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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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South Sea Bubble
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(1720) Term for the rapid rise in value of the shares of the South Sea Company, multiplying about eight times during a few months, followed by their collapse and the ruin of many speculators. The company was founded in 1711 to trade with South America, in the expectation of special advantages at the end of the War of the *Spanish Succession (no such advantages transpired). The shares became fashionable in 1718 when *George I became a governor, but the wave of hysteria began only when the company agreed to take over the national debt in 1720, offering its own shares (at an ever increasing premium) in exchange for government stocks.
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Large numbers of fraudulent ventures were launched on the market to take advantage of the new mania for speculation; the corrupt involvement of several leading politicians added to the subsequent scandal. The South Sea Company, in itself an honest venture, continued in business in a modest way until 1853.
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