Manhattan was 'bought' for goods worth about 60 guilders, not $24

In 1626, Dutch colonial official Peter Minuit is said to have acquired Manhattan from local Lenape people for trade goods valued at 60 guilders — a figure an 1846 historian converted into the famous '$24' myth. Modern historians think the Lenape more likely understood it as a shared-use agreement than a permanent land sale. The only surviving evidence is a single letter, not a deed.

— Russell Shorto, The Island at the Center of the World — Doubleday, 2004
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