The French Regent, Philippe d’Orléans, granted John Law 's General Bank the right to issue paper money in 1716. The following year, Law created the Western Company, which two years later became the Company of the Indies. He obtained a 25-year trade monopoly for Louisiana and Illinois, and had flattering articles published about it in the press, especially the Nouveau Mercure. Stockholders flocked to invest in the colony, which attracted money, colonists and engineers from 1717 to 1719.

		Census of New Orleans and surrounding area in 1721: 293 men, 140 women, 96 children, 155 French domestic servants, 514 black slaves, 51 Indian slaves, 231 animals with horns, 28 horses CAOM, DPP Recensements, G1 464 Louisiane 8

After the failed attempt to build New Biloxi, the town of New Orleans was established as a trading town in 1718. The Jesuit and Capuchin orders (who arrived in 1722) were soon joined by the Ursulines in 1727. The Company of the Indies took over the Senegal, Orient and China Companies, and then bought those of Santa Domingo and Guinea in order to control the slave trade. The spectacular bankruptcy of Law's bank

in July 1720—the result of excessive speculation, the machinations of rival bankers Pâris et Crozat, and the ensuing panic among shareholders—did not keep the Company from operating profitably for a dozen years, despite its founder's self-imposed exile.

		La Marie Séraphique, slave ship from Nantes (1773) Musée de Nantes (fonds Salorges)

Humblot, Satirical engraving from the series "La grande diablerie de Law" [Law's Great Mischief"], sold in Holland in 1720 Musée Stewart, Montreal