19 Jan The history of Tulips

Of course Tulips have a Dutch origin… well at least we thought so!

It turns out that we were wrong and, in fact, they originated in Kazakhstan; who knew!

Tulips are from Asia

Now that we’re armed with this (new to us) information, let’s dig into it a little further.

Those first Tulips where in the high mountains of Kazakhstan but differed quite a lot from the tulips we know and love today.

Oh, side fact; Latin name is Tulipa Sylvestris (wild tulip) for anyone keen to know…

The Kazakhstanis took them into Turkey as the Ottoman empire expanded.

They named the flower after the Persian work for Turban; ‘tulipan’ as it resembled the headwear.

At the end of the 18th century, tulips could be found in the gardens of wealthy dignitaries and were also found in Islamic artwork as well as poetry.

Tulips arrive in Europe

At the end of the 16th century, tulips arrived in Europe and were introduced to the gardens of Vienna, after which, they rapidly continued to spread across the rest of Europe.

The person in charge (if you’d like to know who that was: Carolus Clusius) of those gardens took some bulbs on a trip to the Netherlands and found that soil conditions; sand-rich, were ideal for tulips to grow. This then expanded to many connections throughout Europe.

Popularity increased so rapidly that they were actually traded on the stock exchange; this lead to ‘Tulipmania’ during the mid 17th century, creating market conditions that meant that one bulb could fetch as much as the cost of a house!

Following this, the humble tulip became a sign of prosperity.

The bubble bursts

As always, it had to happen; the tulip ‘bubble’ finally burst in the mid 17th Century leading to ruin for many investors.

This didn’t stop the Dutch love of the flower which continues today. Tulip fields were planted in Haarlem, mid-west Holland in around 1700 and became the centre of flower growing in Europe.

Amsterdam tulip festival

Throughout April, over 900,000 tulips are planted throughout the city in over 85 locations.

Moving outside the city, the tulip fields of Holland host hundreds of thousands of tulips in and around the Keukenhof Gardens in an area knows as Bollenstreek (bulb region) where visitors can enjoy walking, cycling and more, surrounded by a splash of beautiful colours.