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The Unitedfather.

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In our last episode, we got properly into all the issues that were affecting the New

Netherlands in the 1630s and early 1640s. It was suffering from economic depression. It couldn't

attract colonists, and its incompetent director, William Kieft, got it stuck in a pointless war with the local

Indian tribes. Now, the Dutch didn't like blood. They were businessmen and blood is a big expense.

Kieft could not last. A man in that position can't afford to look ridiculous. It's no small

wonder that he was recalled. The colony needed a person of great ability to fix the damage that

had been done, a godfather of sorts. The man selected to fix the damage, who arrived in the colony in 1647, was Peter Stavacent.

Stavacent was born in the Netherlands around 1612. He received an education and joined the Dutch West

India Company in 1635 during his early

20s.

He rose quickly through the ranks and in 1642, aged 30, he became governor of Curaco,

an island in the southern Caribbean about 40 miles off the coast of Venezuela,

...