1 00:00:02,360 --> 00:00:05,440 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. One of our episodes on the show this 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:09,080 Speaker 1: week was a brief history of Gardening, and we mentioned 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: in that episode that we have some other gardening adjacent 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 1: topics in our back catalog. Several of them have been 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:20,279 Speaker 1: Saturday classics relatively recently, so we went way back, way 6 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:24,280 Speaker 1: back for this one. It is our February seven episode 7 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:28,240 Speaker 1: on tulip Mania, and this episode was from previous hosts 8 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: of the show, Sarah and Dablina. We hope you enjoy 9 00:00:33,760 --> 00:00:36,760 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 10 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 11 00:00:46,240 --> 00:00:49,000 Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm deleted chalk Reboarding, and we're 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: going to start off today's episode with a little story, 13 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 1: a legend, and it's about a merchant in seventeenth century 14 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:00,880 Speaker 1: Holland and he greets one of his ships just arrived 15 00:01:00,920 --> 00:01:04,120 Speaker 1: from abroad, and he gives a sailor on board a 16 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: herring for lunch, very generous of him. And the sailor 17 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:11,559 Speaker 1: is looking for a little something to eat with his harring, 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,399 Speaker 1: a little side dish, looking around the ship and he 19 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: finds some root like vegetables on board and he thinks 20 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: they're onions, so he cuts him up and he fries 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: them with some oil and vinegar or some sort of 22 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: condiments to to make them tasty, and he eats them 23 00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:32,480 Speaker 1: with his fish, And through this sailor's innocent mistake, the 24 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: merchant ends up losing more on the meal than he 25 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: would have if he had bought the prince himself the 26 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: finest feast in the land. Um. So you'll you've probably 27 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: heard this story before, and you'll find it rehashed and 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 1: retold in tons of sources and articles that you might 29 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: read in your favorite business journal today. And it really 30 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: epitomizes the financial bubble that shook the seven trade Dutch Republic, which, 31 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:06,000 Speaker 1: as the story goes, rich and poor people like speculated 32 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: on tulip bulbs, and um, they were destroyed when ultimately 33 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:14,440 Speaker 1: the market dropped before the bulbs that even bloomed. And 34 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: almost since then, this little tale not just the story 35 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:22,919 Speaker 1: of the bulbs mistake and its onions, but this greater 36 00:02:23,040 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: story has been an anecdote for business writers to use 37 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: as a cautionary tale as as something to watch out for. 38 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: Don't get too crazy about get rich quick schemes, or 39 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: you might find yourselves like the Dutch. Yeah, I know 40 00:02:37,240 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: what you're eating. That's another aspect. It was another left 41 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 1: them learned. And one reason you'll find that this Harrying 42 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: Exotic onion side dish story and print so frequently is 43 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: because it really makes a nice historical counterpart to current events. 44 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: Um articles about the dot com bubble, housing bubble, even 45 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: a tiny bubble of beanie babies that happened in the 46 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: late nineties. So I'm proud I was not part of 47 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: that bubble. Even I was probably a really at risk 48 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:08,799 Speaker 1: population to be part of it, but I avoided it. 49 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: And yeah, it's just to give you an example though, 50 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: of how often this story is used by business writers. UM. 51 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: I found this particular version in The Economist, So, I mean, 52 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 1: there you go kind of one of the ultimates there. Um, 53 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:24,919 Speaker 1: but we're gonna be talking about the tulip bubble or 54 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: tulip mania, it's called lots of different things, and try 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: to figure out why the bottom fell out, and also 56 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: sort of throw a wrench in the mix here and 57 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:40,520 Speaker 1: talk about the revisionist history that's really changed the story 58 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: a lot in the past year, or at least gotten 59 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: a lot of people thinking. Um. But before we we 60 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: go into the trade as a whole. We've got to 61 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: discuss the history of the commodity itself. Tulips, which have 62 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 1: a pretty pretty interesting history. Unless, say, for for a 63 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: flower that you that looks like an onion, potentially us. 64 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:02,240 Speaker 1: They do, and writer Anna Pavard, who wrote just one 65 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: of the surprisingly large number of books on tulips that 66 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: have come out since, said that the tulip is a 67 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: flower that has carried more political, social, economic, religious, intellectual, 68 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: and cultural baggage than any other on earth. So put 69 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: that in your face. I know, I never knew what 70 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: you think of it, um, but the tulip used to 71 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: just be another wildflower. Of course, it didn't start with 72 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: this history. It was one that grew in Turkey and 73 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:34,640 Speaker 1: Central Asia, and there are still more than one hundred 74 00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: species there today. I looked them up online. They're really pretty. 