Did the Dutch Really Buy Manhattan
for 24 Dollars?

Was Manhattan bought for $24 worth of beads? Who bought it and who’d they buy it from? In this episode, we discuss the history of the purchase of the island of Manhattan.

Sources

Transcript

Tzeela: Hi I'm Tzeela and I'm 17

Rina: Hi I'm Rina and I'm 15

Dalia: Hey, I'm Dalia and I'm 11

All: And this is Things You Thought You Knew About History!

Tzeela: Where we tell you the real story behind historical misconceptions.

Rina: How much money would I need to buy Manhattan?

Tzeela: Well it was brought for $24 in beads in 1626

Rina: Umm, well, $24 back then wouldn’t be $24 today, it would be much more because of inflation

Dalia: Actually you're both wrong, Manhattan wasn’t even bought for $24 then

Tzeela: Really?

Dalia: Yeah, The West India Company was a Dutch company created in 1621 to trade in America and eventually colonize. They bought the island of Manhattan in 1626 from the Natives living there, the Munsee people.

Tzeela: The purchase was made by Peter Minuit and when the land was sold they followed the official Dutch protocol for buying land which requires a judge or officials to be there

Rina: They called the island New Amsterdam

Dalia: In 1844, a letter written by Pieter Schagen in 1626 was discovered

Rina: He was the representative of the States General in the Assembly of the Nineteen of the West India Company who wrote about news from the colonies and what products were going to the Dutch Republic

Tzeela: He wrote that they bought Manhattan, an island 11,000 morgens in size or about 22,000 acres for “the value of 60 guilders”

Dalia: Wait, what's a guilder?

Tzeela: It was Dutch the currency

Rina: Why do we think it was $24 then? Did 60 guilders equal 24 dollars?

Tzeela: In 1846, a historian Edmund Bailey O'Callaghan published a book called History of New Netherland, where he wrote Manhattan was purchased for $24. But he used the 1846 rate of conversion from guilders to dollars.

Dalia: so in 1626 24$ wouldn’t have equaled 60 guilders

Rina: Oh so that’s how the myth was born… But why would they sell it for so little? Even if it was more than $24, 60 guilders doesn’t sound like so much.

Dalia: Well, at that time, 60 guilders was around the amount the average artisan or skilled craftsmen would make in 3 or 4 months in the Dutch Republic so it wasn’t a lot but not that little either

Tzeela: However, they didn’t pay 60 guilders but traded products worth 60 guilders and the Munsees really benefited from these goods the Europeans gave them

Rina: The metal axes and hoes replaced some of the stone tools the Munsees had been using, and a coarse cloth called duffels replaced dear skin

Tzeela: Wait! Did the Munsees have the same ideas as the Dutch about what it meant to sell the land?

Dalia: Well, the Munsees didn’t recognize personal ownership of land, so they did not plan on leaving the land or giving it up to the Dutch but were allowing the Dutch to live in and use the land

Rina: It was not uncommon for Native American tribes to grow or decrease the size of their settlements according to the size of their population, and transfer any temporarily empty land to others until they needed it

Tzeela: They also wanted Dutch goods so they may have sold the land to try to insure they could continue to access these items

Dalia: So if the Dutch controlled Manhattan, how did it become part of one of the 13 English colonies?

Tzeela: After switching between Dutch and English control many times, in 1674 it was given to the English

Rina: Buying Manhattan sounds too complicated, maybe I’ll just buy Queens

Tzeela: Now for the Trivia!

Dalia: We’ll ask a question then countdown from 10 to give you a chance to answer.

Rina: Are you ready? Let’s see how well you know Manhattan!!

Tzeela: What 3 rivers surround Manhattan? Hudson River, East River, Harlem River

Dalia: Who was the first mayor of New York? Thomas Willett. He was appointed by Governor Richard Nicolls in 1665

Rina: How big is Central Park? 843 acres or 1.317 square miles

Tzeela: What is the tallest building in NYC? The One World Trade Center

Dalia: What was New York City called in the year 1673? New Orange

Tzeela: Thanks for listening!!!

Dalia: We hope you enjoyed!!

Rina: have any thoughts or suggestions? Leave a review