[1][2] Peter Stuyvesant, the son of a Calvinist minister,[4] and his family were large landowners in the northeastern portion of New Amsterdam arising from his period as the last Dutch Director-General of New Netherland.

[6] Stuyvesant was known as: "a man of strong individuality, great firmness and remarkable foresight, he so impressed himself upon the affairs that the story of his life from 1647 to 1664 is practically a history of the colony during that period.

[a][12] Stuyvesant High School is located on Manhattan's West Side on Chamber's Street.

His farm, called the "Bouwerij" – the seventeenth-century Dutch word for "farm" – was the source for the name of the Manhattan street and surrounding neighborhood named "The Bowery".

[13][14] The contemporary neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn includes Stuyvesant Heights and retains its name.