Which 1720 speculation crisis is associated with Britain's South Sea Company?

Britain's 1720 speculation crisis is known as the South Sea Bubble. Shares of the South Sea Company rose dramatically before collapsing later that year, ruining many investors and damaging confidence in financial markets.

The company had received a government-backed arrangement connected with Britain's national debt and promoted ambitious expectations about trade with Spanish America. Its stock became the focus of intense speculation, while many other ventures also attempted to attract money during the boom. The scale of promotional claims and easy enthusiasm helped drive prices far beyond realistic business prospects.

Parliament investigated the collapse, and prominent figures were implicated in the scandal. The Mississippi Bubble in France occurred in the same broad period but involved John Law's financial system and the Mississippi Company. South Sea Bubble is therefore the specific answer for the British episode, not a general label for every eighteenth-century speculative boom.