Which French company led the Mississippi Bubble that collapsed in 1720?

The Mississippi Company led the Mississippi Bubble that collapsed in 1720.

The Mississippi Company was reorganized under John Law, a Scottish financier who gained influence in France during the early eighteenth century. Law combined company privileges, colonial claims in North America, and a paper-money system in an ambitious attempt to manage France’s finances and public debt.

Speculation drove the company’s shares to extraordinary heights in 1719 and 1720. Investors were attracted by promotional claims about the wealth of Louisiana and by the expectation that the company would generate vast commercial profits. As confidence weakened, holders rushed to exchange shares and banknotes, producing a collapse.

The term Mississippi Bubble refers to this French episode, while the South Sea Bubble describes the contemporary British crisis. Both formed part of a broader European speculative boom, but they involved different companies, governments, and monetary arrangements.