Cornelius Jacobsen May was a man who lived a long time ago, before you were born. He was born in the year 1592 in a country called the Netherlands. Do you know where that is? It's in Europe, which is far away from where we are now.
Now, Cornelius Jacobsen May was a sailor, which means he spent a lot of his time on big boats that sailed across the ocean. He worked for a company called the Dutch West India Company, which wanted to set up a new colony in a faraway place called New Netherland. This was a big project that they needed a lot of help with, and Cornelius was one of the people they asked to come along and help.
So Cornelius got on a boat with some other people and sailed across the ocean to New Netherland. When they got there, they found that the land was already inhabited by some people called Native Americans, who had been living there for a long time. Cornelius and his people wanted to build a new town there, but they didn't want to hurt the Native Americans or take away their land. So they tried to be friendly and work things out with them.
Cornelius was in charge of building the new town, and he did a good job. They called the town New Amsterdam, and it grew to be a big city with many people from different countries living there. Cornelius helped make laws and rules for the city, so that people could live together peacefully and be happy.
In the end, Cornelius Jacobsen May died in the year 1665, when he was very old. But he left behind a legacy of hard work, determination, and friendship with others. And that's why we still remember him today, even though he lived many years ago.