Mississippi Company

The Mississippi Company was the popular name for John Law's Company, a French joint-stock enterprise created during the Regency following the death of Louis XIV. Its formal identity changed several times. It began in August 1717 as the Compagnie d'Occident, or Company of the West, with a royal monopoly over trade between France and Louisiana and over the beaver-fur trade in Canada. In 1719 it absorbed several earlier French chartered companies and became the Compagnie des Indes, or Company of the Indies. Although its public reputation centered on Louisiana and the Mississippi River, its most consequential activities were increasingly domestic: acquiring tax-collection contracts, operating the royal mints, managing government debt, and integrating with John Law's bank. John Law, a Scottish financier and monetary theorist, designed the company as part of a broad attempt to stabilize France's finances after the costly wars and borrowing of Louis XIV's reign. The company received extensive privileges from the Regent Philippe d'Orléans, including colonial and commercial monopolies, authority to develop Louisiana, permission to maintain military forces in the colony, and the ability to negotiate with Indigenous peoples. It supported settlement around the lower Mississippi, helped establish New Orleans in 1718, organized voyages and exploratory activity, and transported European settlers. Its American operations also included the forced transportation of enslaved Africans and the exploitation of colonial labor systems. The company's role expanded rapidly in 1719. It acquired the financially troubled French East India Company and the China Company, obtained interests connected with African and West Indian commerce, received rights to operate the royal mints, and took control of major tax-farming functions. The company also became closely linked with Law's Banque Générale, later the Banque Royale. New shares were issued while investors increasingly paid with government debt instruments or banknotes. Because the company possessed both commercial privileges and a central position in France's monetary system, its shares became the focus of intense speculation in Paris. Share prices rose dramatically during 1719 and reached a reported peak of 10,000 livres in 1720. Expectations about Louisiana's wealth, the company's monopolies, and Law's monetary reforms fed one another. The rising share price encouraged the creation and circulation of additional paper money, while the expanding money supply helped push prices upward. When confidence weakened, shareholders attempted to convert paper claims and shares into specie. The resulting liquidity crisis, inflation, and loss of confidence produced the Mississippi Bubble's collapse during 1720. The company acquired the Banque Royale in February 1720, but this consolidation did not prevent the crisis. By September the shares had fallen to about 2,000 livres, and by December they were reported at approximately 1,000 livres. John Law lost his offices and left France late in 1720. The company and the bank were placed under government receivership in April 1721. A restructuring completed in 1723 separated the surviving overseas trading business from the failed financial experiment. The reorganized enterprise continued as the French Indies Company, retaining colonial and trading privileges for several decades before eventual liquidation in 1770. The Mississippi Company is therefore remembered both as a colonial corporation and as one of the defining episodes in the early history of modern financial bubbles. John Law's Company was a French chartered joint-stock enterprise created in 1717 by the Scottish economist and financier John Law during the Regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. It was initially established as the Compagnie d'Occident, or Company of the West, with a monopoly over French trade with Louisiana and the Mississippi basin. Although it was publicly associated with colonial development and became popularly known as the Mississippi Company, its most consequential activities were domestic: managing state debt, acquiring tax-collection privileges, operating the royal mints, issuing and circulating paper money, and consolidating earlier French trading companies. The company emerged from a difficult fiscal environment. France had inherited a large debt burden from the reign of Louis XIV, while the Regency government sought ways to restore public credit without imposing an immediately unpopular tax program. Law proposed a system in which a bank issuing notes would support commerce and government finance, while a large company would absorb state debt and receive profitable monopolies and public revenue franchises. The Compagnie d'Occident was granted Louisiana as a fief and received a long-term monopoly on trade between the colony and France, together with rights connected to the Canadian beaver-fur trade. The company could maintain military forces, negotiate with Indigenous peoples, and receive French military support. Under Law's direction, the enterprise expanded rapidly. It acquired the tobacco monopoly, the Compagnie du Sénégal, the Compagnie d'Afrique, the Compagnie du Cap-Nègre, the East Indies Company, and the Compagnie de la Chine. The merger with the East Indies and China companies in 1719 gave it the formal name Compagnie des Indes and provided access to the port, shipyard, and arsenal at Lorient. The company also obtained control of the royal mints, the Ferme Générale, and the collection of direct taxes. By late 1719, it had become not merely a colonial corporation but the principal private intermediary between the French state, its creditors, its tax revenues, and the expanding paper-money system. Its share price rose dramatically as investors exchanged government debt instruments and cash for company stock. Shares that had initially been issued at 500 livres reached 10,000 livres at the peak of the speculative boom. The company's growing paper-money circulation and its close relationship with Law's Bank, later the Banque Royale, reinforced one another. The colonial side of the enterprise also expanded: it transported settlers to Louisiana, supported the development of New Orleans, sponsored exploration, and participated in the Atlantic slave trade. These activities remained secondary to its French financial operations and did not produce results capable of sustaining the expectations embedded in its valuation. The system became unstable during 1720. The company acquired Law's Bank in February and later obtained additional monopolies, including France's slave-trade monopoly. Heavy issuance of bank notes and attempts to support the price of company shares increased the money supply and contributed to inflation. As holders attempted to convert paper assets into specie or other durable property, confidence weakened. Shares fell from their peak to about 2,000 livres by September 1720 and approximately 1,000 livres by December. The collapse forced Law from office and ultimately drove him into exile. The company and the bank it controlled entered government receivership in April 1721. A restructuring completed in 1723 separated the surviving overseas and colonial business from the failed monetary experiment. The reorganized enterprise continued as the French Indies Company, with its trading and navigation privileges later confirmed by royal edicts. It remained active in overseas commerce and colonial development until liquidation in 1770. John Law's Company therefore occupies a distinctive place in financial history: it was simultaneously a colonial company, a debt-conversion vehicle, a tax administrator, a monetary institution, and the central corporate instrument of one of Europe's earliest large-scale speculative bubbles. Share prices rose dramatically in 1719, reportedly reaching a peak of 10,000 livres in 1720. Expectations of Louisiana wealth, the company's monopolies, and Law's monetary reforms reinforced one another. Rising share prices encouraged the creation and circulation of additional paper money, and the expanding money supply in turn pushed up prices. When confidence weakened, shareholders sought to convert paper claims and shares into coin. The resulting liquidity crisis, inflation, and loss of confidence produced the collapse of the Mississippi Bubble in 1720.

