Indian sold Manhattan for $24, story a myth

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The widely accepted story that the Indian sold Manhattan to the Dutch for $24 worth of beads has never been proven and was probably made up by a historian, says a researcher.

"There is no documentary evidence that even suggests European trading beads were used to buy Manhattan Island," says Peter Francis, director of the Centre for Bead Research in New York.

The legend states that Indians took the beads and signed away the 22,000 acres that comprise the most valuable island in the world.