Part 2: The Sultan's Garden

The Story Of The Tulip   |   The First Tulips   |   The Sultan's Garden   |   Arriving In Holland   |   Tulip Mania!   |   Tulips Today   |   Conclusion

The first true Tulip Fanatics were the sultans of the Ottoman Empire, which at its zenith in the 16th and 17th centuries stretched from Morocco to the Caspian Sea and from Yemen to Hungary.

Amsterdam Tulip Museum Tulip Lovers Tulip Fanatics Painting Of Constantinople Ottoman Empire

In their lavish palaces in Constantinople (modern-day Instanbul, Turkey), the sultans collected and displayed the riches of their empire and treasures secured through trade. Tulips were among these treasures, and they were bred extensively and planted in large numbers in the palace gardens.

Amsterdam Tulip Museum Tulip Lovers Tulip Fanatics Painting Of Ottoman Empire Court

Precisely when Tulips first made their way to Europe is not clear. European ambassadors to the court of Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent, who reigned from 1520 to 1566, may have seen tulips in bloom and arranged to have bulbs sent home.

Amsterdam Tulip Museum Tulip Lovers Tulip Fanatics Painting Suleyman Suleiman The Magnificent Sultan Ottoman Empire

The first documented flowering of a tulip in Europe took place in April 1559 in a garden in Bavaria.

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