New Amsterdam in the early 1640s was a mess. Trash was strewn about the muddy streets, drunken sailors and farm animals ambled about, and New Netherland’s small population was huddled up in Manhattan after a bruising war against local Native American tribes. Enter Peter Stuyvesant. On May 27, 1647, he took over as Director General…
New Yorkers, today is your day. Make something happen. For centuries, May 11 has been a bat-call for big moments in New York City history. In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant a/k/a Peg Leg Pete, arrived in New Amsterdam to take charge as the new governor of the wayward Dutch West India Company town. Garbage ran through…
By the early 1640s, New Amsterdam had found its identity as a cosmopolitan trade capital, but it was almost wiped out after launching a foolhardy war against neighboring Algonquin tribes. On February 25, 1643, Governor-Director Willem Kieft led a raiding party against helpless Lenape Algonquins seeking refuge from rival Iroquois invaders. The mass killing was called the “Pavonia massacre,” and…
New Yorkers have been agitators and disrupters from the start, even back when New Amsterdam was just a small settlement on the tip of Manhattan. On this date in 1653, New Amsterdam was officially declared a municipality by the Dutch government. During the 1620s, New Amsterdam was set up as a trading outpost run by…
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