The 1720 French speculation bubble involving John Law’s Mississippi Company was the Mississippi Bubble.
John Law, a Scottish financier, gained control of the Mississippi Company and promoted its shares as claims on the supposedly immense wealth of France’s North American Louisiana territory. The company also absorbed major French public debt, linking its shares to a broad monetary and financial experiment.
Share prices rose dramatically in 1719 and early 1720 as investors rushed to participate. The company’s expected colonial profits could not justify the speculation, and confidence collapsed later in 1720. Attempts to support the price through monetary expansion intensified distrust rather than restoring stability.
The Mississippi Bubble is often mentioned alongside England’s South Sea Bubble, which also burst in 1720. They were separate schemes in different countries, although both demonstrated how credit, promotional claims, and crowd enthusiasm could produce an extreme financial bubble.