THE THREE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY

OF THE FOUNDING OF

THE  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK

On Ma}' 6, 1626, histor}- records perhaps the most im¬
portant commercial transaction on record—the purchase
of Manhattan Island from the Indians by Peter Minuit,
on behalf of the West India Company, for the purpose
of settlement and colonization. The Ter-Centenary of
this momentous event will soon be at hand. It goes with¬
out saying that the eyes of the world will be turned upon
the City of New York on that eventful date. It is distant
at this moment a scant year and a half from the time
this page is published.

There is, of course, more or less quibbling as to the
exact year in which the Island received its first settlers.
There are numerous well authenticated records which go
to show that technically speaking, the occupation of the
Island preceded the actual purchase by Minuit. Never¬
theless, the formal beginning of the great City of New
York will be generally recorded throughout the world as
of May 6, 1626. The important part played by the differ¬
ent bodies of Belgians and Walloons need not be mini¬
mized. Old maps on which the words "Nova Belgia"
are used to designate this region, are more or less nu¬
merous. Early seals in connection with documents on
the Island, also bear this name.

The further fact that Minuit, Stuyvesant, Bayard,
Schuyler, and other eminent names of that period
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