Tulip mania is the traditional name for the 1637 Dutch speculative episode linked to a dramatic fall in tulip-bulb prices.
During the Dutch Golden Age, rare tulip varieties became valuable luxury goods. Contracts for bulbs were traded, and prices rose sharply for some highly sought-after varieties. In February 1637, an auction failed to attract buyers, and confidence weakened. Prices then fell, leaving some traders unable or unwilling to complete contracts.
Modern historians caution that popular accounts often exaggerate the scale of the episode. Anne Goldgar’s research found that the bubble affected a relatively small section of Dutch society and did not cause a broad economic collapse. Many famous claims about fortunes being ruined or the entire Dutch economy being destroyed are unsupported or overstated. Tulip mania remains important as an early example used in discussions of speculative bubbles, but it should not be treated as a conventional nationwide stock-market crash.