Editing Peter Minuit

{{Short description|3rd Director of New Netherland (1626–31)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| name                = Peter Minuit
| image               = Peter Minuit (Minnewit) old portrait.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Peter Minuit portrait (c. 1904), based on an older painting
| order               = 3rd
| office              = Director of New Netherland
| term_start          = 1626
| term_end            = 1631
| predecessor         = [[Willem Verhulst]]
| successor           = [[Sebastiaen Jansen Krol]]
| birth_date          = 1580
| birth_place         = [[Wesel]], [[Duchy of Cleves]], [[Holy Roman Empire]] (modern [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], Germany)
| death_date          = 1638 (aged 58)
| death_place         = [[Saint Kitts|St. Christopher]]
| signature           = Signature of Peter Minuit.png
}}

'''Peter Minuit''' ([[French language|French]]: ''Pierre Minuit'', [[Dutch language|Dutch]]: ''Peter Minnewit'';{{efn|Also '''Pieter Minuit''', '''Pierre Minuit''', or '''Peter Minnewit'''}}<ref name="hg"/> {{Circa}} 1580 – August 5, 1638) was a [[Walloons|Walloon]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter Minuit {{!}} Museum of the City of New York |url=https://www.mcny.org/peter-minuit |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=www.mcny.org |language=en}}</ref><ref name=Minuit>{{ cite web| title=Germans in America - Chronology| url=https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga1-chronology.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230129115800/https://usa.usembassy.de/etexts/ga1-chronology.htm | website=usa.usembassy.de| archive-date=2023-01-29}}</ref> merchant and politician who was the 3rd [[Director of New Netherland|Director]] of the Dutch North American colony of [[New Netherland]] from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the [[Sweden|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]], [[Native Americans in the United States|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 [[Guilder|guilders]] worth of trade",<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://newamsterdamhistorycenter.org/education/schaghen.html|title=New Amsterdam History Center|website=newamsterdamhistorycenter.org|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref> an amount worth ~$1,143 U.S. dollars as of 2020.<ref>{{cite web |title=Value of the guilder / euro |url=http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php |website=www.iisg.nl|date=April 20, 2023 }}</ref>

==Biography==
===Early life===
Peter Minuit was born in [[Wesel]], Germany between 1580 and 1585<ref name="GoodJames">{{cite journal | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23323599 | jstor=23323599 | title=A Calvinistic Founder of America: Peter Minuit | last1=Good | first1=James I. | journal=Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930) | date=1923 | volume=11 | issue=7 | pages=260–267 }}</ref><ref name=wesel>{{ cite web| title=Peter Minuit| url=https://www.wesel.de/en/city-portrait/peter-minuit/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201081411/http://www.wesel.de/en/city-portrait/peter-minuit/ | website=Wesel.de| archive-date=2017-12-01}}</ref> into a [[Calvinist]] family<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23323599 | jstor=23323599 | title=A Calvinistic Founder of America: Peter Minuit | last1=Good | first1=James I. | journal=Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society (1901-1930) | date=1923 | volume=11 | issue=7 | pages=260–267 }}</ref> that had moved from the city of [[Tournai]] (presently part of [[Wallonia]], Belgium) in the [[Southern Netherlands]] controlled by Spain, in order to avoid Spanish Catholic authorities, who were not favorably disposed toward [[Protestants]].<ref name=nni/> His surname means "midnight" in French.<ref name=footprints>{{cite book|last1=Nevius|first1=James|last2=Nevius|first2=Michelle|title=Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers|location=Guilford, Conn.|publisher=Lyons Press|date=2014|isbn=9780762796366|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nhBBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13}}</ref>

His father, Johann Minuit, died in 1609 and Peter took over management of the household and his father's business. Peter had a good reputation in Wesel, attested by the fact that he was several times appointed a guardian. He also assisted the poor during the Spanish occupation of 1614–1619.<ref name=wesel/>

Minuit married Gertrude Raedts from [[Kleve|Cleve]] on August 20, 1613. Gertrude was from a wealthy family and she probably helped Peter Minuit establish himself as a broker. A will drawn up in 1615 in the Dutch city of [[Utrecht]], mentions "Peter Minnewit" as a diamond cutter.<ref name=nni/> Whether he traded in other items is unknown. He spelled his own surname as ''Minuit'', but the spelling ''Minnewit'' shows the pronunciation.<ref name="hg">{{cite book |author=Historisch Genootschap |title=Bijdragen en mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap (gevestigt te Utrecht)., Deel 29|location=Amsterdam |publisher=Amsterdam, Johannes Muller|year=1877 |isbn= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_wPAAAAYAAJ |access-date=February 2, 2024 |pages=41 }} [https://archive.org/details/bijdragenenmede04unkngoog/page/n75/mode/2up?q=Minnewit Alt URL]</ref> Thus in some old books ''Minnewit'' is used. 

