The South Sea Bubble: July 1720

The South Sea Bubble of 1720

This year, the ICF is looking back at the South Sea Bubble of 1720 which was the first global financial bubble that occurred 300 years ago in Paris, London and the Netherlands. On the South Sea Bubble 1720 project website, we share newspaper clippings from the Leydse Courant, a Dutch newspaper published in the 1720's, which documents some of the economic news at the time and the historical moments of the financial bubble from November 20, 1719 through December 31, 1721.

On this date 300 years ago: July 1720

Translated excerpt: “The movements among the speculators are extremely large especially for the South Sea Company; even the ladies involve themselves with the trading, and it appears that the most important stakeholders by their behavior very much try to benefit the connections of the Directors.”

A BIG thank you to Professor Geert Rouwenhorst for translating, Rik Frehen for his work on the project and selecting this passage, and Professor William Goetzmann for the image of the female traders!

Click here for more information about the South Sea Bubble of 1720 project.

Related:

• Discover the ICF's South Sea Bubble of 1720 Financial History Collection

• The South Sea Bubble: 14 June 1720

• Financial History Repeats Itself. The South Sea Bubble: 22 April 1720

• The South Sea Bubble: 26 February 1720

• Looking Back 300 Years at the South Sea Bubble of 1720

• Frehen, Rik and Goetzmann, William N. and Rouwenhorst, K. Geert, New Evidence on the First Financial Bubble (July 27, 2012). Journal of Financial Economics, Volume 108, Issue 3, June 2013, Pages 585-607. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1371007

• #ICF_FinancialHistoryFriday