In the 1630s, visitors to the Netherlands couldn't help but notice thousands of normally sober, hardworking Dutch citizens caught up in an extraordinary frenzy of buying and selling.
The object of all this speculation was the tulip, a delicate and exotic Eastern import that had bewitched horticulturists, noblemen, and tavern owners alike. For almost a year rare bulbs changed hands for ever-increasing sums, until single flowers were being sold for more than the cost of a house. Historians would call it tulipomania - the first futures market in history, and one that crashed spectacularly.
