Manhattan was swapped for nutmeg

In the 17th century, nutmeg was worth almost as much as silver. It grew only on a handful of volcanic islands in Indonesia, the Bandas, and was believed to cure everything from the plague to bad breath. Whoever controlled those islands controlled a fortune.

Holland wanted them all, but one, the tiny island of Run, was in English hands. After years of war over trade, the two countries signed the Treaty of Breda in 1667 and redrew the map: England handed Run to the Dutch and, in exchange, kept a distant, swampy colony on the other side of the Atlantic, New Amsterdam.

That colony was renamed New York. At the time it looked like the Dutch had grabbed the better slice: they'd traded a city for an island full of spice trees. History turned the whole thing upside down.