Scavenger Hunt: New Amsterdam

An enduring myth about the founding of New York is that in 1626, Dutch governor Peter Minuit bought it from the local Lenape tribe for $24 in assorted beads.  (Ch. 3)   However, there is no evidence of the sale and no deed.  The $24 number may come from an old letter from a company official that was property of the Dutch West India Company.  It included: "[T]hey have bought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders". (Ch. 3)  In terms of buying power, 60 guilders in 1626 would buy 2,400 tankards of beer and would be less than 4% of the fee Rembrandt would be paid to paint Night Watch (fun side note: I've actually seen this in the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam).  From the book:

By the time [the] letter referencing the sale surfaced in the 1840's, it was commonly accepted that the Lenape had been swindled by the Dutch.  Not . . . because the Dutch were conniving by nature,* but because the natives simply didn't know any better.

* It was also commonly accepted that the Dutch had driven such a hard bargain because they were cheap.  The pejorative expression "Dutch treat" still persists to remind people that supposedly a Dutchman will never pick up a check.

Don't know about you guys but I had no idea that "going Dutch" was an offensive phrase... Oops.

Anyway, the photo above is the Netherlands Memorial Flagpole that was erected in 1926 to mark the 300th anniversary of the sale.