The Netherlands is often seen as the home of windmills, flat land and tulip fields. The image of windmills and flat lands stem from the Netherlands’ rich history of water systems and agricultural traditions. Tulips have however been peculiarly reserved as a Dutch symbol, and is often associated with the Netherlands, despite the fact that it is originally a Turkish flower. In fact, the tulip is the Turkish national flower, while the Dutch national flower is, contrary to popular belief, a daisy. When I first discovered this, I was surprised. Why did the tulip become popular as a Dutch flower? Since when?
To answer my questions, I learned that the tulip was a symbol of power in the Ottoman Empire and that an Austrian ambassador is believed to have introduced it to Western Europe in the 16th century. From here, the Belgian botanist, Carolus Clusius, became a professor in Leiden, bringing with him his Tulip collection; thus introducing tulips to the Netherlands in 1594. Apparently, the tulip was warmly welcomed by the Dutch people, as they appreciated its beauty. Perhaps they appreciated the tulip’s beauty to an excessive extent as, before Clusius knew it, middle class people were trading tulips as a product, rather than just a botanist’s collectible. In fact, the Dutch came to love tulips so much that a bubble economy soon formed around tulip trade in 1633, only 40 years after its initial Dutch debut.
Suddenly, almost as if the Dutch were all under the same tulip-craving spell, tulips started being traded for family heirlooms, for land and even for one’s entire house. People’s lives were being ruined and created by tulip trade, and the demand only grew larger. A tulip’s value differed according to their color and the new craze obsessed over rare multi-colored tulips. Common middle-class people were displaying unbloomed tulip bulbs in their houses as a symbol of their riches. Others began growing their own batches of tulips to profit from. To put into perspective the extent to which this frenzy had hypnotized the Dutch, a man had been arrested for mistakenly eating a tulip bulb, thinking it was an onion bulb.
However, in 1637, this bubble economy disappeared as rapidly as it had first appeared. It was coined as ‘Tulip Mania’, a fitting name to describe the unexplainably excessive value that the Dutch had placed on tulips. Although it may seem like a completely irrational obsession with tulips, tulips could conveniently be traded as bulbs, which were not fragile like most flowers, making them a dependable product. Either way, ever since this Tulip Mania, the Dutch had merely embraced the tulip so much that it has almost become synonymous with Dutch culture. Thus, because of this rich history, tulips are still valued and loved in the Netherlands today.
