The purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians in 1626 was, in part, a speculation in land. As most children know, the price paid by Peter Minuit was $24 in beads and trinkets. This price seems ridiculously low today, but had the Indians been able to invest the sum at 6 percent compounded annually, it would be worth in excess of $17 billion today, far more than the assessed value of Manhattan real estate at the present time. -- Robert Sobel, The Money Manias, 1973
And Alex Boese notes in Museum of Hoaxes that the Indians who sold it did not live on the island, and so according to the land-use customs of the area, had no rights to transfer to the Dutch. That is, the sale was a swindle.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-07-15 08:49 pm (UTC)part, a speculation in land. As most children know, the price paid by
Peter Minuit was $24 in beads and trinkets. This price seems
ridiculously low today, but had the Indians been able to invest the
sum at 6 percent compounded annually, it would be worth in excess of
$17 billion today, far more than the assessed value of Manhattan
real estate at the present time.
-- Robert Sobel, The Money Manias, 1973
And Alex Boese notes in Museum of Hoaxes that the Indians who sold
it did not live on the island, and so according to the land-use
customs of the area, had no rights to transfer to the Dutch. That is,
the sale was a swindle.