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Peter Minuit
Sign in to saveAlso known as Peter Minnewitt
third director-general of New Netherland, founder of the Swedish colony of New Sweden in 1638 (1580–1638)
Key facts
- Preceded by
- Willem Verhulst
- Succeeded by
- Sebastiaen Jansen Krol
- Born
- 1580, Wesel , Duchy of Cleves , Holy Roman Empire (modern North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany)
- Died
- 1638 (aged 58), St. Christopher
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Peter
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Southern Netherlands
- Place of birth
- Wesel
- Place of death
- Saint Kitts
- Employer
- Dutch West India Company
- Military rank
- admiral
- Image
- Peter Minuit (Minnewit) old portrait.jpg
Show 4 more facts
- date of death
- 1638-06-00
- Commons category
- Peter Minuit
- date of birth
- 1580-00-00
- name in native language
- Pierre Minuit
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~11 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Peter Minuit (French: Pierre Minuit, Dutch: Peter Minnewit; c. 1580 – August 5, 1638) was a Walloon merchant and politician who was the 3rd director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638.
Minuit was born in Wesel, in present-day northwestern Germany. He is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch West India Company from representatives of the Lenape, the area's indigenous people. Manhattan later became the site of the Dutch city of New Amsterdam, and the borough of Manhattan of modern-day New York City. A letter written by Dutch merchant Peter Schaghen to directors of the Dutch East India Company stated that Manhattan was purchased for "60 guilders worth of trade", an amount worth ~$1,143 U.S. dollars as of 2020.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Peter Minuit” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.