Peter Stuyvesant – 1592-1672

Irascible and unyielding, Stuyvesant became governor of New Netherland—the Dutch New World colony—in 1647 and tried in vain to rally the colonists to resist the British attempt to conquer the colony. Without the necessary support of his people, he was forced to surrender to the British—who renamed New Netherland New York—and he retired to his Manhattan farm, the Bouwerie (the Bowery) at the edge of New Amsterdam (which was renamed New York as well).