Who first purchased Manhattan Island, from the local Native Americans and for what price?

Zbeckabee

"According to the document by Pieter Janszoon Schagen our people (ons Volck) — Peter Minuit is not mentioned explicitly there — acquired Manhattan in 1626 from native people in exchange for trade goods worth 60 guilders, often said to be worth 24 dollars, though (by comparing the price of bread and other goods) actually amounts to around $1000 in modern currency (Calculation by the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam). Using this estimate, one can jokingly state that it was enough money in 1626 to buy 2,400 tankards of beer." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_island#History "In 1626 Peter Minuit bought Manhattan island from the local Indians for a load of cloth, beads, hatchets, and other odds and ends then worth 60 Dutch guilders. According to my Encyclopedia Britannica, 60 guilders in 1626 would buy you 1-1/2 pounds of silver. Naturally we assume this is troy weight, 12 ounces to the pound. Silver lately has been selling for a little more than a $4 per troy ounce." More: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/715/how-much-would-the-24-paid-for-manhattan-be-worth-in-todays-money Mar 16 10, 4:22 PM