What was the name of the 1720 English stock-market bubble centered on the South Sea Company?

The 1720 English stock-market bubble centered on the South Sea Company was the South Sea Bubble.

The South Sea Company received a government-backed arrangement to manage part of Britain’s national debt and was granted trading privileges connected with Spanish America. Investors became captivated by exaggerated expectations about the company’s commercial prospects, and its shares rose dramatically during 1720.

The company’s price surge encouraged speculation across Britain. Many new ventures appeared, some with implausible or deliberately vague business plans. When confidence broke, South Sea shares collapsed, ruining investors and provoking a political scandal involving company directors and public officials.

The South Sea Bubble happened alongside John Law’s Mississippi Bubble in France, but they were separate schemes. The event also differs from tulip mania in the Dutch Republic, which involved contracts for tulip bulbs rather than shares in a debt-conversion and trading company. Parliament responded with investigations and restrictions on corporate promotion.