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.<ref name=wesel/>

===As director of New Netherland===
{{refimprove section|date=May 2017}}
[[File:Verkoopakte Manhattan.jpg|thumb|1626 letter in Dutch by Pieter Schaghen stating the purchase of Manhattan for 60 guilders]]
[[File:The Purchase of Manhattan Island.png|thumb|1909 drawing of ''The Purchase of Manhattan Island'' with Minuit presiding]]

Minuit joined the [[Dutch West India Company]], probably in the mid-1620s, and was sent with his family to New Netherland in 1625 to search for tradable goods other than the animal pelts that then were the major product coming from New Netherland. He returned in the same year, and in 1626 was appointed the new director of New Netherland, taking over from [[Willem Verhulst]]. He sailed to North America and arrived in the colony on May 4, 1626.<ref name=wesel/> 

Minuit is credited with purchasing the island of [[Manhattan]] from Native Americans in exchange for traded goods valued at 60 [[Dutch gulden|guilders]].  The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of the Dutch States-General and member of the board of the Dutch West India Company, Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the States-General in November 1626.<ref>[http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/more-historical-fun/dutch-treats/peter-schagen-letter/ Peter Schaghen Letter with transcription. New Netherland Institute (1626-11-07). Retrieved on February 16, 2015.]</ref> In 1844, New York historian [[John Romeyn Brodhead]] converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) to [[United States dollar|US$]]24.<ref name="NeviusNevius2009">{{cite book|last1=Nevius|first1=Michelle|last2=Nevius|first2=James|title=Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O8K5OCC4CMwC&pg=PA9|date=2009|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-4165-8997-6|page=9}}</ref>  By 2006 sixty guilders in 1626 was worth approximately $1,000 in current dollars, according to the Institute for Social History of Amsterdam.<ref>The International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam [http://www.iisg.nl/hpw/calculate.php calculates] its value as 60 guilders (1626) = [[Euro|€]]678.91 (2006), equal to about $1,000 in 2006.</ref>

According to researchers at the National Library of the Netherlands,{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}} "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."

A contemporary purchase of rights in nearby [[Staten Island, New York|Staten Island]], to which Minuit also was party, involved duffel cloth, iron [[kettle]]s, [[axe]] heads, [[hoe (tool)|hoe]]s, [[wampum]], drilling [[bradawl|awls]], "[[Jew's harp]]s", and "diverse other wares". "If similar trade goods were involved in the Manhattan arrangement", Burrows and Wallace surmise, "then the Dutch were engaged in high-end [[technology transfer]], handing over equipment of enormous usefulness in tasks ranging from clearing land to drilling [[wampum]]."<ref name=":0">[[Edwin G. Burrows]] and [[Mike Wallace (historian)|Mike Wallace]], ''[[Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898]]'', (1999: xivff)</ref>

Minuit conducted politics in a measure of democracy in the colony during his time in New Netherland. He was 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 schout-fiscal, half-sheriff, half-attorney-general, and the customs officer.<ref name=nni>[http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/peter-minuit/ "Peter Minuit", New Netherlands Institute]</ref> During Minuit's administration, several mills were built, trade grew exponentially, and the population grew to almost 300.{{Citation needed|date=October 2015}}

In 1632, the Dutch West India Company (WIC) suspended Minuit from his post for reasons that are unclear, but probably for (perhaps unintentionally) abetting the landowning [[patroons]] who were engaging in illegal fur trade and otherwise enriching themselves against the interests and orders of the West India Company.<ref>[http://www.biography.com/people/peter-minuit-9409851 Peter Minuit Biography – Facts, Birthday, Life Story]. Biography.com (October 27, 1940). Retrieved on July 23, 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.historyofholland.com/peter-minuit.html Peter Minuit]. Historyofholland.com. Retrieved on July 23, 2013.</ref> He arrived back in Europe in August 1632 to explain his actions, but was dismissed<ref name=wesel /> 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.{{cn|date=January 2018}}

===Establishing the New Sweden colony===
[[File:Samuel Blommaert (1583-1651).jpg|thumb|Samuel Blommaert (1583-1651)]]

