Finns, as subjects of the Swedish Crown, were included in Sweden's seventeenth century effort to gain a New World foothold in the Delaware Valley. It is estimated that about half of the approximately one thousand colonists in "New Sweden" were either Finns who had first settled in Värmland, Sweden, or who came directly from Finland. The colonizing effort was initiated by the Dutch-Swedish New Sweden Company, and led by the German-born Peter Minuit. The Company Board included a Finnish admiral, Klaus Fleming.