Peter Minuit

Minuit was a Dutch colonial governor of New Amsterdam who is mainly remembered for his fabulous purchase of Manhattan Island from the Native Americans for a mere 60 guilders.

Probably of French or Walloon ancestry, Minuit left his hometown of Wesel in Germany in 1625 and sailed to the Dutch colony of New Netherland. Already the next year he was named by the Dutch West India Company a Director General of the colony in Manhattan. In order to legitimize territorial occupation, Minut actually convinced the Indians to sell the entire island for a bunch of trifles! On the southern tip of the island he established New Amsterdam and a fort for the Dutch settlers.

However, despite this success his service in the Dutch West India Company ended in 1631 due to the privileges he granted to the patroons which were unfavorable for the company. Therefore he began to work for Sweden and in their service he established New Sweden, the first settlement of the Swedish colonist on the Delaware River (1638).

He died during the trading expedition to the island of Saint Christopher in the West Indies in a hurricane storm.