Peter Minuit bought Manhattan island in 1626 with a trade deal worth the equivalent of what?

Peter Minuit (between 1580 and 1585 – August 5, 1638) was a Walloon from Tournai, in present-day Belgium. He was the 3rd Director of the Dutch North American colony of New Netherland from 1626 until 1631, and 3rd Governor of New Netherland. He founded the Swedish colony of New Sweden on the Delaware Peninsula in 1638.

A common account states that Minuit purchased Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets. A letter written by Dutch merchant Peter Schaghen to directors of the Dutch East India Company stated that Manhattan was purchased for "60 guilders worth of trade", an amount worth approximately $1,143 in 2020 dollars.

The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of the Dutch States-General and member of the board of the Dutch West India Company, Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the States-General in November 1626. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) to US$23. The popular account rounds this off to $24.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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15 Comments

Mark G. Feeney

The native peoples had no concept of land ownership. The land was there for anyone to use. So they didn't own it. They just accepted the trinkets as a gift, not payment for land

carlthedad

What's not in this account is the fact that he purchased the peninsula from a group of natives who didn't even own it. Later the British played the real owners a whole lot more for it when a dispute narrowed in 1710.

Pat Salloum

The exchange is generally referred to a purchase for a handful of beads.

Susan Lake-Harris

There's a song by Rogers and Hart that talks about this... and that's how I knew the answer. In the song, however, the lyric says "Old Peter Minuit had nothing to lose when he bought the Isle of Manhattan. For $26 and a bottle of booze, and they threw in the Bronx and Staten..."