Manhattan island is the most densely populated and the oldest of the five boroughs of New York City. You have maybe already been there, but you probably don’t know the story behind Manhattan Island!
Peter Schaghen’s letter, written in 1626 makes the first reference to the company’s purchase of Manhattan Island from the Lenape Indians for 60 guilders. He was the liaison between the Dutch government and the Dutch West India Company. 60 guilders are equal to approximately $24.00 if we use the monetary conversion rate of late 1800′s, or about $875 using a more recent conversion rate.
The Indians didn’t know that the transaction was for permanent possession of the land, which is a notion that the Indians were not at all familiar with, as for them a piece of land could only be used, but never owned.
Nowadays one square meter in Manhattan sells for about $12500.
What do you think of this trade?
Sources: http://www.thirteen.org/dutchny/interactives/manhattan-island/1/
http://www.nnp.org/nnp/documents/60guilder.html
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