Which company’s 1720 collapse was the French counterpart to Britain’s South Sea Bubble?

The Mississippi Company was the French counterpart to Britain’s South Sea Bubble in 1720.

The company was associated with Scottish financier John Law, who gained control of the Mississippi Company and promoted its supposed commercial opportunities in French Louisiana. Its shares became the center of a vast speculative boom in France.

Investors bought shares with rising confidence, while Law’s financial system linked company stock, paper money, and government finance. When doubts spread about the company’s profits and the value of the paper currency, the speculative structure collapsed in 1720.

The Mississippi Bubble occurred alongside the South Sea Bubble in Britain, but the two were separate schemes. Both crashes became enduring examples of how monetary expansion, promotional claims, and crowd enthusiasm can inflate asset prices.