Watch my VLOG video here: https://youtu.be/4q83F4gpz48
How did tulips come to the Netherlands? Tulip Mania, the history of tulips.
In today’s VLOG video: Can we make pictures at the tulip fields? We are standing at the tulip fields near the Keukenhof in Lisse. We want to make a fashion shoot at the tulip fields, but are we allowed to do that? We are going to ask the farmer on the tulip fields.
Lisse is a town and municipality, which lies in the bulb region in the province of South Holland, in the western Netherlands. The Keukenhof is one of the largest flower garden in the world located in Lisse, with more than seven million flower bulbs that are annually planted in the garden. For a public visit, the Keukenhof is only open for two months during spring time, from mid-March till mid-May.
Address of the Keukenhof:
Stationsweg 166A
2161 AM Lisse
The Dutch Tulip fields in the Netherlands are famous all over the world. The tulips are seen as a typical Dutch flower, but where do the tulips originally came from? Let’s dive into the history of the tulips.
The history of the tulips.
The history of the tulips lies in the Middle East and the mountain valleys of Central Asia. The tulips were growing on lands somewhere between Northern China and Southern Europe, in countries like Iran and Afghanistan. Originally the tulips were growing wild in the Pamirs (Russia’s Roof of the World) and the valleys of the Tian Shan Mountains, where China and Tibet meet Russia and Afghanistan. The Tian Shan is a large mountain range which lies on the border between Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Northwest China.
The climate on the mountains varies from extreme cold winters, to dry hot summers. The tulip bulbs need cold winters, with a period of at least fourteen weeks of cold nights, to grow its roots, which makes this mountain climate perfect for the optimal growth of the tulips. It was a contrasting sight, these beautiful wild tulips growing on a landscape that looked extremely desolated and rugged. The colour of these wild tulips was mostly blood-red. The wild tulips were much shorter and had narrower petals in comparison with modern tulips. It is unknown when the first cultivation of the tulips began, but the tulips were already found in gardens of Turkey, Persia and Baghdad around 1050.
The wild tulips were further cultivated in the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey) was an Islamic empire that existed from 1299 to 1922, created by the Turkish tribes. The Ottoman Empire became one of the most powerful states in the world, with its peak in the 15th and 16th century. In the 16th century, a part of Kazakhstan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
From 1520-1566 Sultan Süleyman the First, also known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The wild tulips were discovered in the mountains of Kazakhstan. Sultan Süleyman was very charmed by these beautiful, unique flowers and brought them back to the Ottoman Empire.
The tulips were regarded as holy. Sultan Süleyman loved the tulips so much, that he cultivated the tulips to a higher level. During his reign, the tulips became an integral part of the Ottoman culture.
The tulips became very popular in the Ottoman Empire and were planted everywhere, not only in the courtyards and palace gardens of the wealthiest and most powerful people, but also around the houses of the poor. The people adored these tulips, and were impressed by the beauty of the flowers. The tulip became the symbol of power and wealth.
How the tulips came to the Netherlands.
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522-1592) was a Flemish writer, herbalist and diplomat. In his role as an Austrian diplomat, in 1554 and again in 1556, Busbecq was set out as the Hapsburg Ambassador to the court of Sultan Süleyman of the Ottoman Empire. Busbecq travelled for his mission to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
Very occasionally, Sultan Süleyman gave important guests the gift of tulips and one of the lucky recipients of the tulips was Busbecq. In his book Turkish Letters, Busbecq called the flower ‘tulipan’. The name ‘tulip’ derived from the Ottoman Turkish word ‘tülbent’ which in turn derives from the Persian word ‘dolband’ or ‘turban’, which is a kind of head wear based on cloth winding.
Some say it was Busbecq who introduced the tulips into the Western Europe. Busbecq returned to Vienna with the tulip bulbs. A couple of years later, the Swiss botanist Konrad Gesner saw the Garden Tulips flowering in Augsburg in Germany. It was the first time in his life that Gesner saw tulips. In 1561 Gesner mentioned the tulips in his Book of Garden Flowers.
Busbecq gave some tulip bulbs to his friend Carolus Clusius, a internationally renowned Flemish speaking French botanist, who was the director of the Imperial Garden of Vienna at that time. In 1593, Clusius came to the Netherlands and became the director of the Botanical Garden at the University of Leiden. In late 1593, Clusius planted a few tulip bulbs in the Botanical Garden at the University of Leiden. As a result, 1594 is officially considered the date when the tulips first flowered in the Netherlands.
As a pioneering botanist, Clusius loved to study strange exotic flowers. The tulips were a mystery to Clusius. He had questions about the tulips, like how to create a variety of colourful tulips and why some tulips had stripes on their flowers while others had not. He experimented with the tulips and did a lot of research on them.
People heard about Clusius’s beautiful tulips and as the word spread, the Botanical Garden of Clusius attracted many visitors, especially during spring, when his tulips were in full bloom. Many visitors asked Clusius if he wanted to sell some tulip bulbs, but Clusius didn’t feel like sharing. Clusius wanted to keep the tulips all for himself to continue his private research, so in order do that, he asked outrageous prices for his tulip bulbs. Only the wealthiest people could afford the price.
Most people were not able to buy the tulips, but there was still a great desire to have them. In 1596 and 1598 people sneaked into Clusius’s Botanical Garden and stole many beautiful tulips of him. Clusius was so devastated by these despicable acts, that he never grew tulips again. Unlike plenty of others, who were willing and able to grow these tulip bulbs from then on. Shortly after these events, during spring season, a lot of tulip flowers started to appear in many gardens across the Netherlands. This was the start of the now famous Dutch tulip industry.
Tulip Mania.
Those intensely bright colouring, never seen before, beautiful exquisite rare tulips, caused a sensation.
People were crazy about the tulips. In 1600 people lived in the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth with a blooming economy. The tulips were seen as a hot item, the ultimate symbol of wealth and prosperity, and many people became obsessed to have them.
The tulips were so extremely popular, that they created the Tulip Mania. The tulips caused the whole country to go mad. For the most popular tulip bulb, people paid prices, as high as the price of a luxurious canal house in Amsterdam. Tulip Mania was the biggest investment bubble in history.
Tulip Mania reached its peak in 1637, when the tulip bubble suddenly burst and the market crashed. The tulip fever was over, but the tulip industry didn’t collapse. On the contrary, the international flower trade is still dominated by the Dutch today and the Dutch tulip fields in the Netherlands are famous all over the world.
People still love to come visit the colourful tulip fields every year during spring time, admiring the beautiful tulips in many different extraordinary varieties and unbelievable forms.
I have to admit that, I too am crazy about the Dutch tulips. Every year I suffer from seasonable tulip fever, becoming a little bit mad, being caught in the Tulip Mania bubble.
That’s why I came visit these tulip fields several times this year, making fashionable pictures with these famous Dutch tulips, like you can see in my VLOG video here: https://youtu.be/4q83F4gpz48
I love tulips. I went to the tulip fields to take my annual dose of tulip colours, which enriches my sight and raises my spirit. What a happy sight!
The pink vintage dress that I am wearing is a beautiful rare gem. The dress is completely hand made, found by my friend in a little picturesque vintage store in France.
