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PETER STUYVESANT (1592-1672)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 1055 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PETER See also:STUYVESANT (1592-1672)  , Dutch colonial See also:governor, was See also:born in Scherpenzeel, in See also:southern See also:Friesland, in 1592, the son of a See also:minister . He studied at See also:Franeker, entered the military service in the See also:West Indies about 1625, and was director of the West See also:India See also:Company's See also:colony of See also:Curacao from 1634 to 1644 . In See also:April 1644 he attacked the Portuguese See also:island of See also:Saint See also:Martin and was wounded; he had to return to See also:Holland, and there one of his legs was amputated . Thereafter he wore a wooden See also:leg ornamented with See also:silver bands . In May 1645 he was selected by the West India Company to supersede See also:William Kieft as director of New Netherland . He arrived in New See also:Amsterdam (later New See also:York) on the 11th of May 1647, and was received with See also:great See also:enthusiasm . In response to the demand for self-See also:government, in See also:September 1647 he and the See also:council appointed—after the manner then followed in Holland—from eighteen representatives chosen by the See also:people a See also:board of nine to confer with him and the council whenever he thought it expedient to ask their See also:advice; three of the nine, selected in rotation, were permitted to sit with the council during the trial of See also:civil cases; and six were to retire each See also:year, their successors to be chosen by the director and council from twelve candidates nominated by the board . The leading burghers were, however, soon alienated by his violent and despotic methods, by his See also:defence of Kieft, and by his devotion to the interests of the company; the nine men became (as See also:early as 1649, when they sent the famous Vertoogh, or Remonstrance, to the states-See also:general asking for burgher government and other reforms) the centre of municipal discontent; and a See also:bitter See also:quarrel ensued . In .165o the states-general suggested a representative government to go into effect in 1653, but the company opposed it; in 1653, however, there was established the first municipal government for the See also:city of New Amsterdam modelled after that of the cities of Holland . See also:Stuyvesant also aroused opposition through his efforts.to increase the revenues of the company, to improve the See also:system of defence, and to prevent the See also:sale of liquor and. firearms to the See also:Indians, and through his persecution of See also:Lutherans and See also:Quakers, to which the company finally put an end . He had a bitter controversy with the patroon of Rensselaerwyck, who claimed to be See also:independent of the West India Company . In 1647 he seized a Dutch See also:ship illegally trading at New Haven and claimed See also:jurisdiction as far as Cape See also:Cod; the New Haven authorities refusedto deliver to him fugitives from See also:justice in Manhattan, he retaliated by offering See also:refuge to runaways from New Haven; but finally he offered See also:pardon to the Dutch fugitives and revoked his See also:proclamation .

In September 165o he came to an agreement with the commissioners of the See also:

United Colonies of New See also:England at See also:Hartford upon the boundary between New Netherland and See also:Connecticut, involving the See also:sacrifice of a large amount of territory, the new boundary See also:crossing See also:Long Island from the west See also:side of See also:Oyster See also:Bay to the See also:Atlantic Ocean, and on the mainland See also:north from a point west of See also:Greenwich Bay, 4 M. from See also:Stamford . On Long Island, during Stuyvesant's See also:rule, Dutch See also:influence was ' gradually undermined by See also:John Underhill . Stuyvesant's dealings with the Swedes were more successful . With a force of seven See also:hundred men he sailed into the See also:Delaware in 1655, captured Fort Casimir (See also:Newcastle)—which Stuyvesant had built in 1651 and which the Swedes had taken in 1654—and overthrew the See also:Swedish authority in that region . He also vigorously suppressed See also:Indian uprisings in 1655, 1658 and 1663 . In See also:March 1664 See also:Charles II. granted to his See also:brother, the See also:duke of York, the territory between the Connecticut See also:river and Delaware Bay, and See also:Colonel See also:Richard See also:Nicolls with a See also:fleet of four See also:ships and about three or four hundred men was sent out to take See also:possession . Misled by instructions from Holland that the expedition was directed wholly against New England, Stuyvesant made no preparation for defence until just before the fleet arrived . As the burghers refused to support him, Stuyvesant was compelled to surrender the See also:town and fort on the 8th of September . He returned to Holland in 1665 and was made a scapegoat by the West India Company for all its failings in New Amsterdam; he went back to New York again after the treaty of See also:Breda in 1667, having secured the right of See also:free See also:trade between Holland and New York . He spent the See also:remainder of his See also:life on his See also:farm called the Bouwerie, from which the See also:present " Bowery " in New York City takes its name . He died in See also:February 1672, and was buried in a See also:chapel, on the site of which in 1799 was erected St See also:Mark's See also:Church . See See also:Bayard Tuckerman, See also:Peter Stuyvesant (New York 1893), in the " Makers of See also:America See also:Series; and Mrs See also:Schuyler See also:Van See also:Rensselaer, See also:History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth See also:Century (2 vols., New York, 1909) .

End of Article: PETER STUYVESANT (1592-1672)
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