Tricking the Natives
To legally safeguard the settlers’ investments, possessions and farms on Manhattan island, Minuit negotiated the “purchase” of Manhattan from the Manahatta band of Lenape for 60 guilders worth of trade goods. The deed itself has not survived so the conditions causing the negotiation and validation of the deed are unknown. A textual reference to the deed became a foundation for the legend that Minuit had purchased Manhattan from the Native Americans for 24 dollars’ worth of trinkets. The Manahattas had no legal concept of permanent ownership of land since they moved encampments on a seasonal basis and lived off whatever land they inhabited. Since the Manahattas were not familiar with European legal issues they could not have understood the concept of property deeds. We therefore don’t know what they thought they relinquished by signing the deeds.
The PAC revealed yesterday that a 1999 report into Medialab used words such as “dismal”, “surprisingly weak”, “inexplicably dismal”, “mediocre”, “flaky”, “not sufficiently industry-focused”, “very mediocre” and “disappointing” about the entire concept.
But the Government went ahead and established it anyway. And because it tied itself to contractual arrangements with the MIT, the State was “hamstrung”, even though a rescue plan was prepared within Government at one point.
Because of the legal position that ceded almost all power to MIT, “when things went wrong, the State was in a very bad position to pull any irons out of the fire,” Mr Noonan said. He suggested that many on the Irish side had been “overawed by the academic reputation of the MIT” when putting the deal together, thereby failing to safeguard the State’s interests.
Mark Waters marked time at 11:43 am on February 1st, 2007 .
