Which French company was at the center of France’s 1720 stock-market bubble and collapse?

The Mississippi Company was at the center of France’s 1720 stock-market bubble and collapse.

The company, formally linked to John Law’s Compagnie d’Occident, received a monopoly over French trade with territories along the Mississippi River. John Law also controlled France’s Banque Générale, later the Banque Royale, allowing him to connect paper money, public debt, and company shares in an ambitious financial system.

Speculation pushed Mississippi Company shares to extraordinary heights in 1719 and 1720. Confidence collapsed when investors sought to exchange paper claims for more reliable money and doubts grew about the company’s profits. Share prices then plunged, ruining many speculators and damaging trust in paper finance.

The episode is often confused with England’s South Sea Bubble, which also peaked and collapsed in 1720. They were separate schemes in different countries, although both became famous examples of early modern financial speculation and investor mania.