Tulips

 

Tulips are native to Central Asia, particularly the Tien Shan Mountains in modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey, where they grow in the wild on rocky mountain slopes and steppes, where winters are cold and summers are dry.

It was in the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey)—especially during the 16th century—that tulips became a cultural obsession. Tulips came to symbolize beauty, paradise, and wealth and were featured in art, poetry, and palace gardens.

In fact, the Ottoman court had entire festivals around tulips. The period of 1718–1730 in Ottoman history is even known as the "Tulip Era" (Lale Devri).

In the mid-1500s, a famous Flemish botanist named Carolus Clusius was working at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He had received tulip bulbs and seeds from Ogier de Busbecq, the ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire to the Ottoman court. Clusius planted them in Leiden and began studying them—this was the first official tulip garden in Western Europe.

By 1630, Tulips became so fashionable and rare that they triggered one of the world’s first economic bubbles. Tulip bulbs were being sold for the price of a house or more. In 1637, the market crashed overnight. People lost fortunes. 

But the Dutch passion for tulips remained. The Netherlands is now the world’s largest producer and exporter of tulip bulbs. Every spring, millions of tulips bloom in places like Keukenhof Gardens, drawing visitors from all over the world.