Historedia
AmericasEvent

Founding of New Bern by Palatine settlers

When
1710
Where
New Bern, North Carolina
Episodes
1

In 1710, Christoph von Graffenried led Swiss and Palatine settlers to the Neuse and Trent rivers in Carolina. They established New Bern, naming the settlement after Bern, the Swiss region from which many colonists and their patron emigrated.

Episodes

  1. October 1710 · New Bern, North CarolinaFounding of New Bern

    Swiss and Palatine settlers under von Graffenried established New Bern in October 1710.

Background and detail

Background. Christoph von Graffenried, a Swiss nobleman, sought to establish a colony for religious refugees. In 1709, the Lords Proprietors of Carolina granted the venture 19,000 acres along the Neuse and Trent rivers. Queen Anne also funded the transportation of 100 German Palatine families fleeing the War of the Spanish Succession.

People involved

Sources

  1. New Bern, North Carolina Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
  2. Christoph von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-14

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.