Johan Rising
Encyclopedia
Johan Classon Risingh was the last governor of the Swedish
colony
of New Sweden
.
, Östergötland
, Sweden
. After gymnasium at Linköping
, he attended the University of Upsala and University of Leyden. From 1651 to 1653, he held the office of secretary of the Commercial College of Sweden. He wrote the first treatise on trade and economics ever compiled in Sweden in the autumn of 1653. Receiving knighthood, he set out from Sweden early in 1654, to take up his duties in New Sweden.
His first act was to cause the seizure of the Dutch Fort Casimir
, which the Director-General of New Netherland
, Peter Stuyvesant
, had erected just below Fort Christina
(near New Castle, Delaware
) in 1651. Stuyvesant subsequently responded by leading an expedition to New Sweden and brought the colony under control of his government. After the surrender, Risingh and the other officials, soldiers, and such colonists as were unwilling to become Dutch subjects, were taken back to Europe. Risingh died in poverty at Stockholm in 1672.
Risingh's reports for the period 1654 to 1655, constituting a valuable history of New Sweden under his administration. A contemporary manuscript copy of this report in Swedish is in the National Library of Sweden. This report was printed in 1878, in the appendix of Carl K. S. Sprinchorn's Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia (in English: History of the Colony of New Sweden). A translation of Sprinchorn's text was made by Amandus Johnson
.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
of New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
.
Biography
Johan Classon Risingh was born in 1617 in RisingeFinspång Municipality
Finspång Municipality is a municipality in Östergötland County in Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Finspång, with some 13,000 inhabitants.-Nature:...
, Östergötland
Östergötland
Östergötland, English exonym: East Gothland, is one of the traditional provinces of Sweden in the south of Sweden. It borders Småland, Västergötland, Närke, Södermanland, and the Baltic Sea. In older English literature, one might also encounter the Latinized version, Ostrogothia...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. After gymnasium at Linköping
Linköping
Linköping is a city in southern middle Sweden, with 104 232 inhabitants in 2010. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality with 146 736 inhabitants and the capital of Östergötland County...
, he attended the University of Upsala and University of Leyden. From 1651 to 1653, he held the office of secretary of the Commercial College of Sweden. He wrote the first treatise on trade and economics ever compiled in Sweden in the autumn of 1653. Receiving knighthood, he set out from Sweden early in 1654, to take up his duties in New Sweden.
His first act was to cause the seizure of the Dutch Fort Casimir
Fort Casimir
Fort Casimir was a Dutch settlement in 17th century colonial province of New Netherland. It was located on a no-longer existing barrier island at the end of Chestnut Street in what is now New Castle, Delaware...
, which the Director-General of New Netherland
Director-General of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland in North America...
, Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant , served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York...
, had erected just below Fort Christina
Fort Christina
Fort Christina was the first Swedish settlement in North America and the principal settlement of the New Sweden colony...
(near New Castle, Delaware
New Castle, Delaware
New Castle is a city in New Castle County, Delaware, six miles south of Wilmington, situated on the Delaware River. In 1900, 3,380 people lived here; in 1910, 3,351...
) in 1651. Stuyvesant subsequently responded by leading an expedition to New Sweden and brought the colony under control of his government. After the surrender, Risingh and the other officials, soldiers, and such colonists as were unwilling to become Dutch subjects, were taken back to Europe. Risingh died in poverty at Stockholm in 1672.
Risingh's reports for the period 1654 to 1655, constituting a valuable history of New Sweden under his administration. A contemporary manuscript copy of this report in Swedish is in the National Library of Sweden. This report was printed in 1878, in the appendix of Carl K. S. Sprinchorn's Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia (in English: History of the Colony of New Sweden). A translation of Sprinchorn's text was made by Amandus Johnson
Amandus Johnson
Amandus Johnson was an American historian, author and founding curator of the American Swedish Historical Museum...
.
Other sources
- Johnson, AmandusAmandus JohnsonAmandus Johnson was an American historian, author and founding curator of the American Swedish Historical Museum...
. Johan Classon Rising: The Last Governor of New Sweden (Philadelphia: The Swedish Colonial Society, 1915) - Johnson, AmandusAmandus JohnsonAmandus Johnson was an American historian, author and founding curator of the American Swedish Historical Museum...
. The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware 1638-1664, Volume II (Philadelphia: The Swedish Colonial Society, 1927) - Ward, Christopher. Dutch and Swedes on the Delaware, 1609 - 1664 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930)
- Griffis, William ElliotWilliam Elliot GriffisWilliam Elliot Griffis was an American orientalist, Congregational minister, lecturer, and prolific author....
. The Story of New Netherland. The Dutch In America (Boston And New York. Houghton Mifflin Company. The Riverside Press Cambridge. 1909)