 The Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Saybrook Colony, Mohegan Indians, and Narragansett Indians had defeated the Dutch-allied Pequot tribe during the Pequot War (1636-1638), which eased the way for the English to take over the northern reaches of New Netherland along the Connecticut River.Peter Minuit had been a director-general of New Netherland, but he left two weeks before Kieft's arrival to establish New Sweden in the poorly developed southern reaches of the colony along the Delaware Valley.New Netherland had begun to flourish along the Hudson River.