KIEF, ki•e.f. A government of Russia. See KIEV.
KIEFT, 1:4ft. WILLEM ( ). A Dutch colonial administrator. Direetor-Generai of New Netherlands. Little is known of his life before he came to America except that for a time he acted as the minister of the Dutch Government to Turkey. From the day cf his arrival in March, 163S, he showed a tyrannical spirit which soon set the people against him. Ile hypocritical, cowardly. and vengeful, and lacked administrative ability. With the excep tion of the Indian wars. the most noteworthy events of his administration were the bat tles of words and law which lie fought with Dominic. Everardus Bogardus. tile tailor Hen drick Jansen. and others of his subjects. The prosirets for a rapid growth of the colony were bright when Kieft arrived in New Netherland, for the Dutch \Vest India Company, disgusted with the small results of the patroon system, offered inducements to poorer immigrants, and many of this class were coming to the country and taking up farms along the Hudson. and on Staten and Lung Islands. The Director-General, to make room for these settlers. in 1640 sent his soldiers to murder the Raritan Indian-, an ex ploit which was only partially successful, and which was so soon and thoroughly revenged that even he seems to have lost some of hi- self assu•ance. Consequently, when, in February, 1643, the River Indians, fleeing from the 'Mo hawks. sought shelter in the neighborhood of New Amsterdam, Kieft thought best to secure the signatures of three citizens to a petition before he ordered out his soldiers to destroy them. The massacre which followed is one of the most cold-blooded in the annals of America. The sav
ages, relying on the protection of the Dutch, whom they had every reason to believe friendly, were taken totally unawares, and more than a hundred were Then began a war which resulted in the destruction of the In dians, but meantime the prosperity of the colony was ruined. farms were desolated and settlers massacred. Popular rage against the Director-Gene•al knew no bounds. and, after a vain attempt to shelter himself behind the petition. which resulted only in his being as saulted by one of the sh.mers. he called a meet ing of the heads of families and these selected a Council of Twelve, or the 'Twelve Men,' as it was called, which was to act as an advisory committee. the beginning of self-govern ment in New York. was more in semblanee than in substance, for Kieft paid hut slight attention to the councils of the twelve. Mean while the 'English on the east and the Swedes on the Delaware had taken advanta•e .1 these internal troubles to found strong colonies on Dutch soil, and filially the company, influenced perhaps by a petition from some of the settlers, sent out Peter Stuyvesant to undo the mischief which had been dune; and in 1647 Kieft, together with Bogardus and Jansen, and two or three others of his most inveterate enemies, sailed for Holland on the Princess, an unhappy company, and a disastrous voyage, for the little vessel was wrecked on the coast of England, and Kieft, Bo gardus, and nearly all of their shipmates were drowned.