Ridiculous History – "CLASSIC: Were Tulips Really The Bitcoin of the 1600s?"

Podcast: Ridiculous History
Hosts: Ben Bowlin, Noel Brown
Episode Date: October 14, 2025
Topic: Exploring the history—and myths—of Tulip Mania in 17th-century Netherlands, often cited as the first economic bubble and compared to modern phenomena like Bitcoin.

Episode Overview

Ben and Noel take a deep dive into Tulip Mania, the legendary Dutch frenzy for tulip bulbs in the 1600s, questioning if it truly was the first “Bitcoin”-like speculative bubble—or if history’s retelling has wildly exaggerated events. They trace the origin of tulips in the Netherlands, detail how the market got out of control, and explore myths versus reality with engaging banter and historical insights.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Tulips Arrive in the Netherlands

• The tulip gets its name from its resemblance to a turban ("tulbant" in Turkish) ([03:46]).
• Tulips were introduced from Western Asia, with the first known Dutch cultivation by Johan Heinrich Herwart in 1559 ([04:48]).
• Quote:

  "It came from western Asia, from Turkey...they were just growing wild beforehand." — Ben ([04:48])

2. Tulip Popularity and Early Horticulture

• Carolus Clusius, prominent botanist, introduced tulip culture to the Netherlands with his influential garden at the University of Leiden, starting a trend among wealthy horticulturists ([08:34]).
• Tulip trading shifted from strictly among the learned to the nouveau riche merchant class, who saw owning rare bulbs as a status symbol.

3. Tulip Mania and the Speculative Bubble

• Prices for rare tulip bulbs soared throughout the 1630s. Speculation was rampant, with contracts being made for future bulbs not yet grown ([11:54]).
• "Futures" trading concepts emerged: buyers would pay for bulbs to be delivered once dormant ([11:54]).
• Quote:

  "You’re not buying tulips today, you're buying tulips tomorrow." — Ben ([11:54])

• Scarcity and unpredictability (caused by viral "flaming" patterns like the prized Semper Augustus) fueled the craze ([14:16]).

4. Excess, Market Infrastructure, and the Crash

• Trading happened in back rooms, with informal localized markets. Price information was slow to spread, contributing to local bubbles ([19:01], [20:10]).

• Reported cases included properties being traded for handfuls of tulip bulbs; records suggest 40 bulbs sold for 100,000 guilders—more than a skilled laborer’s lifetime income ([14:15], [20:21]).

• Quote:

  "In 1633, a single bulb...Semper Augustus...was worth 5,500 guilders." — Ben ([14:15])

• By February 1637, contract prices reached absurd heights (10,000 guilders for a single Semper Augustus bulb) before demand suddenly disappeared, leading many to renege on contracts ([21:00–22:16]).

• Notable comparison:

  "It’s sort of like subprime mortgages...all those bets you made, you got to pay them, but nobody has the money to pay them." — Noel ([26:04])

5. Exaggeration and Mythmaking

• The classical story comes from Charles Mackay’s 1841 book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, itself based on earlier, possibly biased sources—anonymous anti-speculation pamphlets from 1637 ([25:36]).
• Research suggests far fewer people were ruined than legend claims, and much of the economic carnage was probably theoretical—prices collapsed, but few had truly paid peak rates ([33:45]).
• Many "ruined" investors may have never actually traded real money, just paper promises ([33:45]).
• Quote:

  "Some researchers have found fewer than half a dozen people who experienced financial trouble in that time period during the tulip boom and bust." — Ben ([33:45])

6. Modern Parallels and Groupthink

• Bitcoin, Beanie Babies, and pogs are cited as modern analogues for speculative mania ([26:56–27:43]).
• Casey shares a personal story about exiting Bitcoin too early, underlining the unpredictable nature of such bubbles ([27:11]).
• Discussion about how groupthink and fear of missing out drive speculative manias in every era.
• Quote:

  "We have to be very cognizant and very self-aware of group think and group panics. Something like this will come along every so often." — Ben ([35:45])

7. Scarcity, Futures, and Economic Lessons

• Increased supply eventually destroys scarcity-driven value ([36:28]).

• Modern day futures markets (like oil) have safeguards—but the tulip mania market was more chaotic, similar to the "Wild West" ([23:35], [37:17]).

• Comparisons:

  • Aging scotch and wine use similar investment/futures strategies ([34:48]).
  • OPEC's manipulation of oil production serves as a relevant modern example of market control ([36:47]).

8. Dutch Culture, Gambling, and the Plague

• Cultural context: Dutch proclivity for gambling, risk-taking, and the short life expectancy during the 1600s (due in part to plague) amplified the mania ([32:53]).
  • "It was kind of like YOLO...let’s do this." — Noel ([33:45])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "It's not about tulips pursed together...the name comes from the resemblance to a turban." — Ben ([04:36])
• "Tulips take a really long time to grow...bulbs only take three or four years, maybe even two years." — Noel ([10:50])
• "And you have to wait until the summer when they go dormant...so people had to buy the promise of a future tulip." — Noel ([11:12])
• "They would sprinkle the soil with pigments...they didn't know what they were doing." — Noel ([14:49])
• "This sounds like some sort of Dr. Seuss parable...but the real effect was people's lives were ruined." — Ben ([23:35])
• "The Dutch more or less invented the model for the modern stock exchange." — Noel ([32:14])
• "It's actually really cool that we got to do this story..." — Noel ([34:48])
• "Don't buy tulips for too much money. You know what I mean?" — Ben ([35:45])
• Ending with a Monty Python "Lupins" homage to underscore the absurdity of flower-based speculation ([38:08]).

Important Timestamps

• [03:46–04:48] — Origins and etymology of "tulip"
• [08:34–10:50] — Historical emergence of tulip mania
• [11:54–12:29] — Futures market and speculation explained
• [14:15–15:15] — Semper Augustus and "flaming" tulip value
• [19:01–20:21] — Exchange mechanics and informal Dutch markets
• [23:35–25:36] — Crash, aftermath, and debt disputes
• [25:36–26:37] — Propaganda origins of the mainstream tulipmania myth
• [27:11–28:11] — Bitcoin and cryptocurrency parallels
• [32:14–33:45] — Dutch stock exchange, national context, and the role of gambling/plague
• [33:45–35:45] — Myths vs. reality: who actually lost?
• [36:28–37:17] — Supply, scarcity, and modern commodity parallels
• [38:08–39:02] — Monty Python "Lupins" outro

Conclusion

Tulip Mania was real but likely overstated—a compelling cautionary tale about speculative bubbles, groupthink, and the social drivers of financial mania. The story persists because it’s so colorful—a perfect example of “ridiculous history”—but the truth is subtler, involving a handful of ruined fortunes rather than a nation gone mad. The episode cleverly parallels tulips with Bitcoin and other speculative crazes, ultimately suggesting that human nature, more than any particular asset, is what inflates and pops bubbles through the centuries.