Otto Stiel

Otto Stiel was a 17th century captain of the Courland fleet. From 1655 to 1659 and again from 1660 to 1661 he was the commandant of the forts and governor of the colonies of Courland in The Gambia .

Life

In 1655 (or, according to other sources, in 1654) he replaced Heinrich Fock on the post of Governor of Courland in Gambia. In 1659, when the Courland Duke Jakob Kettler was in Swedish captivity and the Dutch East India Company was trying to usurp the property of Courland in Gambia, Otto Stiel refused to hand over the fort on James Island to the Amsterdam division of this company. However, the Dutch bribed the continued garrison and thus took over the island. Otto Stiel himself was allowed to return freely to Courland. At the beginning of 1660, however, the island fell into the hands of pirates in the service of Sweden, who sold it back to the same East India Company, but this time to the department in Groningen . The Groningen traders - probably because they did not know the previous situation - refused to accept the transaction and still considered the island to be the property of the Duke of Courland. Otto Stiel, who in the meantime had already reached Holland, immediately returned to the Gambia River . The Dutch, who later tried to recapture the island, encountered military resistance from the locals, who were on good terms with the Kurlanders. So Otto Stiel managed to stay at his post.

His supervision of the Courland colonies did not last long, however, because on March 19, 1661, after a few days of siege, the colonies were taken over by the British under the leadership of Robert Holmes .

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• Kołodziejczyk Dariusz, Mówią Wieki , Czy Rzeczpospolita miała kolonie w Afryce i Ameryce
• WorldStatesmen.org The Gambia