Willem
Kieft

Willem Kieft 1597-1647

User Tags:
ID
1,660,244
Gender
Male
Birth Date
09-1597
Birth Location
Death Date
09-27-1647
Death Dates Notes
(Died in Princess Amelia Shipwreck near Swansea Wales)
Occupation(s)
Ancestor Notes

Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of Director by the Dutch West India Company in 1638. In office 1638-1647. He tried to tax, and then, drive out, local Native Americans. He ordered attacks on Pavonia and Corlears Hook on February 25, 1643 in a massacre (129 Dutch soldiers killed 120 Indians, including women and children), followed by retaliations resulting in what would become known as Kieft's War (1643–1645). The war took a huge toll on both sides, and Dutch West India Company Board of Directors fired him in 1647. He was replaced with Peter Stuyvesant.