Samizdata is one of my favorite blogs. They had this short item yesterday:
"On May 4, 1626 American Indians agreed to sell Manhattan island to European settlers for $24 in cloth & buttons. As with most free market transactions, all parties involved were satisfied with the deal: the settlers got land to homestead, the Indians received exotic manufactured goods that were beyond their ability to produce."
There are 15 comments as I write this, most of which are very intelligent. I was brought up on the idea of "the Indians sure got ripped off." This post brings up the fact that they were not. Comment writers also point out that Manhattan is valuable now because of its development. Somebody questions the sellers' claims to ownership. And a couple of folks have a go at computing current value for $24.
Posted by jk at May 5, 2003 01:20 PMIn May 1626 Manhattan was nothing more than a location for a port. Since the Indians did not have watercraft capable of utilizing the port to it's potential, then it wasn't worth much more to them than most other locations. It was only after the intercontinental shipping industry came into being that the port realized it's potential.
The Indians were probably happy with what they got for it.
Calculating the current value or ownership rights today is ridiculous based on history. New York was occupied by the British during the war for indepedence and thus likely would have been taken for free at the end of the war. Hence the Indians made $24 in 1626 rather than nothing in 1780. Saddam Hussien made a historical claim to Kuwait as it was once a part of the Persian empire, but wasn't offering to give Iraq away to the Greeks, Romans, or Turks who all owned it at one time in history.
Posted by: CDB at May 8, 2003 08:50 AMI agree that you cannot convert $24 from the Seventeenth-Century into an accurate present value. Yet I think that the "indians got cheated" crowd makes an implicit comparison between 24 of today's dollars and the present value of Manhattan. By removing this double error it becomes a reasonable and fair transaction.
Posted by: jk at May 8, 2003 09:39 AMPeople like you always miss the point. For the Indians to take such a pathetic amount of money for what became the wealthiest place on earth is hugely symbolic and very poignant. Because they thought they were getting a good deal (such a tiny amount of land to them - they had plenty more) I find it very sad. The funny thing is, if it was taken from them by forcible enforcement of the port area they would least have the dignity of resisting that.
Posted by: jonas wilson at October 27, 2003 09:00 PM