New Helvetia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Nueva Helvecia is a city in Uruguay.
New Helvetia (Nueva Helvetia in Spanish), meaning "New Switzerland", was a Mexican-era California settlement.
The Swiss pioneer John Sutter from Rünenberg, Switzerland arrived in Mexican Alta California with other settlers in August 1839. He established the agricultural and trading colony and stockade Sutter's Fort as "Nueva Helvetia" in 1840. It is named after the country in which his father was born. The site is just a few miles east of where his son, John Sutter, Jr. would establish Sacramento, California and is on the eastern edge of Sacramento's current downtown.
Sutter's Fort is preserved as a California State Historic Park.