The company emerged from France's severe fiscal problems after the reign of Louis XIV. Earlier attempts to develop French Louisiana through chartered companies had produced little practical settlement or trade. Antoine Crozat's Company of Louisiana, created in 1712, held a territorial trading monopoly but remained limited in activity, and Crozat withdrew in 1717 after financial and administrative difficulties. Louisiana still had only a small French population when John Law proposed a new enterprise. The Regency Council approved Law's proposal in August 1717, and royal letters patent created the Compagnie d'Occident. The company received Louisiana as a feudal holding, a long-term monopoly on trade between the colony and France, and privileged access to the Canadian beaver trade. It could maintain troops, construct defenses, make agreements with Indigenous communities, and receive military support from France. Shares had a face value of 500 livres and were payable with government debt claims, an arrangement that connected the new company to Law's larger plan for converting and managing public obligations. The company quickly expanded its American operations. Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville was appointed to command Louisiana's forces, and in 1718 he promoted the development of New Orleans. Ships carried settlers and supplies to the colony, while company-sponsored expeditions explored the Red and Arkansas rivers. The company encouraged migration from German-speaking regions and elsewhere, although it also participated in coercive population policies. Prisoners were sent from France to Mississippi, and African enslaved people were transported into the colony through the Atlantic slave trade. In 1718 and 1719 the company moved beyond Louisiana. It obtained the tobacco monopoly, acquired the Compagnie du Sénégal, purchased the financially weakened East Indies Company and China Company, and received rights connected with North African commerce. A 1719 royal edict renamed the combined enterprise the Compagnie des Indes. The merger gave it facilities at Lorient, including a harbor, shipyard, and arsenal, and enlarged its potential commercial network across the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and Asian routes. The company's most extraordinary transformation occurred in 1719. It received the right to operate France's royal mints, took over the collection of major indirect taxes, and obtained rights connected with direct taxation and public debt. The privileges were extended for a lengthy period, and the company became the practical center of Law's System. Its bank issued notes, while the company issued shares and managed a growing portfolio of state-related claims. The Regent and many prominent investors supported the enterprise, helping give it political legitimacy and attracting a broad public following. Trading in the company's shares became concentrated around Paris's rue Quincampoix. Prices moved from near the 500-livre face value to 750 livres in June 1719, 1,000 in July, 2,000 later that month, and 3,000 in August. The company remained operationally solvent for a time, but its financial importance made its market value inseparable from confidence in the French monetary system. Paper money expanded as investors sought to buy shares and as share gains were paid in banknotes. Inflation and speculation intensified. The company acquired Law's Bank, later known as the Banque Royale, in February 1720. The merger concentrated banking, public finance, and commercial monopoly within one institution but also concentrated risk. When holders sought to realize gains and exchange paper claims for more reliable forms of wealth, the system could not sustain the implied valuations. The share price fell from a reported peak of 10,000 livres to roughly 2,000 by September and approximately 1,000 by December 1720. Law was dismissed and fled France. In April 1721 the company and its bank entered government receivership. The restructuring eventually completed in 1723 left an overseas trading company rather than Law's integrated financial system. The successor retained significant privileges, and the French state provided compensation as part of the settlement. The business continued under the French Indies Company, concentrating on colonial commerce and navigation until its liquidation in 1770. The episode became known as the Mississippi Bubble and remains an important historical example of speculative finance, monetary experimentation, state-backed monopoly, and the risks created when public debt, banking, and equity markets are combined. The company's origins lay in the fiscal crisis left by the later reign of Louis XIV. France carried substantial