Marcus Henderson, age 13, of Fargo, N.D., for his question:
WAS MANHATTAN REALLY SOLD ONCE FOR $24?
It is a true story that about 360 years ago New York's Manhattan Island was sold by a group of Indians to some Dutch settlers for about $24.
In 1624 a Dutch trading post, called New Amsterdam, was established on the southern part of Manhattan Island. Then to secure the Dutch claim in 1626, Peter Minuit, the director general of the Dutch colony of New Netherland, purchased the island from the Algonquin Indians for goods valued at about 60 guilders, or some $24.
But Manhattan, a name which derived from an Indian term for "island of hills," didn't remain a Dutch possession too long. In 1664, Charles II of England granted his brother, the Duke of York (later James II of England) a large area including Manhattan Island. A fleet of English warships seized New Amsterdam and renamed the settlement New York in honor of the duke.
The town was retaken by the Duke in 1673, but a year later they ceded it back to England.
During the 18th century, New York City became one of the great commercial centers of the British colonies in North America.
New York City subsequently became a center of revolutionary activity by American patriots. But in 1776, American troops were forced to evacuate the city, which remained under British occupation until the end of the American Revolution.
From 1785 to 1790, New York was the seat of the United States government.
The first stock exchange was established on Manhattan Island in 1792 and very soon New York became the nation's leading financial and commercial center.
In the 19th century, the population of New York increased spectacularly as a result of an influx of European immigrants.
During the Civil War there were serious disturbances known as the Draft Riots. But at the war's end it was life as usual and the city expanded at an unprecedented tempo.In 1874 New York, previously confined to Manhattan Island, annexed West Farms, Morrisania and Kingsbridge, mainland communities belonging to Westchester County, and now compromising the western section of the Bronx. The remainder of what now constitutes the Bronx was absorbed by New York in 1895.
At the same time, public sentiment for merging the city with Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island mounted, and on January 1, 1898, Manhattan and the Bronx became separate burroughs for the expanded and consolidated city of New York.
Manhattan borough is about 31 square miles in area. In addition to Manhattan Island and several other small islands, the borough also encompasses a small exclave called Marble Hill on the Bronx mainland.
A distinguishing characteristic of Manhattan today is the large number of tall office buildings that help form the borough's celebrated skyline. Most are in lower and Midtown Manhattan. Among the more famous of these skyscrapers are the 110 story twin towers of the World Trade Center, completed in 1977, and the Empire State Building, which was built in 1931.