How the flower market went from bloom to bust.
Nothing symbolizes the Netherlands like the tulip, a magically bright flower that
can be seen in almost every window box in the country. They're wildly popular though
they are today – Dutch farmers produce nine billion bulbs a year – their status
was even higher in the past. The first tulips were cultivated in the Ottoman Empire
for the sultan's court in Constantinople. Merchants brought them to Holland, they
did not thrive in the damp, chilly climate until 1587. That was when a Flemish botanist
called Carolus Clusius founded Europe's first institute for horticulture in Leiden
and began to study their growth.
Read More About Holland's Tulips
