Manhattan’s first real estate deal
July 10th, 2008
Did the Dutch really buy Manhattan for $24? According to historian Kenneth C. Davis, “the first Dutch settlers to arrive on the narrow, twelve-mile long island of Manhattan didn’t bother to pay the Indians for the land they chose for their settlement.†However, when Peter Minuit became leader of the settlement in 1626, he decided it would be salutary to meet with the local chiefs and make it official.
The deal involved two boxes of goods (believed to be hatchets, cloth, metal pots, and bright beads) that were worth 60 Dutch guilders. Sixty Dutch guilders, in 1626, were worth 2400 English cents and that is where the infamous $24 figure comes from.
(Mickey Z. can be found here)
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