Peter Minuit

Peter Minuit (1580-1638), Dutch colonial governor in America, who helped establish New Amsterdam, the settlement that became New York City. Minuit was born in Wesel, Germany, and moved to the Netherlands sometime in the early 1620s. He joined the Dutch West India Company and set out for the company's settlement in America. He reached Manhattan Island (see Manhattan) in 1626 and became the first director general of the colony. Minuit purchased the island from one of the Algonquian-speaking tribes with trinkets valued at the amount of 60 Dutch guilders, a sum later calculated as $24.

Because of differences with the company, Minuit was recalled in 1631 and returned to Europe. In 1637 he set out to form a Swedish colony in America, and in 1638 he built Fort Christina in what is now Wilmington, Delaware. The fort was named after the queen of Sweden, and the surrounding territory was called New Sweden. A few months after the establishment of Fort Christina, Minuit died at sea during a hurricane.