In 1524, Manhattan was inhabited by Lenape Native Americans when  Giovanni da Verrazzano from Florence sailed into Brooklyn looking to start a business selling Vanilla & Cinnamon gelati with maple syrup, but he saw Haagen Dazs was already there, so he named the land “New Angoulême“ and reported to the French king a “very big river”.

In 1609 Henry Hudson, working for the Dutch East India Company, mapped Manhattan Island while searching for chocolate waffles but the native people were out, celebrating 4^th July, so he continued up the river.

So then the Dutch led by Peter Stuyvesant, wanted Manhattan to build a cigarette factory, the French wanted it because they had a lot of ironing and needed a flat-iron building and the Brits wanted it because they loved tall skyscrapers.

In 1626 the Dutch managed to buy the island from the Native Americans for 60 guilders (approx $1,050 in 2014) and called it Amsterdam or “a steal”.

The English were jealous, so in 1664, they conquered New Netherland and renamed it “New York”. The Dutch negotiated for citizens of New Netherland to remain catholic  or protesters under the English rulers.  There were lots of wars and the Dutch regained it in 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city “New Orange”.

Finally in 1674 England and the Netherlands made a treaty that the English would keep Manhattan, which the Duke of York called “New York”, while in return, the Dutch got the small isle of Run in the Indonesian Banda islands, to secure their monopoly of the global nutmeg & mace spice trade.

The English eventually killed the Dutch supremacy in the spice trade by replanting the nutmeg trees in Ceylon, Grenada, Singapore & other British colonies.  There are still nutmeg trees growing on Run today.