Willem Kieft, also ''Wilhelm Kieft'', (September 1597 – September 27, 1647) was a Dutch merchant and the
Director of New Netherland
This is a list of Directors, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, of the 17th century Dutch province of New Netherland (''Nieuw-Nederland'' in Dutch) in North America. Only the last, Peter Stuyvesant, held the title of Director General. A ...
(of which
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
was the capital) from 1638 to 1647.
Life and career
Willem Kieft was appointed to the rank of director by the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
in 1638.
He formed the
council of twelve men, the first representative body in New Netherland, but ignored its advice.
He tried to tax, and then drive out, local Native Americans.
He ordered attacks on
Pavonia and
Corlears Hook on February 25, 1643, which erupted into a horrific massacre (129 Dutch soldiers killed 120 Indians, including women and children). The Dutch local citizen advisory group had been specifically against such a raid, and were aghast when they heard the details. This was 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 the directors of the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
dismissed him in 1647.
Peter Stuyvesant
Peter Stuyvesant ( – August 1672)Mooney, James E. "Stuyvesant, Peter" in p.1256 was a Dutch colonial administrator who served as the Directors of New Netherland, director-general of New Netherland from 1647 to 1664, when the colony was pro ...
succeeded Kieft in office.
Kieft died on September 27, 1647, in the ''
Princess Amelia'' shipwreck near
Swansea
Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...
, Wales, en route to Amsterdam to defend himself, along with many of his opponents, including the Rev.
Everardus Bogardus.
Russell Shorto
Russell Anthony Shorto (born February 8, 1959) is an American author, historian, and journalist. He is is best known for his book on the New Amsterdam, Dutch origins of New York City, ''The Island at the Center of the World''. Shorto's research ...
, ''The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America.'' First Edition. New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
: Vintage Books
Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...
(a Division of Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, 2004. His archive was also lost, so his exact role cannot be established apart from what his opponents wrote of him. He is depicted in the Gods of Manhattan series by
Scott Mebus.
See also
*
Land of the Blacks (Manhattan)
*
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the period of European colonization of North America from the late 15th century until the unifying of the Thirteen British Colonies and creation of the United States in 1776, during the Re ...
*
Dutch colonization of the Americas
The Netherlands began its colonization of the Americas with the establishment of trading posts and plantations, which preceded the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. While the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 16 ...
*
Dutch Empire
The Dutch colonial empire () comprised overseas territories and trading posts under some form of Dutch control from the early 17th to late 20th centuries, including those initially administered by Dutch chartered companies—primarily the Du ...
*
List of colonial governors of New Jersey
*
List of colonial governors of New York
The territory which would later become the state of New York (state), New York was settled by European colonization of the Americas, European colonists as part of the New Netherland colony (parts of present-day New York, New Jersey, Connecticut a ...
References
Further reading
*
William Elliot Griffis ''The Story of New Netherland. The Dutch In America''. (Chapter IX. Cambridge: The Riverside Press. 1909)
*Allen Johnson, Ed. ''Dutch and English on the Hudson'' (Chapter IV. New Haven: Yale University Press. 1919)
*Jaap Jacobs (2005), New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, .
*
Journal of New Netherland 1647. Written in the Years 1641, 1642, 1643, 1644, 1645, and 1646'. 1641–1647.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kieft, Willem
1597 births
1647 deaths
17th-century Dutch businesspeople
People from New Netherland
Businesspeople from Amsterdam
Directors of New Netherland
Dutch merchants
Kieft's War
Dutch mass murderers
Deaths due to shipwreck at sea
Accidental deaths in Wales
Native American genocide perpetrators