Overview

The 1720s were a formative decade in which emergent financial markets, shifting imperial frontiers, and intensifying intellectual exchange intersected. Short, dramatic economic crises exposed weaknesses in new institutions of credit and joint‑stock enterprise, while diplomatic settlements and regional revolts rearranged power in northern and eastern Europe, Persia, and parts of South Asia. At the same time, literature, music and natural philosophy circulated widely, carrying early Enlightenment ideas between courts, cities and colonial ports.

Political developments and diplomacy

The decade followed the great conflicts of the previous century and adjusted the map in several regions. The Great Northern War formally concluded in the early 1720s, elevating Russia to a leading role in the Baltic. In Persia the Safavid state fractured amid Afghan revolts and foreign intervention, producing a period of territorial occupation and political fragmentation that invited Ottoman and Russian involvement. Elsewhere, shifting alliances, dynastic politics and colonial administration produced local changes rather than single decisive settlements.

Economy and the 1720 financial manias

Financial innovation and speculation reached a peak in 1720. In Britain the South Sea scheme and, in France, the Mississippi project promoted by John Law expanded credit and drove share prices far beyond underlying revenues before collapsing, exposing public and private vulnerabilities. Parliamentary inquiries, legal repercussions and debates about public debt, central banking and market regulation followed. The episodes influenced how governments, investors and commentators understood risk and the limits of speculation.

Culture, science, and intellectual life

The decade was lively for letters, music and science. Travel accounts and essays circulated across Europe; Montesquieu's Persian Letters appeared early in the period and became widely read. Composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach produced major keyboard and liturgical works, and Handel and other musicians were active in courts and public theatres. Natural philosophers continued to build on seventeenth‑century discoveries; the death of Isaac Newton in 1727 was widely remarked as the passing of an intellectual generation.

Exploration and imperial change

Exploratory voyages and overland expeditions expanded geographical knowledge. Russian eastward movement across Siberia reached the North Pacific and in the later 1720s voyages associated with Vitus Bering increased European awareness of the Bering Sea and Aleutian region. Colonial competition, local rebellions and the weakening of older imperial centers in Asia and Africa reconfigured trade networks and set conditions for intensified eighteenth‑century rivalry.

Notable events and legacy

  • 1720: Peak and collapse of major stock‑market manias (South Sea and Mississippi schemes) and follow‑up investigations.
  • 1721: Diplomatic settlements formalize new balances in northern Europe after the Great Northern War.
  • 1722: Afghan capture of Isfahan and the effective collapse of Safavid central authority, with subsequent foreign interventions.
  • 1722–1725: Continued Russian consolidation as a European power and expansion across Siberia toward the North Pacific.
  • 1722–1724: Literary and musical achievements, including widely read essays and major compositions; intensifying public debate on economics and governance.
  • 1727: Death of Isaac Newton, a symbolic turning point in the history of natural philosophy.

The 1720s are remembered for the contrast between speculative excess and institutional rethinking, and for cultural and exploratory activity that helped shape mid‑eighteenth‑century politics, economic practice and intellectual life across Eurasia and beyond.