The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America Free Audiobook Download by Russell Shorto

Early on, the colony of New Amsterdam was little more than a paltry outpost with more settlers than soldiers. But that would soon change when in 1625, Peter Minuit and his fellow Dutchmen bought Manhattan for sixty guilders from the Lenape Indians who lived in the area. That small sum changed everything, providing the seeds for what would eventually become an expanding empire.

A few years after the Dutch bought Manhattan from the Indians, Peter Minuit set out with his crew to find a new colony for the Netherlands. They discovered an island at the center of the world that they named Manhattan. For more than two centuries, New York City was one of the most important cities in America.

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America, is written by Russell Shorto, a professor of history at NYU. This book tells the story of New Netherland, which was renamed New York in honor of its Dutch founder. This colony had a profound effect on early American history, as it was where many present political ideas were first hammered out.

The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America is a historical work that recounts the story of New York's early settlement. It tells the tale of a colony called New Amsterdam, which was conquered by Spain in 1625 and renamed New Netherland. The book follows the colonial history of America from 1609 to 1776, starting with Henry Hudson's journey up the East River. The author traces this history through an exploration of culture, politics, and economics until it culminates in a conclusion about how Americans are shaped by their inheritance from Dutch Manhattan.

In 1609, Peter Minuit, a Dutch trader and explorer, purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie Indians for a blanket of scarlet cloth and two Holland Company knives. The purported purchase made Manhattan the most important place in North America and created an enduring Dutch-American culture. Russell Shorto tells this epic tale that spans from the earliest days of European settlement in 1609 to present day

From the time the Dutch first settled Manhattan, they were never entirely satisfied with it. To the natives who called it Manhattes, this island at the center of the world was a place of mystery and menace; to its Dutch founders, something of a disappointment. Here was New Amsterdam--the new capital of their colony--but also "a place so vast and so remote that they had no hope whatever of occupying and exploiting it."