You have a time machine. You are looking for a real estate bargain. Where do you go?

Property traders the world over say the same thing: what matter is 'location, location, location'. But that's not entirely true. Some places are valuable because of their provenance – something famous happened there. They might be really valuable tracts of land. But if you had a time machine, you could make a killing, because some of these priceless sites used to go for a song. (Or a verse and a chorus.)

Guess when these places were cheap to own.

1. What did the Roman Army have to do with the founding of Cologne?
2. How much did Peter Minuit pay the Lenape Indians for Manhattan Island in 1624?
3. Talk about bargains: what did the British trade the Dutch for Manhattan in 1664?
4. More Dutch land acquisition: what in the world is a polder?
5. What did Jefferson pay Napoleon for the Louisiana Territory in 1803?
6. What did the US pay for the Philippines in 1898?
7. How much did the land for Washington, DC, cost the federal government?
8. Who did the US buy Alaska from?
9. If you can't buy a city, make one out of patchwork. Why did people originally move to the 117 islands of Venice?
10. And now a modern real estate conundrum: why are the Maldive Islanders considering moving the entire population to Australia?

Think you got all that? Click on the picture below for answers.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

30.03.15 Front Page

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