Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant (1610-1672) was born in born Westellingwerf, Friesland.  As the  son of Reformed domine Balthasar Stuyvesant and Margaretta Hardenstein, he grew up in a household of Calvinist thinking, and this had a strong influence on his eventual management of the New Amsterdam and New Netherland settlements.   

By age 20 he was attending University of Franeker, studied languages and philosophy, but was expelled for seducing the daughter of his landlord.
The Dutch West India company hired him on as supercargo, and by 1630 he found himself on the small island of Fernando de Noronha, off the coast of Brazil. By 1639 he had been transferred twice to Pernambuco, and then to Curacao in the Dutch West Indies.    At the age of 30 he became the governor of Curacao, Aruba, and Bonaire.   In 1644, he lost a leg to a cannon ball while leading an expedition against St. Martin, he was 34 years old and an amputee.   The leg did not heal well, and he was shipped back to the Netherlands to heal.     There he met Judith Bayard, while recuperating, and married her in 1645. 

Stop for a moment to imagine this couple.   She is in her late twenties (almost a spinster at that time), educated, daughter of a Huguenot minister, and sits with him to read to him.    He is now struggling with his mortality, and may have considered himself 'half a man', but somehow became convinced that God had saved him for some good purpose.     What intellectual and cultural hurdles did this couple jump to marry, board a ship for New Amsterdam, and start a family while they managed an unruly settlement?  

From 1646-1664 Petrus was Director General of New Netherland, Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba.   He and Judith had sons and managed farms.  As Director General and with the Council, Petrus created laws and ordinances, managed constant internal conflicts, and attempted to keep trade flowing.   

He inherited a volatile situation from Director Kieft, who had waged war against the Indigenous people, with disastrous results for all parties involved.

1651 - A grant of land was provided to him, the company bouwery . 
1654 purchase of land in lower Manhattan that is now the Financial District.
Use the TIMELINE button to see many more documents, but please be patient, there are a lot!

Petrus attempted to create a unified religion within the settlement, and was unfriendly to Quakers, Jews,  and any that he saw as religious extremists.   

In 1664 he negotiated with the English to hand off the colony as smoothly as possible, including insisting up on recognition of the rights to property of many formerly enslaved people.

David Voorhees, Jacob Leisler Papers: Stuyvesant, Petrus (1610-1672), JACOB LEISLER’s next door neighbor, military commander and Dutch West India Company official; born Westellingwerf, Friesland, son of Reformed domine Balthasar Stuyvesant and Margaretta Hardenstein; University of Franeker, 1632; supercargo, Dutch West India Company, Brazil, 1635; commissary of stores, Fernando de Noronha and at Pernambuco, Brazil; transferred to Curaçao, 1639;  governor of Curaçao, 1643; lost a leg while leading expedition again St. Martin, 1644;  married Judith Bayard, 1645; director general of New Netherland, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba, 1646-1664; died New York City, Feb. 1672.  

Enjoy a walking tour of New York that features Peter Stuyvesant:

https://izi.travel/en/3660-how-dutch-is-new-york-the-stuyvesant-tour/en

See Channel 13 video Video: Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam
Professor Joyce Goodfriend reviews Peter Stuyvesant’s New Amsterdam legacy.
http://www.thirteen.org/dutchny/video/video-stuyvesant-in-new-amsterdam/73/

See 'From Colonial New York to Restoration London' from the movie Broadsides for a view of Peter Stuyvesant
http://www.broadsidethefilm.com/aboutthefilm.html