75 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: They don't look that much like I mean, you can 76 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:42,720 Speaker 1: tell they're related, but they don't look that much like 77 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: the tulips that you might grow in your garden today. 78 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 1: They're they're sort of pointier and a little more open 79 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: with like buttercups or something rather than Holland grown tulips. 80 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: Sounds very nice with the Ottomans. They brought these bulbs 81 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: into their courtyards and domestic hated them, and they were 82 00:05:01,279 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 1: just obsessed, as the Dutch would become with these flowers. There. 83 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: They liked the long, narrow flowers with the pointy petals, 84 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 1: and they used them as a decorative motif and things 85 00:05:10,839 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: like embroidery and tiles that even had a special vase 86 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,040 Speaker 1: for one blossom. But by the mid fifteen hundreds tulips 87 00:05:17,040 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: were brought to Europe by Ogier jes Lan de Buzbek, 88 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 1: the ambassador for Ferdinand the First of Austria to Suleiman 89 00:05:23,920 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: the Magnificent. Yeah, and a little side note on this 90 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,719 Speaker 1: ambassador here. Um. We mentioned in the earlier episode on 91 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:33,840 Speaker 1: Cinderella of the Harem that Suleiman sort of started this 92 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: tradition of not speaking to ambassadors presented at his court, 93 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: and so we can imagine that Ogier jes Lan definitely 94 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:48,239 Speaker 1: suffered under this cold eye of Suleiman Um. At one point, 95 00:05:48,240 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 1: actually he more than suffered. At one point the Sultan 96 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,360 Speaker 1: placed him under house arrest. He was eventually freed um. 97 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,799 Speaker 1: And when he does come back to Austria, he brought 98 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: not only tulips, seeds, not tulip bulbs tulip seeds which 99 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,400 Speaker 1: take a really really long time to turn them into tulips. 100 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: But he didn't just bring back those. He brought back 101 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: lilacs and and gora goats too, which I guess that's 102 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:14,800 Speaker 1: why he didn't bring the bulbs. The goats probably took 103 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:17,240 Speaker 1: a lot of room. Yeah, they sound like they'd be 104 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: pretty tough to transport. Holland, though, had to wait a 105 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:25,240 Speaker 1: few more years for tulips. But in fIF Careless Clusius, 106 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: who was the prefect of the Imperial herb Gardens in Vienna, 107 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 1: he brought some bulbs with him when he immigrated and 108 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: headed up to a new botanical gardens in Leiden, So 109 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,080 Speaker 1: basically he was taking a new position and brought them along. 110 00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,600 Speaker 1: Um Eclusius he bred these tulips mostly for medicinal purposes, 111 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: but he considered them to be beautiful too, so dual 112 00:06:45,800 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 1: purpose there well. And I have one more thing to 113 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: add about the medicinal purposes. I'm not sure what these 114 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: medicinal purposes were because I looked into it, and um tulips, 115 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:02,320 Speaker 1: especially their bulbs, are filled with glycosides which are extremely 116 00:07:02,400 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 1: toxic and according to the Nova Scotia Museum. During World 117 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,240 Speaker 1: War two, Um, some starving Dutch cattle and people had 118 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: to resort eating bulbs, and they would get quite sick 119 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: from it. Um. So y'all should actually all thank Develina 120 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:21,239 Speaker 1: for making me go look up why Closius was using 121 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:25,040 Speaker 1: these for medicinal purposes before I like accidentally recommended that 122 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: tulips made good medicine. And everybody ate the bulbs that 123 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: they had just brought from pikes or something. Stick to 124 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:36,480 Speaker 1: your pharmacies, guys, that's our official recommendation. But luckily uh 125 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: Clusius here, as I said, he uh, he also loved 126 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:43,280 Speaker 1: the bulbs for their beauty, and many other people did too. 127 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 1: He really had a hard time preventing the bulbs from 128 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,280 Speaker 1: being stolen out of his garden. So the attraction begins. Yeah, 129 00:07:50,360 --> 00:07:54,800 Speaker 1: it definitely begins with his garden. Um, and presumably it's 130 00:07:54,880 --> 00:08:00,320 Speaker 1: from these stolen bulls and others hopefully purchased legitimately. Um, 131 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,080 Speaker 1: that a trade in tulips emerges, and the traders are 132 00:08:04,120 --> 00:08:09,600 Speaker 1: called bloom Aston, which means tulip traders. It also kind 133 00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:13,679 Speaker 1: of means tulip fanciers or tulip enthusiasts, which is something 134 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:15,920 Speaker 1: that you should keep in mind when we get into 135 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: the speculative nature of this later story. Um, but yeah, 136 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:24,960 Speaker 1: I mean basically, the point is that these first traders 137 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 1: love tulips to They're not just in it for the money. 