Which 1720 British company collapsed in the speculative crash known as the South Sea Bubble?

The South Sea Company collapsed in 1720 during the speculative crash known as the South Sea Bubble. Founded in 1711, it received a government-backed monopoly over trade with Spanish South America in exchange for taking on British government debt.

Its shares soared from about £100 in early 1720 to roughly £1,000 in August, despite the company generating little of the promised American trade. Investors borrowed to buy shares, and promoters encouraged unrealistic expectations. When confidence broke, the price plunged, ruining many shareholders and exposing fraudulent practices.

The same episode involved John Law's Mississippi Company in France, creating a broader European speculative crisis. Parliament investigated corruption, and the Bubble Act of 1720 restricted joint-stock companies without a charter. The South Sea Company itself survived in reduced form, managing government debt until the nineteenth century.