Tulip mania:
A mania not unlike the sort that grips us today.
Conrad Guestner brought the first tulip bulb into Holland in 1593. The tulip soon became a status symbol for the rich. Some tulip bulbs contracted a virus that caused their color to spilt once they’d bloomed. These “flames” only drove up the tulip’s price.
Speculators soon arrived onto the bulb market. Bulbs were traded on local exchanges. The speculation soon became a mania with a bubble ready to burst. People traded in their life fortunes just to acquire one bulb.
One urban legend involves a drunk man in a bar. The man started peeling and eating what he thought was an onion. It was, in fact, the bar owner’s tulip bulb on display. He was jailed for many months.