138 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: They're collectors. And this is a time when collecting things 139 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: for your curio is really really popular. Um, when you 140 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:41,200 Speaker 1: would you'd add up seashells and and things like that, 141 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: interesting rocks and minerals, um and display them, and it 142 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:49,960 Speaker 1: would show that you were uh educated, cultured person. So 143 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,360 Speaker 1: you had to have a love for um. And you 144 00:08:52,440 --> 00:08:54,320 Speaker 1: also had to have some good faith to deal in 145 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: tulips too. And here's why. Traditionally the trade, the tulip 146 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: trade was done in the summer. Flowers bloomed in May 147 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: or June, and after that the bulb was dug up 148 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,280 Speaker 1: and it was kept too dry indoors. The bulbs then 149 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 1: had to be inspected and they were sold just before 150 00:09:10,559 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: they were replanted in September, so the seller would deliver 151 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,280 Speaker 1: the bulb and the buyer would pay up. Yeah. So 152 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,640 Speaker 1: the issue here is pretty apparent. It's that if you're 153 00:09:19,679 --> 00:09:22,679 Speaker 1: the buyer, you don't know exactly what you're getting. You 154 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 1: don't know if it's the same ball that one that 155 00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: you contracted for. You don't know if it's the bulb 156 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: that you saw bloom and it looks so pretty last spring, 157 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: and you don't know if it's a bulb that's going 158 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: to perform as well as the one you saw. I mean, 159 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:39,520 Speaker 1: there's already going to be a little uncertainty in any 160 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,719 Speaker 1: kind of horticultural pursuit. But there's the potential for deception 161 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,560 Speaker 1: here too, which made people pretty nervous. And to make 162 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: matters worse, bulbs bought in the ground didn't always bloom 163 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: as people expected them to, even if they were the same, 164 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: even if there wasn't some sort of fraud happening. And 165 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,080 Speaker 1: that's partly because the most popular tulips at the time 166 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: we're called broken tulips and um. If you if you 167 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,839 Speaker 1: look at an old water color or painting of tulips, 168 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: you're probably looking at broken tulips. They have these feather 169 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 1: flame petals um on a light background, so something like 170 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,720 Speaker 1: red or purple as stripe going up the middle of 171 00:10:20,760 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: each petal, and the tulip would bloom like a normal 172 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,079 Speaker 1: solid color tulip one year, and then the next year 173 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: it would bloom as this broken flower. Uh, like a 174 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:37,839 Speaker 1: total surprise to everyone, it seemed, and it's descendants, any 175 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: any descendant from that bulb would also bloom splotched and broken. 176 00:10:43,440 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: And so at the time people didn't know why this happened. 177 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 1: It seemed like pure chance. But these were the tulips 178 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: they wanted. Today we know that ironically, it's caused by 179 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: a virus which is delivered by aphids. And because the 180 00:10:57,880 --> 00:11:01,720 Speaker 1: broken tulips were I mean, I don't want to stay sick. 181 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:05,800 Speaker 1: They're not. They're not unable to to thrive in a 182 00:11:05,840 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 1: certain sense, but they are a little bit weaker. Because 183 00:11:08,880 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: they're weaker, the bulbs reproduced, they didn't reproduce as fast 184 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: as a good, unaffected, healthy bulb should, and so it 185 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,600 Speaker 1: drove up the price. It made these broken flowers even 186 00:11:21,640 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 1: more valuable and more desirable. And were you saying that, um, 187 00:11:26,040 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: with the blotching us, the splotching us on the pedal, 188 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: you couldn't tell how it would be splotched. Yeah, that 189 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: was a chance too. So maybe it was some ugly 190 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 1: splatch he didn't like, or maybe it was these perfect 191 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: flames going up the middle of the pedal. Um, So 192 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: you didn't know what you were going to get even 193 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: if you were dealing with someone who was trustworthy. So 194 00:11:53,720 --> 00:11:56,920 Speaker 1: the most expensive tool at the time was Semper Augustus, 195 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: which was a red and white striped variety and it 196 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: went for thousand florins, which was six times the annual 197 00:12:03,480 --> 00:12:05,840 Speaker 1: income of an average person at that time. Yeah, but 198 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:10,240 Speaker 1: even as early as sixteen ten, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, 199 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:15,400 Speaker 1: a single rare bulb made an acceptable dowry and an 200 00:12:15,600 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: entire brewery. And I like I think the Encyclopedia mentioned 201 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: specifically a thriving brewery in France was sold for one bulb, 202 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:29,679 Speaker 1: one highly coveted bulbs. So we see these examples of 203 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:34,319 Speaker 1: people getting pretty obsessed with tulips early on. But it 204 00:12:34,400 --> 00:12:37,320 Speaker 1: was in sixteen thirty four sixteen thirty five, depending on 205 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:41,360 Speaker 1: