Real sultans wear tulips
When the tulip arrived in Turkey from Iran, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan, it was soon adopted by sultans as the finishing touch on their outfit: they would stick a tulip in their turban. This is why the flower was given the name ‘tulipan’, which means ‘turban’.
A long journey
In 1550 Turkey was a powerful state. The palace gardens of the sultan Suleiman were filled with the most beautiful tulips, and in those days a human life was worth less than the flower. Sultan Suleiman had considerable status, and this powerful man very occasionally gave a guest the gift of tulips. One lucky recipient was a nobleman from Flanders. This nobleman then gave the floral treasure to a friend who was in charge of the Emperor of Austria’s herb garden.
Grab and run
The friend moved from Austria to the Netherlands to take up a professorship at the University of Leiden, where he was also put in charge of the university’s herb garden. Naturally, the tulips travelled with him. He tended and studied the remarkable flowers as if his life depended on it, so it came as a great shock when he discovered one morning that the tulip bulbs had been stolen from his garden. The Dutch trade in tulip bulbs had begun.
Expensive petals
The tulip became the flower of the moment. Lots of people with money invested in this magical, unusual flower and prices shot up. Some went for the quick buck and invested everything they had in a single bulb – including, sometimes, their house. The mania that accompanied the buying and selling of tulips was simply asking for trouble.
The bubble burst
In February 1637 the government brought an end to the trade in tulips and the market completely collapsed. Some people had earned incredible amounts of money, whilst others were left with nothing but a worthless piece of paper.
And nowadays?
A big bunch of tulips still brightens up your home, but for a truly impressive display of the flower you'll need to travel to Holland. Even today, the tulip is still the most important flower for the Dutch flower industry, and almost half the bulb fields in the Netherlands are filled with endless rows of tulips. See if you can spot all150 different species and the many thousands of hybrids. Have fun!
