The Dutch West India Company had established one or two Delaware River settlements, but by the late 1620s, it had moved most of its inhabitants to the island of Manhattan.

Fort Nya Elfsborg was located between present day Salem and Alloway Creek.

The New Sweden colony established two primary settlements in New Jersey: Sveaborg, now Swedesboro, and Nya Stockholm, now Bridgeport.

Beginning in the late 1670s, Quakers settled in great numbers in this area, first in present-day Salem County and then in Burlington.

But demarcation of the boundaries awaited settlement, the quit-rents the settlers would pay, and the land surveying which the money would purchase.