I Wonder About Tulips
"If only people were more like tulips and could somehow find a way, to
grace this world with beauty before they slowly fade away." - Jim Y
Origins in Turkey
Tulip was actually originally a wild flower growing in Central Asia.
It was first cultivated by the Turks as early as 1000AD. Mania in
Turkey struck in the 16th century, at the time of the Ottoman Empire,
when the Sultan demanded cultivation of particular blooms for his
pleasure. The name 'tulip' came from the Turkish word for turban.
Tulips in Turkey continued to remain popular, and in the early 18th
century, the 'Age of the Tulips' or 'Tulip Era' began. There were
tulip festivals and it was a crime (punishable by exile) to buy or
sell tulips outside the capital.
Introduction to Europe
The flowers were introduced into Western Europe and the Netherlands in
the late 16th century, probably by Carolus Clusius, who was a
biologist from Vienna.
In the 1590s, Clusius became the director of the Hortus Botanicus in
Leiden, the oldest botanical garden of Europe, founded in 1587. He was
hired by the University of Leiden to research medicinal plants. While
doing so, his friend in Turkey, Ogier Ghiselain de Busbecq, the
ambassador of Constantinople (present day Istanbul), had seen the
beautiful tulip flowers growing in the palace gardens, and so sent a
few to Clusius for his garden in Leiden. This was the start of the
bulb fields in the Netherlands that can be seen today.
In the beginning of the 17th century, the tulip was starting to be
used as a garden decoration instead of the former medicinal purposes.
It soon gained major popularity as a trading product, especially in
Holland. The interest for the flowers was huge and bulbs were sold for
unbelievable high prices.