As a child in the United States you are taught the Canarsie Indians sold the rights to Manhattan for a mere $24 bucks or so.

A recent Pulitzer Prize winning History Book confirmed the centuries old tale.

Now a real history and expert on ancient coins says the history books are all wrong, the deal was at least twenty times larger than history books record the famous deal for Manhattan.

Modern historians used the monetary base mentioned in a 1626 letter stating 60 Guilders of trade value was the deal made by the local Indians and a Dutch trader.

What modern historians didn’t realize was that the Dutch Guilder used in 1625 was GOLD and not Silver making the original deal at least twenty times more valuable for the Indians.

Dr. Sol Adoni is the author of the article that takes apart the Pulitzer Prize winning history book titled Gotham. A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace .

Sale of Manhattan Article