striking scenery.

The coast is low and swampy, with salt marshes and shallow lagoons separated from the sea by sandy beaches. The water-shed is formed by a low table land or sand ridge running north and south near the western border, and not more than sixty to seventy-five feet in height.

Drainage is into the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, but the streams are unimportant, and, with the exception of Christiana creek, only available for small craft.

The tide runs up to Wilmington, where there is a depth of eighteen feet of water; and Rehoboth Bay at the mouth of Indian river admits vessels drawing six feet of water.

The mean annual temperature is from 51º to 53º Fahrenheit, and the rainfall about fifty inches per annum.

In the northern division the climate is salubrious and pleasant, but in the swampy parts of the south there is considerable malaria.

History: Delaware, one of the original thirteen States, and, with the exception of Rhode Island, the smallest in the Union, was named after Lord De la Warr, British governor of Virginia, who entered Delaware Bay in 1610. Hendrick Hudson had been there a year earlier, and was followed in 1616 by Hendrickson, and in 1623 by Mey, after whom the promontory incorrectly spoken of as Cape "May" was named. The first permanent settlements were made by Swedish colonists in 1638-39.

They erected a fort near where Wilmington now stands, purchased from the Indians all the lands between Cape Henlopen and Trenton Falls, and named the country New Sweden. They soon quarreled with the Dutch settlers on the Jersey shore.

In 1654 the Swedes captured the Dutch fort at New Castle (then called Fort Casimir), and the next year Governor Stuyvesant, of Manhattan Island, not only retook the fort but captured that of the Swedes (Fort Christiana), and compelled them to swear allegiance to the Dutch government or leave the country.

In 1664 Sir Robert Carr captured Manhattan Island and the Delaware settlements, and for nine years the English held the territory. For one year, 1673-74, the Dutch again had possession, but the colonies were secured to England by the Westminster treaty of 1674, and the Delaware counties were governed by a representative of the Duke of York, who had obtained a grant from his brother, King Charles II. In 1682 the duke transferred "the three lower counties on the Delaware" to William Penn, then proprietary governor of Pennsylvania, but considerable difficulty arose in consequence of a claim made by Lord Baltimore, which was finally compromised.

The lower counties sent delegates to the Pennsylvania assembly until 1703, after which they were allowed an assembly of their own, which met at New Castle, the same governor presiding over Pennsylvania and Delaware until the outbreak of the Revolution. The State declared itself free and independent in 1776, and contributed nobly to the patriot cause.

The battle of the Brandywine, on Sept. 11, 1777, was fought upon the banks of the river of that name, but just outside of Delaware. The State was the first to ratify the Federal constitution of 1787.

The first constitution was adopted in 1776; a second one was adopted in 1792, which was amended in 1831 and is still in force. Delaware was one of the slaveholding States, although the number of persons held in servitude had diminished in 1860 to less than 2,000, while the free colored population amounted to ten times that number.

It remained loyal to the Union cause during the war, and furnished to the Federal armies seven regiments of infantry, one regiment of cavalry, and one battery, or 12,284 men - a greater number of soldiers in proportion to the population than was raised by any other State.

Population: Census of 1880: Males, 74,108; Females, 72,500; Native, 137,140; Foreign, 9,468; White, 120,160; Colored, 26,448, including 1 Chinese and 5 Indians.

POSTAPRINT, supplied picture framers and antiquarian map & print dealers for many years, before I retired. These web pages contain some 1000's of examples of the cartographer's art from the 16th to the 19th century, along with engravings, lithographs and etchings by leading artists of their generation. Historical maps, views, and engravings on virtually every subject, including Vanity Fair (Spy) Cartoons. Postaprint also supplied antique prints and maps to Art Galleries, Shops and Fine Art Retailers.

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