After having lived in [[Emmerich am Rhein|Emmerich]] ([[Duchy of Cleves]]) for several years, Minuit made arrangements with [[Samuel Blommaert]] and the [[Sweden|Swedish]] government in 1637 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]], which is present-day [[Wilmington, Delaware]], on 29 March, 1638. Minuit left the colony on 20 May, 1638 and sailed to the Caribbean island of [[Saint Kitts|St. Christopher]], where he arrived on 15 June to barter salt, a ship's cargo of wine and [[liquor]] for tobacco to make the voyage profitable.<ref>Kernkamp, G.W. (1908) Brieven van Samuel Blommaert aan den Zweedschen Rijkskanselier Axel Oxenstierna 1635–1641, p. 158. In: Bijdragen & Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, nr. 29.</ref><ref>Ashmead, Henry Graham  ''History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania''   (Chapter II, Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co. 1884)</ref><ref>Weslager, C. A. ''A Man and his Ship: Peter Minuit and the Kalmar Nyckel'' (Wilmington, Delaware: Kalmar Nickel Foundation. 1989</ref>

== Death ==
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 (ship)|''The Flying Deer'']], was lost with all hands during a [[list of Atlantic hurricanes in the 17th century#1625–1649|hurricane]] near St. Kitts. One ship sank near the [[Azores]], another arrived without mast.<ref>Kernkamp, G.W. (1908) Brieven van Samuel Blommaert aan den Zweedschen Rijkskanselier Axel Oxenstierna 1635–1641, p. 158. In: Bijdragen & Mededeelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, nr. 29.</ref> The losses suffered, such as goods and Minuit, caused irreversible damage to Sweden's colonization attempts. Two years later, Swedish Lt. [[Måns Nilsson Kling]], whose rank was raised to captain, replaced Minuit as governor. Nine expeditions to the colony were carried out before the Dutch captured it in 1655.<ref>Bente, Friedrich, 1858–1930. [https://archive.org/details/americanluthera01bentgoog/page/n27  American Lutheranism Volume 1: Early History of American Lutheranism]: Lutheran Swedes in Delaware. Concordia: 1919, p. 11.</ref>

==Legacy==

===Places named after Minuit===
*The [[Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal]]'s [[Peter Minuit Plaza]], north of the [[South Ferry – Whitehall Street (New York City Subway)|South Ferry – Whitehall Street]] station ({{NYCS trains|South Ferry}}). Following the 400th-anniversary celebrations of [[Henry Hudson]]'s voyage to Manhattan, a pavilion was opened there to honor the Dutch. Each night at midnight, LED lights around the pavilion's perimeter glow in honor of Minuit.<ref name="footprints"/>
*A marker in [[Inwood Hill Park]] at the supposed site of the purchase of Manhattan.
*A granite flagstaff base in [[The Battery (Manhattan)|Battery Park]], which depicts the historic purchase
*A school and playground in [[East Harlem]], which are named for him.<ref> [http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/peter-minuit-playground "Peter Minuit Playground", New York City Department of Parks and Recreation]</ref>
*An apartment building at 25 [[Claremont Avenue]] in Manhattan, which bears his name above the front entrance
*The Peter Minuit Chapter of the [[Daughters of the American Revolution]]
*A memorial on [[Moltkestraße (KVB)|Moltkestraße]] in [[Wesel]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Germany]]

