Flowers 7

When we think of the Netherlands we automatically think of tulips, but few of us are aware of the flower’s colourful history. In 1593, Dutch doctor and botanist Carolus Clusius discovered tulips growing in Constantinople, promptly took them back to his homeland and began cultivating them for medical research. However his garden was broken into, some of his plants stolen and their seeds cultivated for sale. The tulip was a rarity, affordable only to the very wealthy. Thirty years later, the price of just one beautiful, striped Rembrant tulip reached a staggering price equivalent today (2008) of about $1500, about 20 times the annual wage of a skilled tradesman at that time. The period between 1634 and 1637 is generally known as Tulip Mania and is often compared to the 1920s Stock Market boom. Tulip traders made fortunes until one day in 1637, traders at an auction in Harlem got stuck with their options. The news spread like wildfire and prices tumbled in the ensuing panic, leaving many of the rich instantly poverty-stricken. Rembrandt too was a victim. His tulip contracts were worthless and his assignments for artwork from his formerly wealthy clients dried up. He was declared bankrupt, his house auctioned off and he died a pauper in 1669.
Despite this darker side of tulip history, the Dutch continued to maintain their commercial dedication to the flower. Today (2008), the Netherlands produce around three billion tulip bulbs every year, of which two billion are exported.
The term “Tulip Mania” has since often been used as a metaphor for a major economic bubble. But the lesson learned almost four centuries ago still seems to go unheeded.