Peter Stuyvesant
Stuyvesant, Peter (1592?–1672), the last director-general of New Netherland, the Dutch colony that became New York. Stuyvesant was an able, energetic administrator. However, he was also a stern ruler with an autocratic nature and a quick temper that antagonized the colonists.
Stuyvesant was the son of a Dutch Reformed minister. After serving in the Dutch army, he joined the Dutch West India Company in 1635. In 1644 he was appointed governor of the Dutch island of Curacao. During an expedition that year against the island of St. Martin, Stuyvesant lost his right leg. In 1646 he was commissioned director-general of New Netherland and surrounding regions. After his arrival in 1647 Stuyvesant made peace with the Indians; increased commerce; and promoted intercolonial relations with the English, settling a boundary dispute with Connecticut in 1650. In 1655 he conquered New Sweden (now Delaware).
Stuyvesant's dictatorial rule of New Netherland, however, had aroused much resentment. He was intolerant of religious dissent and was fiercely opposed to self-government. In 1664, when an English fleet demanded the surrender of the colony, he refused, but was forced to capitulate because the colonists would not support him. Stuyvesant went to Holland in 1665 to defend his conduct, and then returned to New York. He lived the rest of his life on his estate, or bowery (from bouwerij , a Dutch word for “farm”), which gave its name to the Bowery, a street and district in New York City.