The Dutch Beginnings of New York!

Let's rewind to 1624, way before skyscrapers or Wall Street. New York's just a spec called New Amsterdam, slapped down by the Dutch on Manhattan's southern tip. The Dutch West India Companies got their eyes on the prize, furs trade routes, a foothold in the New World. They strike a deal with the Lenape people, goods worth 60 guilders, tools, cloth, maybe some beads. History loves to romanticize it as $24. But here's the kicker, the Lenape saw it as a truce, not a sale. Fast forward to 1664 and the English show up with warships flexing muscle. Peter Stuyvesant, the peg legged Dutch boss, fumes but folds without any shots fired.