which source you look at, that prices got really really high, 206 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: and at that point business started to change and so 207 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: instead of the system Dablina described a minute ago where 208 00:12:49,400 --> 00:12:51,520 Speaker 1: the bulbs were sold in late summer when they were 209 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,680 Speaker 1: dug up, the bulbs were now sold by weight while 210 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,960 Speaker 1: they were still in the ground. Um, so this is 211 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 1: fundamental changing the process of the tulip trade. Yeah, you 212 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 1: may wonder how they could even pull this off. Well, 213 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:09,840 Speaker 1: what would happen is you'd get the details of the bulb, 214 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: what its weight was planting, it's expected weight comes September, 215 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,360 Speaker 1: but that's it. There was no bold, so it was 216 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: actual paper descriptions of the bulbs that were sold instead 217 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: of the bulbs themselves. So you imagine like getting this 218 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: piece of paper for something that you've paid money for. 219 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: It's kind of um. I mean, imagine if you were 220 00:13:28,160 --> 00:13:30,880 Speaker 1: buying tulips now for your garden and that was the 221 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 1: deal you've got, you probably wouldn't be very happy with it. 222 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: Um And to to deal with this new system, this 223 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: um this selling by weight system TOOLIP bulbs even got 224 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: their own unit of measure called the azen I think 225 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:50,840 Speaker 1: also called aces, where one of this unit equalled about 226 00:13:51,320 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 1: zero point zero zero one eight ounces, so super super 227 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: tiny units of measure as it would have to be. 228 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,160 Speaker 1: But for the Bloomston there was money to be made 229 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,679 Speaker 1: even if the price per oz and didn't change. As 230 00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 1: long as your bulbs grew in the ground, your profits 231 00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,079 Speaker 1: were going to climb. So as demand continued to grow 232 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: for these the offsets started to sell as well as 233 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: mature bulbs, which means offsets were basically they were bull 234 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:19,960 Speaker 1: bull bets. Yeah, they were little bull bets. They took 235 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,120 Speaker 1: three to five years to produce flowers of their own, 236 00:14:22,240 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: So pretty risky venture. Yeah, definitely more so than getting 237 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: the pieces of paper instead of your actual bulb, because 238 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: you're no longer even buying a bulb that well, yeah, 239 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: I saw that bull bloom in May just this year. 240 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,600 Speaker 1: It's maybe fingers crossed little blue bloom in three to 241 00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:42,120 Speaker 1: five years. Um, So a very risky business. And by 242 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: sixty six there's a futures market to where buyers would 243 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: contract to buy an in ground bulb at a set price, 244 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: gambling that it would eventually, when it was finally dug up, 245 00:14:55,320 --> 00:14:58,200 Speaker 1: it would be worth more than the expected value, and 246 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: UM contracts themselves were bought and sold, and I think 247 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: UM people who were a little skeptical of this whole 248 00:15:06,200 --> 00:15:08,720 Speaker 1: market called the whole thing the wind trade, because you 249 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: never knew which way the wind would blow UM, and 250 00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: you ultimately had to hope that there would be someone 251 00:15:16,240 --> 00:15:18,600 Speaker 1: at the end who would pay up when those bulbs 252 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:20,480 Speaker 1: came out of the ground. That was what they were 253 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: all gambling on. UM. To make matters worse, buyers start 254 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: buying without the money, so they're buying on credit, and 255 00:15:29,120 --> 00:15:33,520 Speaker 1: the sellers accept that because they're gambling on the fact 256 00:15:33,560 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: that the buyer himself will probably be able to sell 257 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: at a higher price eventually as well. Again all counting 258 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: on that one person at the end of the chain 259 00:15:42,880 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: who's willing to pay out, and the fact that the 260 00:15:45,160 --> 00:15:48,280 Speaker 1: bulb actually turns out the way it's planned. A lot 261 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,000 Speaker 1: of bets going on here. So how high did this 262 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: actually go? How much were people actually spending on these bulbs. Well, 263 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: there's some information from seven floating around a nursery catalog 264 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: actually from a Harlem florist, and it lists the name, 265 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: weight and price of a tulip viceroy for example. There 266 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: were lists of other tulips as well, but for this 267 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:12,720 Speaker 1: tulip viceroy, a lightweight bulb sold for three thousand guilders. 