public debt, and the Regency government needed to restore confidence while generating revenue. Earlier efforts to develop Louisiana through chartered companies had achieved little. Antoine Crozat's Company of Louisiana, established in 1712, held a trading monopoly but withdrew after limited results and financial scrutiny. John Law offered a broader solution. His proposal linked a bank issuing paper notes with a joint-stock company that could receive commercial monopolies and absorb government obligations. The Regency Council approved the company in August 1717, and letters patent soon created the Compagnie d'Occident. The company received Louisiana as a perpetual fief, a 25-year monopoly on trade between Louisiana and France, and privileges connected with the Canadian fur trade. It could maintain forces, negotiate with Indigenous communities, and receive state assistance in conflicts. Shares had a face value of 500 livres and could be subscribed with government debt bills, making the offering attractive to creditors and speculators. The company began building a colonial and maritime presence. It appointed Bienville to command its forces in Louisiana and supported the development of New Orleans in 1718. It transported settlers, organized voyages, encouraged migration from parts of German-speaking Europe, and supported explorations of the Red, Arkansas, and Mississippi rivers. It also transported enslaved Africans through the Mississippi system and participated in the Atlantic slave trade. Colonial settlement and exploration were important parts of its public image, but the company's financial importance increasingly came from its French privileges. In 1718 it acquired the tobacco monopoly and the Compagnie du Sénégal. In 1719 it purchased the East Indies Company and the Compagnie de la Chine, becoming the Compagnie des Indes. The merger gave it facilities at Lorient and expanded its commercial reach. During the same period it obtained the African trade privileges, control of the royal mints, management of the Ferme Générale, and rights relating to direct taxation. These transactions transformed the company into a quasi-public fiscal corporation. It became the collector of much of the kingdom's revenue and the holder of claims connected with the French state. The company's expansion was financed in part through new share issues and was closely connected to Law's Bank. Investor enthusiasm drove the shares from their 500-livre issue price through successive milestones of 750, 1,000, 2,000, and 3,000 livres during 1719, eventually reaching 10,000 livres. The apparent prosperity of the company encouraged further note issuance, while company shares served as a highly visible store of speculative wealth. The company remained formally solvent and profitable during the rise, but its valuation depended heavily on confidence in the broader Law System and in the ability of paper money to retain value. In February 1720 the company acquired Law's Bank, also known as the Banque Royale. The merger concentrated banking, state finance, taxation, colonial monopolies, and share-market support within one structure. The money supply expanded sharply, and inflation became severe. The company's acquisition of further privileges, including the Compagnie de Saint-Domingue and the French slave-trade monopoly, could not compensate for the growing gap between paper valuations and realizable assets. As shareholders sought to sell, the market turned downward. Prices fell to roughly 2,000 livres by September 1720 and 1,000 livres by December. The collapse ended Law's political and managerial authority. Philippe d'Orléans dismissed him, and Law left France. The company and its bank entered receivership in April 1721. A restructuring completed in March 1723 separated the surviving overseas business from the failed financial system. The government paid an indemnity reported in the historical account as 514 million livres, while existing shareholders were retained and the reorganized company continued its overseas privileges. Royal edicts in 1725 confirmed its trading and navigation rights. The successor operated as the French Indies Company until its liquidation in 1770. Historically, John Law's Company is significant because it blurred distinctions that later became central to modern finance. It combined a chartered trading corporation with a government contractor, tax authority, bank, debt-conversion mechanism, and speculative security issuer. Its rise demonstrated the power of state guarantees and financial innovation to mobilize capital; its collapse demonstrated the dangers of concentrating monetary expansion, public finance, and securities valuation in a single politically supported institution.

