From Tulips to Crypto: 5 Economic Collapses You Should Know About

Financial bubbles are as old as money itself. Every time a new or exciting asset appears, speculators rush in en masse, and prices soar to absurd levels. Then comes the inevitable: the crash. Here are the five most epic collapses in history.

Tulip Mania (1634-1637): When Flowers Were Worth More Than Houses

It really happened. In 17th-century Netherlands, tulip bulbs became the most sought-after asset in Europe. Prices soared so high that a rare bulb cost more than a mansion in Amsterdam. Merchants, aristocrats, and speculators bought nonstop, convinced prices would never fall.

Until they did. And by a lot.

When the bubble burst, thousands of investors were left with worthless bulbs. It’s the first documented speculative crash and still serves as a reminder of how irrational markets can become when FOMO takes over.

South Sea Bubble (1720): The Crash That Shook England

The South Sea Company had a monopoly on trade with South America. Shares skyrocketed, speculators went wild, and everyone wanted a piece. In 1720, the bubble burst suddenly.

The result was devastating: ruined investors, mass unemployment, widespread poverty. The crisis was so severe it shattered public confidence in the financial system for decades. Even politicians lost money, which says a lot.

Railway Mania (1845-1847): The Overhyped Technology of Its Era

Railroads were the “technology of the future” in the 19th century. Building rail lines seemed like pure gold, so everyone invested like crazy. Stock prices soared, attracting more speculators.

By 1847, reality hit. Values plummeted, wealthy investors went bankrupt, banks faltered, and consumer spending dropped. The market took years to recover.

The 1929 Crash: When Wall Street Collapsed

On October 29, 1929, history remembers it as “Black Tuesday.” The Dow Jones lost nearly 25% of its value IN ONE DAY. But that was just the beginning.

In the following months, the index plummeted 89% from its September peak to July 1932. Excessive speculation, easy credit, and blind optimism fueled a gigantic bubble that, when it burst, plunged the world into the Great Depression: massive unemployment, bank failures, widespread hunger.

It took a decade to recover.

Dot-com Bubble (1995-2000): The Original Tech FOMO

Internet arrived, and the world went crazy. Companies with no profits, no clear business model, and nothing else saw their stocks multiply by 10, 20, even 100 times. eBay, Amazon, Google, Yahoo, TheGlobe.com… all were “the future.”

Reality hit in 2000. Stocks collapsed, investors lost fortunes, and the world slipped into an economic recession. Companies that seemed revolutionary vanished within months.

The Lesson for Today

Easy access to credit + low interest rates + a “novel” asset = guaranteed bubble. It happened with tulips, railroads, tech stocks, housing in 2008… and history keeps repeating itself. The speculative cycle is predictable, but humans keep falling for it. Next collapse? Only time will tell.