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Hope Springs Eternal
March 29, 2010
Here’s some tulip history:
Tulips were actually imported to Holland from Turkey in the 1554, where they were first commercially cultivated during the Ottoman Empire. The Flemish botanist Charles de l'Écluse wrote the first major book on tulips in 1592, and their popularity in Europe soared. L'Écluse’s teaching gardens were repeatedly raided, with as many as 100 bulbs being stolen at a time. By 1634, the passion for tulips set off “one of the most bizarre chapters in the history of greed.”
You think we live in interesting times! The truth is that the great Dutch tulip frenzy could be considered the most irrational behavior by a society in the history of mankind. There was rampant speculation, unbridled avarice, over-indebtedness, and a lust for acquisition that spanned all social classes –- hmm…sort of like the U.S. housing bubble of the 2000s, but far worse. Imagine someone trading their home for tulip bulbs?
Why were tulips the object of such passion in 17th century Holland? Novelty (there’d never been a flower like it in Europe before) and the supply couldn’t meet the demand.
Why couldn’t supply meet demand? Read more...