Which 1720 speculative bubble centered on shares of a British trading company?

The South Sea Bubble centered on shares of the South Sea Company in Britain in 1720.

The company had received privileges connected with British government debt and trade with Spanish America. Excitement about its prospects pushed its share price sharply higher, while investors bought shares amid widespread speculation and promotional claims. The company’s actual commercial opportunities were much less substantial than many buyers imagined.

When confidence broke, the share price collapsed, ruining many investors and creating a major political scandal. Parliament investigated the company’s directors and related financial misconduct. The episode is one of the best-known early examples of a speculative financial bubble and helped shape later debates about corporate promotion and market regulation. It occurred in the same broad period as John Law’s Mississippi Bubble in France, but those were separate schemes. South Sea shares, rather than tulips or railway companies, are the defining asset of this British bubble.