TULIPOMANIAThe first modern stock m

TULIPOMANIA
The first modern stock market appeared in Amsterdam at the beginning of the 17th century. In Holland in the 1630s, there was one of the first and most extraordinary speculative explosions in history. It was not in stocks and shares, in real estate or in fine paintings, as you might expect, but in tulip bulbs. It has become known by the name Tulipomania.

People from all classes invested in the bulbs. Many sold their property so that they could pay for the bulbs they had bought in the tulip market. Foreigners joined in the rush to buy the flowers and money poured into Holland from other countries.

In 1637, the boom in the market ended. No one knows why, but people began to sell. Others followed suit. Soon there was a panic among investors and the tulip market collapsed. Many people who had offered their property as security for credit went bankrupt. People who had agreed to buy tulips at inflated prices were unable to pay their debts. When sellers took legal action to recover their money, the courts were not helpful because they saw such investment as a kind of gambling.

It is not surprising that the collapse in prices led a severe economic recession in Holland.