• 1770

  French Indies Company is liquidated

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The successor company continued until its eventual liquidation.

• 1770

  Successor company liquidated

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The French Indies Company, successor to the reorganized enterprise, was eventually liquidated.

• 1723

  Reorganization as the French Indies Company

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The restructured enterprise emerged with its emphasis redirected toward overseas trade and colonial development.

• 1723

  Reorganized as an overseas company

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The surviving enterprise emerged focused on overseas trade and colonial development and became associated with the French Indies Company.

• 1721

  Receivership begins

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company and its bank were placed under government receivership during the unwinding of Law's System.

• 1721

  Placed under receivership

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company and its bank entered government receivership following the collapse of the Law System.

• 1720

  Bank merger and speculative collapse

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company acquired Law's Bank, but the combined financial system collapsed later that year as share prices and confidence fell. The company acquired Law's Bank, after which inflation and falling confidence culminated in the Mississippi Bubble's collapse.

• 1719

  Company becomes Compagnie des Indes

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  After acquiring the East Indies Company and China Company, the enterprise adopted the name Compagnie des Indes and broadened its international scope.

• 1719

  Receives major French fiscal privileges

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company obtained rights involving the royal mints, indirect taxes, and direct-tax collection, making it central to state finance.

• 1718

  New Orleans development begins

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company supported the development of a new lower-Mississippi settlement later known as New Orleans.

• 1718

  Colonial and fiscal expansion begins

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The company developed New Orleans, acquired the tobacco monopoly and the Compagnie du Sénégal, and expanded its shipping operations.

• 1717

  Compagnie d'Occident is established

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  The Regency authorized Law's company and granted it Louisiana, a colonial trade monopoly, and related military and diplomatic privileges.

• 1712

  Company of Louisiana receives a colonial monopoly

  [1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Louis XIV granted Antoine Crozat's Company of Louisiana a fifteen-year monopoly, establishing the immediate predecessor context for Law's later enterprise.

A state-backed colonial monopoly transformed into the central commercial and financial vehicle of Law's System. A state-backed universal fiscal and colonial company designed to combine public-debt management, paper-money finance, tax administration, and overseas commerce.

• Colonial commerce · 1717

  Louisiana colonial trade

  The company's original central privilege was the development and exploitation of French Louisiana, including trade between the colony and metropolitan France. Its responsibilities encompassed shipping, settlement, military support, and the creation of commercial infrastructure. In practice, Louisiana produced far less immediate wealth than promotional claims suggested, while the company's colonial system depended on forced labor, enslaved people, and state-backed privileges.

• Colonial commerce · 1717

  Canadian beaver-fur trade

  The Compagnie d'Occident received a monopoly over the beaver-fur trade in Canada. This privilege connected the company to an established North American commercial network and provided a more tangible trading opportunity than the largely undeveloped Louisiana venture.

