Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant (1611/12–1672)

By 1635, Peter Stuyvesant, a native of west Friesland, the Netherlands, was employed by the Dutch West India Co. and sent to Brazil. In 1643 he was made governor of Curaçao and other Dutch islands of the West Indies; during an expedition against the Portuguese on St. Martin in 1644 his right leg was wounded, requiring amputation. In 1646 he was appointed director general of New Netherland; he served in that office until the colony came under British rule in 1664.