Tulip Bulb Trade

Timeline

1. c. 1570–1600Leiden and Dutch horticultural circles · LeidenTulips were brought from the Ottoman Empire by botanists and merchants and cultivated in botanical gardens and noble gardens in places like Leiden, becoming a symbolic flower of status and aesthetic taste.
2. c. 1610–1630Haarlem bulb district · HaarlemSpecialized bulb-growing districts formed around Haarlem and Amsterdam; merchants graded and priced bulbs by variety and virus-induced patterning, winter bulb auctions and written contract trades became increasingly common, and prices rose steadily though not yet to the later frenzy levels.
3. c. 1630–1637Major cities of the Dutch Republic · NetherlandsFutures-like bulb trading in the 1630s drew in citizens and craftsmen, with prices of rare varieties soaring; the market suddenly collapsed in February 1637, though the preceding decade's trade already showed modern commodity and speculative characteristics.