Final answer:
Tulips were the flower that arrived in Europe in 1561 from the Near East through Dutch traders. They became a status symbol in the Dutch Republic, leading to the speculative 'Tulipmania' of the 17th century.
Step-by-step explanation:
In 1561, tulips came to Europe from the Near East, thanks to Dutch traders, marking their first arrival on the continent. The tulips, originally growing wild in Anatolia, which is part of today's Turkey, were sent to Vienna from the Ottoman Empire in 1554. These bulbs quickly spread to other parts of Europe, including Germany and the Dutch Republic. By 1593, the cultivation of tulips began in Leiden, and they thrived in the Northern European climate.
The flowers soon became a status symbol in the Dutch Republic, celebrated for their beauty and their exotic Ottoman origins. This enthusiasm eventually led to the infamous Tulipmania, where tulips became the subject of speculative trade, reaching prices more than ten times the annual income of an ordinary laborer. The craze did not last, and the market collapsed, but the tulip remains synonymous with Holland and its horticultural history.