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1647...Peter Stuyvesant is inaugurated as Director General of New Netherland, the precursor to New York City. He rules the colony with an iron fist, ordering taverns to close early, forbidding drinking on Sundays and imposing stiff taxes.

Today's New Yorker birthdays include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who was born Germany in 1923 but settled in Washington Heights after escaping the Nazi regime.