Peter Minuit

Notes:

MINUIT, Peter, pioneer and colonial governor, was born in Wesel, Rhenish Prussia, about 1580. Very little is known about his personal history. Although born in a German town he is supposed to have been of Dutch extraction. He subsequently removed to Holland and had resided there for several years, when, in 1625, he was appointed by the Dutch West India Company its director-general in New Netherlands. There had been two directors before him — Cornelius Jacobsen Mey and William Verhulst — but they held this office but one year each and had very limited authority, while now the company ordained a more formal government and conferred upon its head enlarged powers, with a more exalted title, so that Minuit is properly regarded as the first governor of New Netherlands. On Dec. 19, 1625, he sailed from Amsterdam in the "Sea Mew," and, landing on Manhattan island May 4, 1626, summoned the chiefs of the native Indians, who owned these parts, and purchased the 22,000 acres constituting the island for 60 guilders, about $24, or $100 in modern value, worth of pots, cans, cattle, ax-heads, blankets, beads, and other trinkets. On July 27th, a vessel named the "Arms of Amsterdam " arrived at Manhattan island, bringing among other passengers Isaac de Rasières, the secretary of the colonial government, and on Sept. 23rd it sailed again for Holland, carrying the official announcement of the purchase of Manhattan island and a valuable cargo of furs and timber. In the meantime Minuit built a fort, a warehouse, and a mill, which had the effect of drawing people from neighboring settlements, so that soon the population of the island increased to about 200. In 1627, as a result of a friendly correspondence between Peter Minuit and Gov. William Bradford, of Plymouth, commercial relations were established between the two colonies, and this fact still further contributed toward the growth of the new settlement. Minuit directed the affairs of New Netherlands until August, 1631, when he was recalled by the Dutch West India Company. Upon arriving in Amsterdam, in 1632, he endeavored to regain his office, but was unsuccessful, as the company held him responsible for the accumulation of lands in the hands of the patroons. He thereupon entered the Swedish service, and was placed in command of a body of Swedish and Finnish colonists in two vessels, which sailed from Gothenburg in 1637, under the auspices of the Swedish West India Company. He ascended the Delaware bay early in 1638, erected Fort Christiana on land purchased from the Indians, near the present city of Wilmington. This was the first permanent European settlement on the Delaware river. This region being claimed by the Dutch, Gov. Kieft, of New Netherlands, protested against its occupancy by Minuit's party, but the protest was disregarded, and the colony remained a Swedish possession till 1655, when it was captured by the Dutch. The colonists encountered the severest hardships, and on one occasion, in 1640, their necessities became so pressing that preparations were made for abandoning their home and removing to Manhattan, when a ship laden with provisions opportunely arrived. Peter Minuit displayed great sagacity and skill in keeping the settlers together and avoiding hostilities with the Indians and Dutch. He successfully managed the affairs of the colony until his death, which occurred in 1641.

source: White, James Terry. The National Cyclopedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thoughts of the Present Time, Volume 12. New York: James T. White & Company, 1904. 208.