• Monopoly commodity trade · 1718

  Tobacco monopoly

  In 1718 the company acquired the right to operate France's tobacco monopoly. The tobacco concession was part of the broader expansion that turned a colonial company into a major holder of fiscal and commercial privileges within France.

• Fiscal services · 1719

  Tax collection and debt administration

  The company obtained rights to collect major indirect taxes and later direct taxes, while also becoming the holder of claims connected with French public debt. These arrangements gave it a quasi-public role and made its fortunes closely dependent on confidence in the monarchy and Law's monetary reforms.

• Financial instruments · 1717

  Company shares and banknotes

  Shares in the company were issued against government debt instruments and traded actively in Paris. After the company's integration with Law's Bank, its shares and the bank's paper notes became interconnected elements of a large monetary experiment. Their rapid appreciation and subsequent collapse formed the core of the Mississippi Bubble. Shares were initially issued at 500 livres and could be subscribed with government debt bills. Their rapid appreciation became the most visible financial product of Law's System and ultimately formed the basis of the Mississippi Bubble.

• International trade · 1719

  Overseas shipping and Asian trade

  Through the acquisition of the East Indies Company and China Company, the enterprise gained access to ships, port facilities, shipbuilding, and trading routes reaching beyond North America. The Lorient complex became an important physical asset of the enlarged Compagnie des Indes.

• Colonial commerce · 1717

  Louisiana and Mississippi trade

  The company's original commercial focus was trade between Louisiana and metropolitan France, together with activity linked to the Mississippi basin and the Canadian fur trade. It supported shipping, settlement, military infrastructure, and exploration, although colonial output remained far less important to its valuation than its financial privileges in France.

• Government services · 1718

  Fiscal administration

  Through acquisitions and royal grants, the company administered or controlled major revenue streams, including tobacco duties, the Ferme Générale, direct taxes, and the royal mints. These rights made it a central financial intermediary for the French monarchy.

• Maritime and colonial operations · 1718

  Colonial shipping and settlement

  The company operated ships, transported settlers and enslaved Africans, supported New Orleans, and sponsored exploration in the Mississippi region. These activities connected the company's commercial charter to France's broader colonial ambitions.

• 1720

  The Mississippi Bubble

  The company's share price collapsed after an extraordinary speculative rise. The crisis was amplified by the company's control of banking and public-finance functions, the expansion of paper money, inflation, and the difficulty of converting paper claims into reliable value. The collapse damaged investors and discredited Law's System. The company's shares rose to extraordinary levels amid expanding paper-money issuance, state privileges, and speculative demand. When confidence failed, prices collapsed, inflation intensified, Law lost his offices, and the company entered receivership.

  Source

• 1720

  Forced colonial migration and slavery

  The company's Louisiana program involved the transportation of enslaved Africans and, for a period, the deportation of prisoners from France. Complaints about prisoner deportations led the government to prohibit that practice in 1720, although another shipment occurred in 1721.

  Source

Read more

• 1719Share subscription and public promotion

  Paris · Kingdom of France

  The company broadened public participation through share issues payable with government debt claims, while its expanding privileges generated intense investor interest in Paris.

  Outcome. The campaign attracted a wide shareholder base and drove a dramatic rise in the share price, but it also intensified leverage, monetary expansion, and speculative risk.

  Source
• 1719Colonial exploration and development

  Mississippi basin · Louisiana

  Company-backed expeditions explored waterways including the Red River and Arkansas River while the company promoted the economic potential of the Mississippi basin.

  Outcome. The expeditions expanded geographic knowledge and company presence but did not produce the exceptional wealth implied by speculative expectations.

  Source
• 1718Louisiana settlement program

  Louisiana · France · German-speaking Europe

  The company organized shipping, settlement, and colonial development in Louisiana, including the expansion of the settlement that became New Orleans and the recruitment of European migrants.

  Outcome. The program increased the European population and established a durable French settlement at New Orleans, but Louisiana remained economically underdeveloped and relied heavily on coercive labor systems.

  Source

• 1721

  Place the company under receivershipStrategy

  Background

  The collapse of share prices and the failure of confidence in paper money made the existing structure unsustainable.

