Renaissance · Europe · Culture

1617

Tulip Cultivation Spreads Through Holland

1617

Ottoman tulip bulbs, imported decades earlier by the botanist Clusius, had mutated into vivid broken-color varieties that drove Dutch gardeners to obsession. By 1617 rare bulbs changed hands for the price of townhouses. The mania was still building toward its spectacular crash, but the flower had already become Holland's most irrational luxury.

More from 1617 Renaissance

In context

Also in 1617 (2 other events on record)

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Nur Jahan Rises · South Asia · Politics

Before and after in Europe

Before: April 23, 1616: Shakespeare and Cervantes Die
After: May 23, 1618: Defenestration of Prague

Before and after in Culture

Before: April 23, 1616: Shakespeare and Cervantes Die
After: 1623: Shakespeare's First Folio Published

Era

Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.