New Helvetia (Nueva Helvetia in Spanish), meaning "New Switzerland", was a Mexican-era California settlement.
The Swiss pioneer John Sutter 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. 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.