the people in the town. When there were less than two hundred people
left in New Amsterdam, Kieft was recalled, and Peter Stuyvesant was sent
as governor in his stead.

[Sidenote: Peter Stuyvesant. _Higginson_, 97.]

62. Stuyvesant's Rule.--Stuyvesant was a hot-tempered, energetic
soldier who had lost a leg in the Company's service. He ruled New
Netherland for a long time, from 1647 to 1664. And he ruled so sternly
that the colonists were glad when the English came and conquered them.
This unpopularity was not entirely Stuyvesant's fault. The Dutch West
India Company was a failure. It had no money to spend for the defence of
the colonists, and Stuyvesant was obliged to lay heavy taxes on
the people.

[Sidenote: The Swedes on the Delaware. _Higginson_, 106-108.]

[Sidenote: Stuyvesant conquers them.]

63. New Sweden.--When the French, the English, and the Dutch were
founding colonies in America, the Swedes also thought that they might as
well have a colony there too. They had no claim to any land in America.
But Swedish armies were fighting the Dutchmen's battles in Europe. So
the Swedes sent out a colony to settle on lands claimed by the Dutch.
As long as the European war went on, the Swedes were not interfered
with. But when the European war came to an end, Stuyvesant was told to
conquer them. This he did without much trouble, as he had about as many
soldiers as there were Swedish colonists. In this way New Sweden became
a part of New Netherland.

[Sidenote: Summary.]

[Sidenote: The Chesapeake Colonies.]

[Sidenote: The New England Colonies.]

64. Summary.--We have seen how the French, the Dutch, the Swedish,
and the English colonies were established on the Atlantic seashore and
in the St. Lawrence valley. South of these settlements there was the
earlier Spanish colony at St. Augustine. The Spanish colonists were very
few in number, but they gave Spain a claim to Florida. The Swedish
colony had been absorbed by the stronger Dutch colony. We have also seen
how very unlike were the two English groups of colonies. They were both
settled by Englishmen, but there the likeness stops. For Virginia and
Maryland were slave colonies. They produced large crops of tobacco. The
New England colonists on the other hand were practically all free. They
lived in towns and engaged in all kinds of industries. In the next
hundred years we shall see how the English conquered first the Dutch and
then the French; how they planted