268 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,040 Speaker 1: A heavy bulb sold for four thousand, two hundred. So 269 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: the low price here was twenty times the annual salary 270 00:16:19,960 --> 00:16:23,280 Speaker 1: of a skilled craftsman. Yeah, and I mean again, we 271 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: we need to point out a few things. Even with this, 272 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: we don't know if if this tulip bulb viceroy sold 273 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: for this amount or if this is all part of 274 00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: the speculation, but it was the offering price um, and 275 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,880 Speaker 1: it's it really is kind of a I don't want 276 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:43,680 Speaker 1: to say unique, but um a rare statistic from this 277 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: time of of a tulip bulbs name and its price 278 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: and its weight all being put out there. We don't 279 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,280 Speaker 1: have that much information about it. Um. And this whole 280 00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: era is sort of filled with these legends. There's another 281 00:16:57,360 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: really great one from this time which might even be 282 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: utter known than that herring onion bulb beginning that we 283 00:17:04,800 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 1: told him that the legend of the black Tulip, which 284 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: ultimately inspired Alexander Dumas novel also called the Black tulip Um. 285 00:17:13,440 --> 00:17:16,840 Speaker 1: This one, this one is starting to show that there's 286 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,919 Speaker 1: bad feelings in the tulip trade. It goes like this, 287 00:17:20,119 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: There's a group of Harlem florists and they hear that 288 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: a cobbler at the Hague has produced a black tulip, 289 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: a rare coveted black tulip, and they go to him 290 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:32,719 Speaker 1: and they have a with him for a while, and 291 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: they finally work out a deal. They buy it for 292 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: one thousand and five hundred florins and as soon as 293 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: it's theirs. They take it and they throw it on 294 00:17:40,840 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 1: the ground and they stomp it to bits, and they 295 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: tell him that he's a fool to have produced this 296 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 1: black tulip and to have sold it to them for 297 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: so little. They would have given him ten thousand florins 298 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,920 Speaker 1: if he had asked, And they tell him that he'll 299 00:17:55,040 --> 00:17:59,120 Speaker 1: never ever be so lucky again to breathe this black tulip. 300 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,359 Speaker 1: And as the story goes, he's so distraught that he 301 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: takes to bed and he dies. Of course that has 302 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: to be the end to the moral fairy tale kind 303 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,320 Speaker 1: of black story. Yeah, but there's there's a lot of 304 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: bitterness even if we even if we step away from 305 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:20,919 Speaker 1: this like obviously polemical story. Yeah, it was bitterness about 306 00:18:21,119 --> 00:18:23,960 Speaker 1: the people who quite didn't understand the tulip thing or 307 00:18:24,000 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: didn't thought it was kind of crazy, kind of out there, 308 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,680 Speaker 1: but probably like a lot of people now do. Um. 309 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: For example, Harlem priest Theodicus Cats wrote to his nephew 310 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: on February five, sixteen thirty seven, that like the plague 311 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: that had been bad since sixty five, now quote another 312 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: sickness had risen. It is the sickness of the bloom 313 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: aston and Floriston. Also, historian Theodoras Trevilius wrote a much later. 314 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 1: In sty eight, he wrote a letter that said, quote, 315 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:54,120 Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of angry spirit was called 316 00:18:54,119 --> 00:18:57,600 Speaker 1: it from hell, but our descendants doubtless will laugh as 317 00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 1: a at the human insanity of our age that in 318 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: our times the tulip flowers have been so revered. So yeah, 319 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 1: a lot of self criticism even at the time, Um, 320 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:09,880 Speaker 1: like what are we doing spending all of this money 321 00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:15,640 Speaker 1: and obsessing over tulips? So surprise, surprise, by February seven, 322 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,880 Speaker 1: the market collapses. Supposedly, as the traditional story goes, Um, 323 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,399 Speaker 1: it's because an expected buyer fails to show up and 324 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 1: the whole market loses confidence. But more likely it's just 325 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:31,960 Speaker 1: that people started to realize around this time that the 326 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 1: paper chain of buying and trading these these little descriptions 327 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 1: of tulips that are in the ground, would only work 328 00:19:40,040 --> 00:19:42,520 Speaker 1: and they would only make their profit if there was 329 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 1: a buyer at the end, as we mentioned before. So yeah, 330 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: like if I bought a tulip from you to Blina 331 00:19:48,240 --> 00:19:51,160 Speaker 1: and I was trying to make money off of it, 332 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: I would know that I had to get our producer, 333 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: Jerry to buy the bulb ultimately, because if she didn't 334 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: buy it, then I'd be left with the toolip bulb 335 00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 1: and trying to decide if I even wanted to pay 336 00:20:04,840 --> 00:20:07,240 Speaker 1: you for it, so it might all end up on 337 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: your lap. No way, cracking skulls at that point. Um. 338 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: So the sellers want their money, but there's really no 339 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: way to enforce these oral agreements. Um. As Sarah mentioned, 340 00:20:19,760 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: they probably weren't as violent as I just was. Um. 341 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:26,760 Speaker 1: By March or so, it suggested that all trades since 342 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,399 Speaker 1: the previous September be nullified. But at that point the 343 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 1: High Court steps in. They say, basically, deal with it. 344 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: We don't want to deal with it. What they say 345 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,360 Speaker 1: is all transactions remain in force, but deal with it yourself. 