The story is famous: in May 1626, a Dutch trader named Peter Minuit bought the island of Manhattan from the Lenape people for goods worth about sixty guilders -- often said to be worth twenty-four dollars. But the real story is more complicated than it sounds. Manhattan is an island at the mouth of the Hudson River in what is now New York. It is about thirteen miles long and two miles wide. When the Lenape lived there, the island was covered with forests, streams, and rocky hills. The Lenape fished in the rivers and grew crops in clearings they made in the woods. The Lenape and the Dutch had very different ideas about land. The Lenape did not believe anyone could own land permanently. To them, the agreement with Minuit was more like sharing space -- letting the Dutch use the land alongside them. Minuit, however, believed he had bought the land outright, the way Europeans bought property. This misunderstanding would have enormous consequences. The Dutch built a settlement called New Amsterdam on the southern tip of the island. Today, Manhattan is one of the most expensive pieces of real estate on Earth.