Under your argument 14th century land in Manhattan is worth the same as 21st century land. Land values are just capitalized land rents. Land in Manhattan is va

Under your argument 14th century land in Manhattan is worth the same as 21st century land. Land values are just capitalized land rents. Land in Manhattan is valuable today because the stream of income or potential stream of income that flows from it today. When that potential is lost, land values collapse. The entirety of that value in Manhattan derives from what is around it - the people who live there. The rents are close to 100% parasitic. Let's say a nearly identical apartment costs $700 in a cheap town and and $3,700 in manhattan. That means roughly $3000 / month of that rent is parasitically extracted. In the past you used to be able to purchase the right to tax people - and whatever you could wring out of them you could keep. These people were not very popular. Land ownership is not so very different.