346 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: Don't come to us about it, essentially, And so I mean, 347 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: just one example of how people tried to deal with it, 348 00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:51,000 Speaker 1: there was a self established commission of tradesmen set up 349 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 1: in Harlem and they decided that the contracts there would 350 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: be settled for three point five percent of the purchase price. 351 00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:00,920 Speaker 1: And of course nobody is happy this. It's a lose 352 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:05,040 Speaker 1: lose situation for everyone. If you are left with the bulb, 353 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: you are expecting a lot more for that, and you know, 354 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: presumably you've been making some bets yourself. If you're stuck 355 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 1: paying three point five percent of the purchase price, you're 356 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: just throwing away money essentially. So at this point the 357 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:24,640 Speaker 1: story gets kind of mythic again, and you know, it's 358 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: kind of like the black tulip. So supposedly the bubble 359 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:33,640 Speaker 1: bust just shakes the Dutch economy to a tremendous extent 360 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:39,240 Speaker 1: because the investment is so widespread up their speculators across classes, 361 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: so bankruptcy is common and um people lose their houses 362 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: and their businesses for tulips, and it becomes the classic 363 00:21:47,200 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: cautionary tale of being a little more careful with your money, 364 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 1: and sort of the poster boy for it is Jan 365 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: van Goyen, who was an artist and supposedly died in 366 00:21:59,240 --> 00:22:02,040 Speaker 1: debt because of tulips. Well we'll find out a little 367 00:22:02,080 --> 00:22:05,600 Speaker 1: bit more about that lately later. He did die in debt, 368 00:22:05,680 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: but not necessarily because of his tulip speculation. So, needless 369 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: to say, it's painted as a pretty dire situation, and 370 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,199 Speaker 1: it's easy to see how it was used as a 371 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 1: cautionary tale recently, though there's been a little bit of 372 00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: a shift in how some people look at the tulip bubble. 373 00:22:30,359 --> 00:22:33,280 Speaker 1: For example, writer and gold Girl suggested in two thousand 374 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: sevens tulip Mania, Money, Honor and Knowledge in the Dutch 375 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,720 Speaker 1: Golden Age that the idea that the tulip Mania was 376 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 1: economically devastating to Holland is the result of a few 377 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 1: contemporary polemical pamphlets which were written to basically make people 378 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,119 Speaker 1: more prudent in their own business affairs. These, in turn, 379 00:22:51,400 --> 00:22:54,760 Speaker 1: she suggests, we're taken up by historians and gradually filtered 380 00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: into fact. So yeah, and and sort of to add 381 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,840 Speaker 1: to that, because because this story has so frequently been 382 00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:05,399 Speaker 1: used as an anecdote, it sort of took on a 383 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: sheen of current bubble comparison. So if you're if you're 384 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,080 Speaker 1: writing about the south Sea bubble, or if you're writing 385 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 1: about housing housing today, yeah, it takes on a little 386 00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:19,720 Speaker 1: bit of whatever you're comparing it to. And in a 387 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: review for Reviews in History, j Leslie Price wrote that 388 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: the book was quote determinedly revisionists. So, I mean, I 389 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:30,840 Speaker 1: really think this this book kind of shook up the 390 00:23:30,880 --> 00:23:35,080 Speaker 1: tulip story. But um, to add to that, recently, a 391 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:39,119 Speaker 1: lot of economists have debated whether it was a bubble 392 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,719 Speaker 1: at all, and and there are precise economic definitions for 393 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:45,480 Speaker 1: for what that means that we're not going to get into. 394 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,800 Speaker 1: But um, it seems to be like maybe a fun 395 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:53,080 Speaker 1: exercise for economists or or perhaps the serious study um 396 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: to figure out if there was a bubble and then 397 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 1: to debate either for or against it. Yes, there was 398 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: a bubb will know there were market reasons behind it. Um, 399 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 1: it's it's created a whole whole new topic of discussion 400 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: for these tulips. Yeah. And similarly, I think looking at 401 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 1: gold Girl's argument is kind of a fun exercise for 402 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:18,359 Speaker 1: historians as well, because she's just sort of searching for 403 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,680 Speaker 1: the source that this tale came from in the first place. Definitely, 404 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: I always I always like when I get a surprise 405 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:27,760 Speaker 1: like this in an episode. I mean, I'm always relieved 406 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,040 Speaker 1: that I found this update to the story. It terrifies 407 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:35,120 Speaker 1: me that I won't someday. But um, it's it's fun 408 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: for us for sure. Yeah. So just a little bit 409 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: on Goldger's argument. Most of her revision, so to speak, 410 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:45,119 Speaker 1: come at the sake of traditional tulip sources or the canon. 