Peter Minuit Peter Minuit Peter Minuit, Pieter Minuit, Pierre Minuit, or Peter Minnewit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Walloon from Wesel, in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, then part of the Duchy of Cleves. His surname means "midnight" in French. He was the 4th Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638. Minuit is generally credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch from the Lenape Native Americans. Manhattan
Katonah (Native American leader) said to be of the Pompton tribe. The hamlet of Katonah, New York, located within Bedford, is named for Chief Katonah. In 2007, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia applied for a trademark on the Katonah name for a line of furniture. Members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation who are descendants of Katonah joined forces with local residents to oppose it. Katonah (Native American leader) Chief Katonah was a Munsee sachem who led both the Wiechquaeskeck band of Wappinger in the Greenwich, Stamford, and Bedford area, from whom the land of the town of Bedford, New York was purchased, and the Ramapo.