Which British stock-market crash in 1720 followed the collapse of the South Sea Company?

The British stock-market crash in 1720 that followed the collapse of the South Sea Company is known as the South Sea Bubble.

The South Sea Company received a government-backed monopoly over trade with parts of Spanish America and promoted expectations of enormous profits. Its shares rose dramatically during 1720, attracting investors who hoped to become wealthy through rapidly rising prices. When confidence weakened, the price collapsed, ruining many shareholders and creating a major political scandal.

The episode unfolded alongside John Law’s Mississippi Bubble in France, another famous speculative collapse. Parliament investigated the South Sea Company, and several politicians were implicated in corruption. Isaac Newton, who had invested in the company, is often associated with the crash, although the familiar quotation about calculating celestial motions but not market madness is difficult to verify in its popular form. The event helped make “bubble” a lasting term for speculative excess.