411 00:24:45,240 --> 00:24:48,760 Speaker 1: You might say yeah, um. And a lot of our 412 00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:55,879 Speaker 1: traditional sources on tulipmania come from Charles McKay's Extraordinary Popular 413 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, which was published in 414 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one. It's a pretty popular book. It's actually 415 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,399 Speaker 1: still in print. I looked it up, you could, you 416 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: could order it um, and it paints a lot of 417 00:25:09,840 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: these really exciting stories about the bubble, like the mistaken 418 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: onions and things like oxen cheese and clothes being traded 419 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:23,119 Speaker 1: for one vice. Roy bulb Um the really picturesque accounts 420 00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: of the story. But as gold Guard and Covered it 421 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: turned out, Charles McKay's main source was Johann Backman, who 422 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:37,760 Speaker 1: wrote a history of Inventions, Discoveries and Origins in and 423 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:41,400 Speaker 1: Beckman is an interesting character because he seems to be 424 00:25:41,640 --> 00:25:45,399 Speaker 1: one of the first major people who projected his contemporary 425 00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: concerns onto the Dutch bubble, so economic concerns for his time. Um. 426 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: And he may have also been the guy who gave 427 00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: us the idea that the bubble burst because the bloomist 428 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:04,000 Speaker 1: and became pure speculators. They weren't just collectors anymore. And 429 00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:08,200 Speaker 1: he seemed to view this almost as as expected that, well, 430 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: surely you wouldn't just be tulip fanciers and spend these 431 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,600 Speaker 1: huge amounts of money. But he wrote, quote, how ridiculous 432 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 1: would it have been to purchase useless roots with their 433 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,200 Speaker 1: weight in gold? If the possession of the flower had 434 00:26:20,200 --> 00:26:24,120 Speaker 1: been the only object? Pretty I guess he did, wasn't 435 00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:28,600 Speaker 1: in a tulips? Apparently not? So he his argument kind 436 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,439 Speaker 1: of relies on Abraham Munting, a botanical writer from the 437 00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,120 Speaker 1: seventeenth century whose father lost money on tulips. But since 438 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,720 Speaker 1: Munting was too young to be their firstand his sources 439 00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: also came from somewhere else, So his sources came from 440 00:26:40,280 --> 00:26:44,280 Speaker 1: a chronicle or named Luva von Night Seema in sixteen 441 00:26:44,320 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: sixty nine, and also a propaganda piece by Audrey and 442 00:26:48,080 --> 00:26:52,280 Speaker 1: Roman from sixteen thirty seven. So I Seema was also 443 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 1: drawing from sources from pamphlets. And we're left at this 444 00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 1: point with pamphlets as like the basis the main source 445 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,160 Speaker 1: for all of this stuff. When we filter it all down, 446 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: when you filter it all down to the bottom, that's 447 00:27:03,760 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 1: what you get. And so of course the pamphlets are 448 00:27:08,000 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 1: gonna be anti speculation, They're going to be encouraging people 449 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: to not go out and blow all their money on tulips. 450 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,160 Speaker 1: But it's interesting because Goldgert also takes a closer look 451 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:24,640 Speaker 1: at a few of the most famous Mania anecdotes and assumptions. 452 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 1: For instance, the artists I mentioned earlier who died in debt. 453 00:27:28,800 --> 00:27:31,919 Speaker 1: For example, he did die in debt, but it was 454 00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: much later in sixteen fifty six, perhaps in debt for 455 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: yet another speculative scheme, but not tulips. And another issue 456 00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: that Goldgirl addresses is the idea that the bubble had 457 00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 1: such a tremendously broad effect on the economy because so 458 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:53,000 Speaker 1: many people were involved, rich people, poor people, people in between. Instead, 459 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,680 Speaker 1: she argues that the bloom Aston were this really tight 460 00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: knit group of people who worked together for years and 461 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:03,080 Speaker 1: years and years. Most of them loved collecting tulips as 462 00:28:03,119 --> 00:28:07,360 Speaker 1: well as trading them, and they would meet in inns 463 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: and dispute tulip, you know, have tulip talk with each 464 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:15,640 Speaker 1: other and dispute and exchange and trade. And so certain 465 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: members of the Bloomaston were obviously severely shaken by the crash, 466 00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,159 Speaker 1: but their numbers were smaller than often thought. And of course, 467 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: even if you were a speculator, you didn't get into 468 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,640 Speaker 1: too much trouble if you were in the middle of 469 00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: that chain, because hopefully things would cancel, cancel, other things out, 470 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 1: other debts and credits. Um. So just sort of suggesting 471 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: that maybe there was a smaller pool of people affected 472 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,080 Speaker 1: by this crisis. Yeah, the entirety of Holland wasn't devastated 473 00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 1: because of this, uh, the tulip bubble. Yeah, but gold 474 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,120 Speaker 1: Girl also suggests that the bubble was indeed a social 475 00:28:51,120 --> 00:28:53,920 Speaker 1: and cultural crisis, so she doesn't deny that in her 476 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: book at all. Yeah, a real value shock for the 477 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:00,760 Speaker 1: people of the country. And in the exteen thirties, the 478 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:05,400 Speaker 1: Dutch Republic was in boom times. It was really good period, 479 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: and capitalism was sort of taking off, but didn't quite 480 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:14,280 Speaker 1: sit right with everybody yet, and the bubble scared people 481 00:29:14,320 --> 00:29:17,280 Speaker 1: for a few reasons, apparently enough to make them right 482 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: some of these very angry concerned pamphlets. So a few 483 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,760 Speaker 1: of those scary things, I mean, the main one is 484 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,960 Speaker 1: that buyers were nagged after prices fell. Nobody likes to 485 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: see that. That's a that's a bad sign for business. 