Dutch New York-Peter Stuyvesant

This guy is an important figure in the history of New York, and his last name adorns many streets and businesses, so a short biography seems in order. He was the last Director-General of New Netherland, holding office for nearly 20 years until the territory was lost to the English in 1664. He had a wooden prosthetic in place of a right leg due to wounds sustained in attacking Spanish territories in the Caribbean. He seems to have been a stubborn and impassioned man, exercising his power to redraw the borders of the Dutch colony as he pleased. He was known to have persecuted Quakers and restricted some liberties of Jews entering the colony, leading some contemporary historians to think these injustices may have helped influence the addition of the religious freedom clause in the Constitution.