Peter Minuit (1580 - August 5, 1638)

Peter Minuit was born in Holland in 1580. In 1624 Dutch merchants established a settlement that became known as New Netherland. The Dutch government gave exclusive trading rights to the Dutch West India Company. Minuit was one of those who decided to settle in America and in 1626 became director-general of New Netherland. Minuit purchased Manhattan Island from Native Americans for $24 worth of trinkets, beads, and knives. Over the next few years other colonists arrived and a large settlement was established on Manhattan Island. The chief port on Manhattan was named New Amsterdam (later changed to New York). In 1636 or 1637, Minuit made arrangements with Samuel Blommaert and the Swedish government to create the first Swedish colony in the New World. Located on the lower Delaware River within territory earlier claimed by the Dutch, it was called New Sweden. Minuit and his company arrived on the Fogel Grip and Kalmar Nyckel at Swedes' Landing (now Wilmington, Delaware) in the spring of 1638. Minuit constructed Fort Christina that year then returned to Stockholm for a second load of colonists. He 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. Minuit died during this voyage during a hurricane at St. Christopher in the Caribbean.