The story of the man who bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians for a few loaves of bread
The story of the man who bought the island of Manhattan from the Indians for a few loaves of bread
The island of Manhattan was bought from the Lenape for a small price, and the Dutch ruler at that time Peter Minuit sat before Sagesse Gora, one of the leaders of the Lenape tribe, surrounded by his warriors, and the Indian chief did not utter a word and remained silent for a long time until one of his men ended up handing him a long pipe He put it majestically in his mouth.
The writers Frederic Luino and Gwendolyn dos Santos follow the story of the island, in a report published by the French newspaper "Le Point", where they say that Gora has been inhaling smoke for a long time, releasing it in small puffs, and then passing the pipe (smoking pipe) to this stranger with a voluntary gesture To make him understand that he can't escape.
The governor of the small Dutch colony put this tube in his mouth and stick to it, even if the smoke burns his lungs. It was torture, and with extraordinary effort he was able to spit smoke without coughing.
According to the authors; Sagesse Gora demanded about 1,200 guilders to cede the island, the amount his predecessor committed to Peter Minuit.
But the problem is that Minuit doesn't have that much, so he starts bargaining with the Indian chief who finally gave up Manhattan for a handful of Spanish gold coins, shovels to work the soil, awls, axes, beads, cloth and even musical guitars, all worth 60 guilders, It is too small an amount to buy a few loaves of bread.
The two men withdrew satisfied with the deal; Minuit was satisfied because he was convinced that his interlocutor had been deceived; As for Sagesse Gora, it is because he sold land not belonging to his tribe, but to the land of Manhattan!
7246 sable beaver skins
The authors point out that over the centuries all narrators have made a few more additions to this story. The only original document referring to this real estate transaction is a letter dated November 5, 1626 from merchant Peter Schagen to the Dutch West India Company saying, “They have bought Manhattan Island Indians for 60 Florinas.
at transit; It is noteworthy that the ship brought about 7,246 sable skins, 678 otter skins, and 48 minks... in addition to oak and American walnut.
Navigator Giovanni di Verrazano is the first European to explore the Manhattan area, which was at the time full of beavers, whose fur is highly sought after in Europe (Getty Images)
The authors pointed out that in 1524 the navigator Giovanni di Verrazano was the first European to explore this region, and nearly a century later; In 1609, Captain Henry Hudson, who was in the service of the Dutch Republic, explored the area in search of a northwestern passage that did not exist, and on his return to Amsterdam he said that this area was infested with beavers, whose fur is highly sought after in Europe.
As a result, Dutch expeditions arrived at Hudson Bay to purchase hides from the Indians, and a modest permanent meter was installed on this piece of land called New Netherland. On June 3, 1621, several Dutch merchants founded the Dutch West India Company.
guarded hunting
The authors continue to tell the story; They reported that the company, being strong in terms of seniority, invited all the small foreign merchants to leave and, starting in 1624, established Dutch colonies.
However, this did not prevent hundreds of fishermen and merchants of all nationalities from escaping to take advantage of the country's wealth. To counter this invasion, the Dutch company gathered its colonists on the island of Manhattan, where it established Fort Amsterdam, at which time Peter Minuit was appointed governor. He was 45 years old, and he was known as an honest man and a skilled diplomat.
The authors explain that after Minuit's appointment, he left the Netherlands with two ships laden with immigrants and their livestock, and was instructed to improve relations between the colonists and the Indians, which had soured in the past few months at the time.
In April 1626, after 3 months of sailing, the ships finally docked in New York Bay. The colonists hardly had time to settle when an Indian delegation came to find Minuit to ask him whether he intended to seize the land by force or would pay for it.
Finally, the authors say that in the meantime the deed of sale was signed and paid on May 24, 1626, while some other sources indicate that the sale was in July.
Regardless of how the operation was done, for 7 years the small colony lived in peace with the Indians.
Gradually, however, newcomers settled everywhere and started running their own businesses by breaking the monopoly of the company.
In 1632 Minuit was summoned to Amsterdam and dismissed from his post, and, displeased, ended up putting himself in the service of Sweden to establish a colony at the mouth of the Delaware River; New Sweden, then 20 years later England invaded both colonies.
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