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Hall of Shame

Willem Kieft

(1597 - 1647)

One of the tyrannic Dutch gouver-nors of the New Netherlands colo-ny in America. Born in Amsterdam he started as a salesman but be-came gouverner of the New Ne-therlands in 1637 to predecessor Wouter van Twiller in the service of the WIC (West Indian Compa-ny). Willem Kieft was everything but a tactful man and his reign was characterized by constant conflicts with the natives as well as the Dutch colonists. Having faied in business in Amsterdam the government sent him to the

In what became known as Kieft's War

(1643 - 1645)

the Dutch colonists brutally slaughtered 120 Lenape Indians, women, children and babies included for alegedly stealing some cattle

Nobody knows what Willem Kieft looked like but here are two portraits of the same man

new colony as a gouvernor as a reward for the selling of slaves. Especially in that era money was apparently more important than justice ever was. For a long time the Dutch had good rela-tions with the Mohawks in their trade for furs and wampum (beads made from sea shells). This not only aroused the jealou-sy of other tribes but once the colony was forced by the Dutch government to open up for compe-tition, the English, the Swedes and Jews also wanted their share in the trade. One day when some cattle were stolen from David de Vries' property, Kieft immediately blamed the Raritans (Lenape tribe) for it and his men viciously slaughtered 120 Raritian people, women, child-ren and babies included. The details of this genocide are men-tioned in a written account by Dutch mariner David de Vries, who was obviously disgusted by these actions. He preferred to nego-ciate and make peace with the Indians.

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Captain David Pieterszoon de Vries

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