  Action taken

  The French government placed the company and its bank under receivership and began dismantling the integrated financial system.

  Aftermath

  The enterprise was reorganized into an overseas-focused company, emerging in 1723 as the French Indies Company.

  State indemnity during restructuring. 514 million French livres (1723 restructuring)

  Source

• 1721

  Accept government receivership and restructuringStrategy

  Background

  The collapse of the monetary system left the company and its bank unable to continue in their former integrated roles.

  Action taken

  The French government placed the company and bank in receivership and reorganized the surviving enterprise around overseas trade.

  Aftermath

  The successor continued as the French Indies Company and retained overseas privileges until its liquidation in 1770.

  Government indemnity. 514 million livres (1723 restructuring)

  Source

• 1720

  Acquire Law's BankM&A

  Background

  The company and the bank had become the two principal institutions of Law's monetary and fiscal system.

  Action taken

  The company acquired John Law's Bank, then France's central banking institution, later known as the Banque Royale. The company acquired the bank in February 1720, concentrating banking and corporate operations.

  Aftermath

  Banking and company-share risks were concentrated in one organization shortly before the monetary and stock-market crisis. The concentration intensified the relationship between bank-note issuance, company shares, and public finance, contributing to the instability that culminated in the bubble's collapse.

  Source

• 1719

  Merge colonial and overseas chartered companiesM&A

  Background

  Law sought to consolidate France's fragmented chartered-company system and create a larger international trading enterprise.

  Action taken

  The company acquired the East Indies Company and China Company and adopted the name Compagnie des Indes.

  Aftermath

  The enterprise gained wider geographic reach, facilities at Lorient, and a stronger rationale for issuing new shares.

  Source

• 1719

  Expand into taxation and public financeStrategy

  Background

  The company had evolved from a colonial venture into the central institution of Law's System.

  Action taken

  It acquired rights to operate the royal mints and collect major categories of French taxes, while taking on public-debt-related functions.

  Aftermath

  The company became financially and politically inseparable from the French state's monetary experiment.

  Source

• 1719

  Merge with the East Indies Company and Compagnie de la ChineM&A

  Background

  Law sought to consolidate France's chartered overseas companies and broaden the company's commercial privileges.

  Action taken

  The Compagnie d'Occident acquired the two companies and adopted the name Compagnie des Indes.

  Aftermath

  The company gained access to the facilities at Lorient and expanded its geographic and commercial scope.

  Source

• 1717

  Create a state-backed colonial monopolyStrategy

  Background

  France sought ways to address public-finance problems while developing Louisiana and expanding overseas commerce.

  Action taken

  The Regency authorized the Compagnie d'Occident with Louisiana, Canadian fur-trade, military, settlement, and treaty-making privileges.

  Aftermath

  The company gained a powerful commercial foundation and became the principal vehicle for Law's financial program.

  Initial share issue face value. 100 million French livres (1717-1718)

  Source

• 1723

  Overseas trading business restructured[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  After the receivership, the surviving enterprise emerged as the French Indies Company with an emphasis on overseas commerce and colonial development.

• 1721

  Company placed under government receivership[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Bankruptcy · Regulation

  The company and the bank it controlled were placed under government receivership after the collapse of the monetary and share-price system.

• 1719

  Company absorbs major French chartered companies[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  The company acquired the East Indies Company and China Company and adopted the name Compagnie des Indes.

• 1719

  Shares surge during the Mississippi speculation[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Pricing · Other

  The company's shares rose sharply as investors responded to expanding privileges, debt-conversion arrangements, and expectations of colonial wealth.

• 1719

  The company expands through acquisitions[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  The company absorbed or obtained rights associated with several French colonial and fiscal enterprises and adopted the name Compagnie des Indes.

• 1718

  Company supports the development of New Orleans[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Under the company's colonial program, a new settlement on the lower Mississippi was developed and named New Orleans in honor of the Regent.

• 1717

  Creation of the Compagnie d'Occident[1]John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The Regency Council approved Law's company and granted it a Louisiana trade monopoly, colonial privileges, and related military and diplomatic powers.

1. 1John Law's Companyen.wikipedia.org