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England: South Sea Bubble - The Sharp Mind of John Blunt - Extra History - Part 1

Extra History · explainer · Watch on YouTube

World historyMacroeconomics & financial crisesDocumentaries & storytelling

What it is

The first part of Extra History's animated miniseries on the South Sea Bubble. It explains how England's government debt led Robert Harley to turn to financier John Blunt, whose schemes began inflating artificial demand for shares.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Recommended as an accessible, easily digestible introduction to the South Sea Bubble whenever financial manias, ICOs or overvalued companies come up.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “XtraHistory has a great series on the 'South Sea Company' Bubble”

    Great series on the South Sea bubble and Walpole.

    Balgair, 2018-04 · Strong recommendation · in “Exit scammers run off with $660M in ICO earnings”

  2. “I also highly recommend the YouTube Extra History miniseries on the South Sea Bubble”

    Highly recommended miniseries on a similar UK scheme.

    kenneth, 2019-07 · Strong recommendation · in “The Invention of Money”

  3. “For those who want an accessible introduction to the South Sea Bubble, Extra History has a video series”

    Accessible introduction to the South Sea Bubble.

    dharmab, 2018-01 · Recommendation · in “Newton’s Financial Misadventures in the South Sea Bubble [pdf]”

  4. “I think you'd like this overview of England's South Sea Company”

    Overview of how John Blunt built England's largest company through fraud.

    downrightmike, 2018-01 · Recommendation · in “Tether Is Breaking Its Peg to the Dollar”

  5. “It is quite an interesting tale”

    Interesting tale of the South Sea banking bubble scam.

    inglor, 2019-04 · Recommendation · in “The Dutch East India Co was richer than Apple, Google, Facebook combined (2017)”

  6. “Extra History did a more easily digestible series”

    Easily digestible series on the South Sea Company.

    duttish, 2025-12 · Recommendation · in “Palantir could be the most overvalued company that ever existed”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: financial history, speculative bubbles, john blunt, england, animated history

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