486 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:34,440 Speaker 1: And then there was the fact that the sellers basically 487 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:38,000 Speaker 1: had no recourse to get their money back. Um, this 488 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: one is interesting, Um, the menon Nights. This was one 489 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 1: of the reasons is that the Mennonites, who refused to 490 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: swear oaths and were considered very trustworthy, they were also 491 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:52,640 Speaker 1: involved in the tulip trade and that act of broken promises, 492 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,040 Speaker 1: and so it was sort of like, if you can't 493 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 1: trust the Mennonites, who can you trust? Yeah, it was. 494 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 1: It was unsettling for your average person. And I mean, 495 00:30:02,440 --> 00:30:05,920 Speaker 1: if we go into the product itself, it was disturbing 496 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 1: to people that are products value no longer had to 497 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: seem it leaves roughly on par with its market worth. 498 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 1: If you have a bulb that somebody can mistake as 499 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:19,320 Speaker 1: an onion, although with that toxic substance, I don't know, 500 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: probably not mistake it as an onion. Um, you have 501 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:29,120 Speaker 1: something that seems low value suddenly going for huge amounts. 502 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,840 Speaker 1: And scariest of all though, is that people could get 503 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:38,440 Speaker 1: rich through luck rather than work, which could potentially upset 504 00:30:38,440 --> 00:30:42,120 Speaker 1: the social order, which was a very dangerous thing. Indeed. Right, 505 00:30:42,120 --> 00:30:44,920 Speaker 1: So lots of scary new modern things kind of all 506 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,040 Speaker 1: jumbled up together there. And we sort of talked about 507 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:50,959 Speaker 1: this earlier, how we liked both versions of the story, 508 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,520 Speaker 1: both the revisionist history on how the valid trade failed 509 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:59,000 Speaker 1: and kind of the hysterical tale of vice story speculation 510 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,800 Speaker 1: that makes such a quaint and um, I guess interesting 511 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: intro to stories on modern booms and bus Yeah. I 512 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: like the story about a cow going for a toolip bulb. 513 00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: And it's obviously quite likely that economists will continue to 514 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,840 Speaker 1: debate whether this was really a bubble at all. I've 515 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: seen all sorts of back and forth. Yes, it is 516 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,400 Speaker 1: a bubble, No it isn't. There were market explanations, yes, 517 00:31:23,440 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: how could you not think it was a bubble? Everybody 518 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 1: has an opinion, and I guess if they work it 519 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,959 Speaker 1: all out eventually though, when it turns out to not 520 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:32,960 Speaker 1: be a bubble, business writers are going to be out 521 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,000 Speaker 1: of a really tasty anecdote. Yeah, I mean it does 522 00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: make a good hook. Fort still use it, Maybe they 523 00:31:39,960 --> 00:31:42,880 Speaker 1: I would still I would still read it. Yeah, definitely. 524 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: And we just thought it would be appropriate to close 525 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: with some current statistics about the Netherlands toolt production and 526 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,760 Speaker 1: maybe a note on the Dutch Republic too. I I 527 00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,720 Speaker 1: didn't have all this straightened out, honestly, and I had 528 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:00,640 Speaker 1: to look into it some. The difference between the Dutch Republic, 529 00:32:00,680 --> 00:32:04,240 Speaker 1: Holland and the Netherlands. UM. Why we have mentioned Holland 530 00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: so much rather than the Dutch Republic is because at 531 00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 1: the time the tulip trade took place mostly within Holland 532 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,360 Speaker 1: and its cities like Amsterdam and the Hague and Leiden 533 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:19,719 Speaker 1: and Harlem. Um. Today, though the Kingdom of the Netherlands 534 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,920 Speaker 1: makes up three parts, there's the Netherlands in Europe, which 535 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: of course includes Holland and the Netherlands Antillies and Aruba, 536 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: so all over the world. But a geography lesson for you. 537 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: It's a little pop geography question and a little economics 538 00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:38,600 Speaker 1: lesson to top it off. Um. Today the Netherlands still 539 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:41,480 Speaker 1: produces three billion bulbs a year, so it didn't completely 540 00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 1: wipe out the tulip trade, even if the story of 541 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: the bubble is true. Fields cover half the country and 542 00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: the Dutch flower industry actually has sevent of international production 543 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: of flowers and of the trade. So people take vacations 544 00:32:56,160 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: just to to see the flowers blooming. They look lovely. 545 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,160 Speaker 1: I was like, can get the tourist website while I 546 00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: was doing some research on this. Pretty nice, very nice. 547 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us on this Saturday. 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