Willem Kieft, Director of New Netherland
Kieft, kéft, Willem, Dutch administrator in America: b. Holland about 1600; d. off the Welsh coast 1647. He came as the fifth governor of New Netherlands, and arrived in the colony 28 March 1638. He was greedy, choleric, and tyrannous; began his administration by concentrating the executive power; and was soon involved in troubles with the Indians. In 1640 he despatched a force to murder the Raritan tribe. He was not wholly successful; the act was avenged, and when in 1643 he arranged for the destruction of the River tribe, which had sought the protection of the colony against the Mohawks, he deemed it wise to obtain sanction for the proceeding through the signatures of three citizens. A desolating war ensued, almost to the extinction of the colony. Public sentiment was strong against him, and he finally conceded the selection of a “Council of Twelve,” who stood for the beginning of representative government in New Netherlands, but practically were figure-heads quite disregarded by the governor. The Puritans at the east and the Swedes at the west were making encroachments upon Dutch territory, and Kieft was finally recalled and succeeded by Peter Stuyvesant. On 16 Aug. 1647 he sailed for Holland with his enemy, Dominie Bogardus, who had denounced his tyranny, and whose services he had revengefully disturbed by having soldiers make noises under the meeting-house windows. The vessel was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and Kieft, Bogardus, and nearly all the rest on board were drowned. Kieft rebuilt Fort Amsterdam, improved the appearance of the settlement, and effected several administrative reforms.
source: Beach, Frederick Converse. The Encyclopedia Americana: A General Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, Literature, History, Biography, Geography, Etc., of the World, Volume 9. New York: The Americana Company, 1903.
source: Beach, Frederick Converse. The Encyclopedia Americana: A General Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, Literature, History, Biography, Geography, Etc., of the World, Volume 9. New York: The Americana Company, 1903.
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