Peter Stuyvesant

Peter Stuyvesant used to be the best cigarettes in the world until they changed the recipe. I’m talking about the strong ones in the red packet of course – not the weak and weaker blue and gold packets, which don’t even deserve to be mentioned. Unfortunately, Stuyvos are no longer what they were, so smokers with taste are being forced to use ready-rubbed tobacco and to roll their own.

Peter Stuyvesant (circa 1600 – August 1672) served as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City. Stuyvesant’s accomplishment as director-general included a great expansion for the settlement of New Amsterdam (later renamed New York) beyond the southern tip of Manhattan. Among the projects built by Stuyvesant’s administration were the protective wall on Wall Street, the canal which became Broad Street, and Broadway.