===In popular culture===
*The beginning lines of [[Rodgers and Hart]]'s 1939 song "[[Give It Back to the Indians]]" recount the sale of Manhattan: "Old Peter Minuit had nothing to lose when he bought the isle of Manhattan / For twenty-six dollars and a bottle of booze, and they threw in the Bronx and Staten / Pete thought he had the best of the bargain, but the poor red man just grinned / And he grunted "ugh!" (meaning "okay" in his jargon) for he knew poor Pete was skinned."
*Minuit was played by [[Groucho Marx]] in the 1957 comedy film ''[[The Story of Mankind (film)|The Story of Mankind]]''.
*Minuit was played by [[Michael Landon]] in the 1970 film ''[[Swing Out, Sweet Land]]''.
*Minuit is mentioned on the HBO drama ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'', where the character [[Edward L. Bader|Edward Bader]] tells a joke featuring the line, "'50 bucks?' the fella says. '[[Peter Stuyvesant]] only paid 24 for the entire island of Manhattan!'", while [[Steve Buscemi]]'s' character Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson has to correct Bader and inform him that it was in fact Peter Minuit who bought Manhattan, not Stuyvesant.
*[[Bob Dylan]] mentions Minuit in his song "Hard Times in New York Town" (released on [[The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991|The Bootleg Series Volume 1]]) in the following line: ''[[Henry Hudson|Mister Hudson]] come a-sailing down the stream, / and old Mister Minuit paid for his dream.'' In the released recording of the song, however, Dylan [[Spoonerism|spoonerizes]] "Mister Minuit" by mispronouncing his name as "Minnie Mistuit."<ref>[http://www.reocities.com/temptations_page/DylGuide.html The Annotated Bob Dylan]. Reocities.com. Retrieved on July 23, 2013.</ref> The official lyrics have the correct version of the name, except that Minuit is spelled "Minuet."<ref>[http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hard-times-in-new-york-town Songs {{!}} The Official Bob Dylan Site] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902143534/http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hard-times-in-new-york-town |date=September 2, 2011 }}. Bobdylan.com. Retrieved on July 23, 2013.</ref>
*Minuit is mentioned in the first episode, ''[[Uno (Better Call Saul)|Uno]]'', of the AMC drama ''[[Better Call Saul]]''. Jimmy McGill (the later titular Saul), while confronting lawyers at his brother's law firm, accuses them of being "like Peter Minuit" and suggests that they "throw in some beads and shells" to the $26,000.00 being given to his brother.
*In ''[[Manahatta (play)|Manahatta]]'', a play by [[Mary Kathryn Nagle]], Minuit is a featured character, depicted in his involvement in the colonization of [[Turtle Island (Native American folklore)|Turtle Island]].

==See also==
* [[Dutch colonization of the Americas]]
* [[Dutch Empire]]
* [[List of colonial governors of New Jersey]]
* [[List of colonial governors of New York]]
* [[Canarsee]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|author=Weslager, C.A.|title=A Man and his Ship: Peter Minuit and the Kalmar Nyckel|location=[[Wilmington, Delaware]]|publisher=Kalmar Nickel Foundation|year=1989|isbn=0-9625563-1-9}}
*{{cite book|author=James Nevius, Michelle Nevius|title=Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers|year=2014|isbn=978-0-7627-9636-6|publisher=[[Lyons Press]]}}
*{{cite book|author=Michelle Nevius, James Nevius|title=Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4165-8997-6|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]}}
*{{cite book|author=Russell Shorto|title=[[The Island at the Center of the World]]: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America|year=2004|isbn=1-4000-7867-9|publisher=[[Random House]]|author-link=Russell Shorto}}
*Jacobs, Jaap. (2005), ''New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America''. Leiden: [[Brill Academic Publishers]], {{ISBN|90-04-12906-5}}.
*Mickley, Joseph J. ''Some account of Willem Usselinx and Peter Minuit: Two individuals who were instrumental in establishing the first permanent colony in Delaware'', [[Delaware Historical Society|The Historical Society of Delaware]], 1881

==External links==
*[[Project Gutenberg]]'s ''[https://gutenberg.org/etext/3161 Narrative New Netherland]'', edited by [[J. Franklin Jameson]], includes a footnote about the life of Minuit, but gives an improbable birth date of 1550.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20021205012316/http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/meotac.htm "The Canarsees"], Angelfire
*Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace: ''Gotham'', 1999.
*Kenneth T. Jackson, ed.: ''[[Encyclopedia of New York City]]'' (1995)
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20101023083225/http://www.nnp.org/nnp/documents/schagen_main.html Pieter (later English spelling ''Peter'') Schaghen, "Letter on the purchase of Manhattan Island"]}},
*{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Minuit, Peter|year=1900|author=Arthur Elmore Bostwick |short=x |notaref=x}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Willem Verhulst]]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[Director of New Netherland]]
|years= May 4, 1626–1631}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Sebastiaen Jansen Krol]]}}
{{s-new|reason= new colony}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[New Sweden|Governor of New Sweden]]
|years= March 29, 1638 – June 15, 1638}}
{{s-aft|after= [[Måns Nilsson Kling]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minuit, Peter}}
[[Category:1580s births]]
[[Category:1638 deaths]]
[[Category:Governors of New Sweden]]
[[Category:People from Wesel]]
[[Category:Deaths in tropical cyclones]]
[[Category:People who died at sea]]
[[Category:Directors of New Netherland]]
[[Category:German people of Walloon descent]]
[[Category:Dutch people of Walloon descent]]
[[Category:Dutch emigrants to New Netherland]]