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From WinkyPedia, the free encyclopedia that tells you what you already knew
Tulip mania was a period in the Dutch Republic in the 1630s when prices for some tulip bulbs rose to extraordinary levels and then suddenly collapsed in February 1637. At the peak, a single bulb of a rare variety was reportedly sold for as much as a fine house in Amsterdam.[1] It is often described as the first recorded speculative bubble, and is the only financial crisis in history that could be kept in a flowerpot.
The most prized tulips had flamed or striped petals, with streaks of colour on white or yellow. Nobody at the time knew why; the stripes were later found to be caused by a virus carried by aphids, which also weakened the bulbs. The most valuable flowers in the country were therefore the ones that were slightly ill.[2]
Because bulbs spend most of the year underground, much of the trading was done in contracts for bulbs that had not yet been dug up, in taverns, during the winter. Many of the people buying them never saw the flowers at all.
Older accounts describe a whole nation ruined by flowers. Modern historians, studying the original records, have concluded that the episode was much smaller than legend suggests: relatively few people were involved, and there is little evidence of widespread ruin. Much of the famous story was spread by moralising pamphlets written at the time and retold for centuries.