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In the 1630s the Dutch Republic saw prices for rare tulip bulbs climb to extraordinary levels before they collapsed in February 1637. Tulip mania is often called the first recorded speculative bubble, when prices soar far above real value because buyers expect to sell on at a profit.

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Tulips reached Europe from the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and the botanist Carolus Clusius planted them at Leiden in 1593. The most prized bulbs produced flamed, streaked petals; we now know the pattern was caused by a virus, which also made the bulbs slower to multiply. The rarest, such as the Semper Augustus, changed hands for up to 10,000 guilders. Much of the trade was in contracts for bulbs still in the ground, agreed in taverns over the winter of 1636–37; the Dutch called it windhandel, ‘wind trade’, because no bulbs changed hands. The story became famous through Charles Mackay's 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which described widespread ruin. The historian Anne Goldgar's 2007 study of the records found a fairly small group of traders and very few bankruptcies.

Türkçe oku
1630'larda Hollanda Cumhuriyeti'nde nadir lale soğanlarının fiyatları olağanüstü yükseldi, ardından Şubat 1637'de çöktü. Lale çılgınlığı denen bu olay, çoğu zaman kayıtlara geçen ilk spekülatif balon sayılır: Alıcılar malı daha pahalıya satabileceklerini umdukça fiyatlar gerçek değerin çok üstüne çıkar.

Lale Avrupa'ya 16. yüzyılda Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'ndan geldi; botanikçi Carolus Clusius 1593'te Leiden'de lale dikti. En çok aranan lalelerin taç yaprakları alev gibi çizgili ve alacalıydı. Bugün bu desenin bir virüsten kaynaklandığını biliyoruz; virüs soğanların çoğalmasını da yavaşlatıyordu. Semper Augustus gibi en nadir lalelerin soğanları 10.000 florine kadar alıcı buldu. Ticaretin çoğu, henüz topraktaki soğanlar için 1636–1637 kışında meyhanelerde yapılan sözleşmelerdi. Ortada hiç soğan el değiştirmediği için Hollandalılar buna windhandel, yani “rüzgâr ticareti” diyordu. Olay, Charles Mackay'in 1841'de yayımlanan Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (Olağanüstü Kitlesel Yanılgılar ve Kalabalıkların Çılgınlığı) kitabıyla ün kazandı; Mackay pek çok kişinin iflas ettiğini anlatıyordu. Tarihçi Anne Goldgar ise 2007'de dönemin belgelerini inceledi ve ticaretin görece küçük bir tüccar çevresinde kaldığını, iflasların da çok az olduğunu gösterdi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Tulip mania
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