Which company became the central symbol of the 1720 South Sea Bubble after its shares collapsed?

The South Sea Company became the central symbol of the 1720 South Sea Bubble after its shares collapsed.

Founded in 1711, the company received a government-backed monopoly over British trade with parts of Spanish South America, although the practical trading opportunities were much smaller than investors expected. In 1720, Parliament approved a plan allowing the company to assume a large portion of the national debt. Promotion and speculation then drove its share price dramatically higher.

The price rose from about £100 early in 1720 to roughly £1,000 in August. It later collapsed, ruining many investors and causing political scandal. The bubble was part of a wider speculative episode that also involved the Mississippi Company in France and numerous short-lived ventures in Britain.

The South Sea Bubble was not a modern stock-market crash in the same sense as 1929 or 1987. It was an early example of a speculative bubble, amplified by easy credit, ambitious claims, and herd behavior. Parliament responded with the Bubble Act of 1720.