South Sea Bubble
The South Sea Company held a government-blessed monopoly on British trade with South America, though actual trade was negligible. Shares rose from roughly £128 in January 1720 to £1,050 by July as company directors, politicians, and courtiers pumped the narrative. Directors sold into the retail mania they had manufactured. The price collapsed in September back to around £150. Parliament's investigation uncovered systematic bribery of ministers and the king's mistresses.
Newton himself lost £20,000. 'I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people,' he reportedly said. Parliament responded with the Bubble Act, which inhibited joint-stock companies for the next 100 years.
02 · Central Banks & Chartered Co.
States outsourced finance to joint-stock monopolies. The Bank of England (1694) and the East India Company became quasi-sovereigns — they issued currency, ran armies, and shaped what 'news from abroad' meant in coffeehouses from London to Amsterdam.
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