Petrus Stuyvesant

Peter Stuyvesant
Painting attributed to Hendrick Couturier c. 1660
7th Director-General of New Amsterdam
In office 1647–1664
Preceded by	Willem Kieft
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Born	1610 Peperga, Friesland, Netherlands
Died	August 1672 (aged c. 62) Manhattan, Province of New York
Spouse(s)	Judith Bayard (m. 1645–1672; his death)
Children	Balthasar Lazarus Stuyvesant Nicolaes Willem Stuyvesant
Parents	Balthazar Jansz Stuyvesant Margaretha Hardenstein
Religion	Dutch Reformed
Signature

Peter Stuyvesant (English pronunciation /ˈstaɪv.ə.sənt/; in Dutch also Pieter and Petrus Stuyvesant; {1610–1672) served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was renamed New York. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City.

Stuyvesant's accomplishments as director-general included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam beyond the southern tip of Manhattan. Among the projects built by Stuyvesant's administration were the protective wall on Wall Street, the canal that became Broad Street, and Broadway.

Stuyvesant was born in 1610 in Peperga, Friesland, in the Netherlands, to minister Balthasar Stuyvesant and Margaretha Hardenstein. He grew up in Peperga, Scherpenzeel, and Berlicum. He studied languages and philosophy in Franeker, and joined the West India Company about 1635, and was director of the Dutch West India Company's colony of Curaçao from 1642 to 1644.

In April 1644, he attacked the Spanish-held island of Saint Martin and lost the lower part of his right leg to a cannonball. He returned to the Netherlands for convalescence, where his right leg was replaced with a wooden peg. Stuyvesant was given the nicknames "Peg Leg Pete" and "Old Silver Nails" because he used a wooden stick studded with silver nails as a prosthesis.