Penn paid a total of 1200 pounds for the land, which though a large sum,
was
probably fair for both sides. Penn took the advice of Dutch and Swedish
colonists who had already set some parameters for treaty agreements
These
earlier settlers provided invaluable assistance in delineating who to
contact,
and who to pay for the land. On the other side of the 'covenant chain',
the
Delaware had many years of negotiating such treaties, and were ready to
sell
their land to Penn, on their terms. Disease had decimated much of their
population so they needed less of the land near Philadelphia, and at the
time
there was plenty of un-occupied space to the North and West of the
(future) city.
As well, the Indian's 'ownership' of the land, was not as 'savagely
simple' as
had been assumed. (Jennings, 201). They worked with a complex
arrangement
of overlapping 'right's to use certain areas, and rights to dispose of
these
obligations. So Penn may have had to pay several times to the same holder
in
order to clear all claims. He was not 'duped' into paying several times
for the
same property.
