Mississippi privileges widen

The company’s privileges and debt conversion widen. The Banque Royale is dated to 1718–19. The bust is 1720.

Portrait of John Law. The Banque Générale is 1716. The collapse is 1720. This is not a picture of the bust.Public domain.

Through 1719 the Mississippi company’s privileges widen, and debt-conversion schemes pull more rentiers into shares. 1717 sits inside that widening. The notes of 1716 are already in circulation.

These pages date the Banque Royale to 1718–19, when the crown takes a closer grip. Peak mania is late 1719. The break is 1720. This is not England’s Bank, and it is not the assignats of the 1790s.

John Law and the Mississippi Bubble →