Which 1637 Dutch market bubble involved speculation in tulip bulbs?

Tulip mania was the 1637 Dutch market bubble involving speculation in tulip bulbs.

During the Dutch Golden Age, rare tulip varieties became highly sought after, and contracts for future delivery of bulbs were traded. Prices for some prized varieties rose dramatically before confidence broke in early 1637. The episode is commonly presented as the first major speculative bubble, although historians debate its scale and the extent of its effect on the wider Dutch economy.

The market did not operate exactly like a modern stock exchange. Many transactions involved contracts and tavern auctions rather than continuously traded company shares. That distinction matters because tulip mania was a commodity and futures-market episode, not a stock-market crash in the modern sense.

The story remains relevant to crash history because it illustrates recurring patterns: fashionable assets, rising expectations, leverage or promises of future payment, and sudden loss of confidence. The South Sea Bubble and Mississippi Bubble were later episodes involving company shares.