tulpen

Tulpenmania (1634–1637) was the world's first speculative bubble — and it happened in Amsterdam. At the peak, a single Semper Augustus bulb sold for 10,000 guilders, enough to buy a grand canal house on the Herengracht.

Tulips arrived in the Netherlands from the Ottoman Empire in the late 1500s. The Dutch, already obsessed with flowers, went mad for them. A virus that streaked the petals with vivid colour patterns (called "breaks") made certain bulbs extraordinarily rare and valuable. Merchants, artisans, and even servants began trading tulip futures — contracts for bulbs still in the ground.

In February 1637, the market collapsed overnight. Buyers stopped showing up to auctions. Fortunes were wiped out. The economic fallout was limited (most trades were on paper), but the cultural impact was enormous. Dutch painters began incorporating tulips into vanitas still lifes — reminders that all earthly beauty is fleeting.

Today, the Netherlands exports 2 billion tulip bulbs annually. The Keukenhof gardens plant 7 million each spring.