By Jade Small | The Mind Unleashed
The Netherlands, a small piece of Europe on the north-western coast, is known for its flat landscape, canals, windmills, tulips, and bicycles. It’s also the birthplace of famous artists like Rembrandt van Meer and Vincent van Gogh.
Tulips are not native to the Netherlands but were imported from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in the sixteenth century. The tulip became popular when Carolus Clusius wrote his first book about tulips in 1592, so popular in fact that Clusius’ garden was regularly raided and bulbs stolen. Their popularity eventually reached fever pitch and caused the first known economic bubble, known as ‘’Tulip Mania.’’ Some bulbs reached such extremely high prices that the market collapsed in 1637.
Keukenhof estate, which dates back to the 15th century, was a source of fruit and vegetables for the Teylingen Castle kitchen during the years 1401 through 1436. Part of the estate had a major overhaul after WWII when a group of bulb growers and exporters, in an effort to revitalize the market, were able to use the estate in 1949 to exhibit their spring-flowering bulbs. Keukenhof opened its gates to the public in the spring of 1950 with over 236,000 visitors that first year.
