Peter Minuit was from Tournai, present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland. He also founded a colony on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638 called New Sweden, which would become the first Swedish colony in the New World.
Minuit is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch from the Lenape Tribe. Manhattan later became the site of the Dutch city of New Amsterdam and the borough of Manhattan of modern-day New York City.
A common account states that Minuit purchased Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets.
Early Life
Peter Minuit was born in Tournai between 1580 and 1585 in a Calvinist family that moved from the city of Tournai to Wesel, Germany, to avoid religious persecution from Catholics.
He was born to his father, Johann, who died when Peter was in his 20s. Peter took over his father's business and developed a good reputation as a sound businessman. He was also known for his generosity to the poor.
He married Gertrude Raedts on August 20, 1613. His wife came from a wealthy family and had experience with different financial institutions. She proved herself to be competent in all things regarding finances and probably helped Peter establish himself as a successful broker.
A will drawn up in 1615 in the Dutch city of Utrecht mentions "Peter Minnewit" as a diamond cutter. Whether he traded in other items is unknown.
By 1624, the city was in an economic decline, and in 1625, he had left Wesel and, like others, went to Holland. At first, Gertrude went to stay with her relatives in Cleve.
New Netherland
Peter Minuit joined the Dutch West India Company in the 1620s and was sent to New Netherland with his family. His mission was to search for tradable goods other than animal pelts. He returned later that year and, in 1626, was appointed the new director of New Netherland.
He and his family sailed to North America and arrived in the colony on May 4, 1626.
After his arrival, he began to establish relations with the Native Americans. His first goal was to purchase the island of Manhattan from them in exchange for tradable goods. He conducted the transaction with Seyseys, chief of the Canarsees Indians. They accepted the valuable merchandise in exchange for the land that was mostly controlled by another tribe named the Weckquaesgeeks.
The original inhabitants of the area were unfamiliar with the European notions and definitions of ownership rights. For the Indians, water, air, and land could not be traded. Such exchanges would also be difficult in practical terms because many groups migrated between their summer and winter quarters.
It can be concluded that both parties probably went home with totally different interpretations of the sales agreement.
Minuit conducted politics in a measure of democracy in the colony during his time in New Netherland. He was the highest judge in the colony, but in both civil and criminal affairs, he was assisted by a council of five colonists.
This advisory body would advise the director and, jointly with him, would develop, administer, and adjudicate a body of laws to help govern the colony. In addition, there was a shout-fiscal, half-sheriff, half-attorney-general, and customs officer.
During Minuit's administration, several mills were built, trade grew exponentially, and the population grew to almost 300.
In 1631, the Dutch West India Company suspended Minuit from his post for reasons that are unclear, but probably for abetting the landowning patroons who were engaging in the illegal fur trade and otherwise enriching themselves against the interests and orders of the West India Company.
He arrived back in Europe in August 1632 to explain his actions but was dismissed and was succeeded as director by Wouter van Twiller. It is possible that Minuit had become the victim of the internal disputes over the rights that the board of directors had given to the patroons
New Sweden
Peter Minuit arrived back in Europe and resided in Cleves, Germany, for several years before making an arrangement with Samuel Blommaert and the Swedish government in 1636/37 to create the first Swedish colony in the New World.
The Dutch had claimed land around the Delaware River that they called New Sweden, but the land was not developed. Minuit and his company arrived on the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel at Swedes' Landing in the spring of 1638.
They constructed Fort Christina later that year, then returned to Stockholm for the second load of colonists, and made a side trip to the Caribbean on the return to pick up a shipment of tobacco for resale in Europe to make the voyage profitable.
During this voyage, Minuit drowned when the ship he was visiting (at the invitation of its Dutch captain, a friend of Minuit), The Flying Deer, was lost with all hands during a hurricane at St. Christopher (today's St. Kitts) in the Caribbean.
The losses suffered, such as goods, colonists, and Peter Minuit, caused irreversible damage to Sweden's colonization attempts. Two years later, Swedish Lt. Måns Nilsson Kling, whose rank was raised to the captain, replaced him as governor. Nine expeditions to the colony were carried out before the Dutch captured it in 1655.
Although he was Dutch, he helped establish what eventually became known as the New York Colony and Delaware Colony.