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Private company

Mississippi Company

French joint-stock company

John Law's Company, founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law, was a joint-stock company that occupies a unique place in French and European monetary history, as it was for a brief moment granted the entire revenue-raising capacity of the French state. It also absorbed all previous French chartered colonial companies and was popularly known as the Compagnie du Mississippi (Mississippi Company), even though under Law's leadership its overseas operations remained secondary to its domestic financial activity.2 It ceased to exist in 1721.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1684Founded1
  • Industrytrade1
  • HeadquartersNorth America1

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Armoiries de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons4

John Law's Company, founded in 1717 by Scottish economist and financier John Law, was a joint-stock company that occupies a unique place in French and European monetary history, as it was for a brief moment granted the entire revenue-raising capacity of the French state. It also absorbed all previous French chartered colonial companies and was popularly known as the Compagnie du Mississippi (Mississippi Company), even though under Law's leadership its overseas operations remained secondary to its domestic financial activity.2

The story

The territory of Louisiana was originally claimed for the Kingdom of France by René Cavelier de La Salle on 9 April 1682, then including all the drainage basin of the Mississippi River (which La Salle called the Colbert River, in honor of Jean-Baptiste Colbert). The first attempt to establish a joint-stock company to develop the territory was made in 1697, but did not succeed. Other attempts failed between 1708 and 1710.

Prominent Parisian financier Antoine Crozat, who already controlled the Compagnie de Guinée and the associated slave trade, eventually established a Company of Louisiana (French: Compagnie de la Louisiane) that was granted a 15-year trading monopoly in the territory by Louis XIV on 14 September 1712. Crozat had been persuaded to engage in this venture by adventurer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac, whom he appointed to lead the company. The company's activity remained limited, however, and Crozat withdrew in early 1717 after being fined by the Chamber of Justice that had been established by Adrien Maurice de Noailles, 3rd Duke of Noailles to castigate financiers associated with the financial recklessness of Louis XIV's late years. By then, Louisiana remained almost entirely undeveloped, with a total population of French colonists numbering only about 500.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Law's Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

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Bénard de la Harpe and his party left New Orleans in 1719 to explore the Red River. In 1721, he explored the Arkansas River. At the Yazoo settlements in Mississippi he was joined by Jean Benjamin who became the scientist for the expedition. The Mississippi Company arranged ships to bring in 800 more settlers, who landed in Louisiana in 1718, doubling the European population. Law encouraged some German-speaking people, including Alsatians and Swiss, to emigrate. They gave their names to the German Coast and the Lac des Allemands in Louisiana.

Prisoners were deported from Paris to Mississippi beginning in September 1719, and encouraged by Law to marry young women recruited in hospitals. In May 1720, after complaints from the Mississippi Company and the concessioners about this class of French immigrants, the French government prohibited such deportations. However, there was a third shipment of prisoners in 1721.

The company was involved in the Atlantic slave trade, importing African slaves along the Mississippi River to points as far north as modern Illinois.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Law's Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1721Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1684Founded Founded1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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