Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
South Sea Company x Corporation for carrying on trade to the South Seas
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford and Lord Treasurer, initiated a scheme for the funding of national debt through the South Sea Company, founded in 1711 to trade with Spanish America, on the assumption that the War of the Spanish Succession would end with a treaty permitting such trade. The Treaty of Utrecht, 1713, was less favourable than had been hoped, but confidence in the Company remained artificially high, eventually leading to the collapse of the stock market in 1720 (the South Sea Bubble) and the ruin of many investors. The Company, however, survived until 1853.