New Netherland gets off to a rocky start, with uncommonly poor leadership. Fortunately, a very capable leader, Peter Minuit, steps forward after a catastrophic attack on the Dutch at Fort Orange by the Mowhawk. Minuit would consolidate most of the settlers at New Amsterdam, and buy Manhattan from the Leni Lenape Indians on the island. Notwithstanding its representation in American lore, we fearlessly consider whether that deal was, in fact, a great bargain for the Dutch, or actually at fair market value!

See Jack’s interview on The RSnake Show on Youtube.

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Selected references for this episode

Russell Shorto, The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America

Jaap Jacobs, The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America

Eric Yanis, The Other States of America History Podcast

New Amsterdam (Wikipedia)

“Honoring a Very Early New Yorker” (NYT)