In the fall of 1717, John Law, a Scot adventurer and gambler, fueled the Mississippi Bubble by persuading the Duke of Orleans, regent for Louis XV, that paper money issued by a national bank and backed by a vast trading and colonizing enterprise would revive the French economy. As part of this plan, on January 1, 1718, the Company of the West received a 25-year charter to trade, settle, and govern in the Mississippi Valley. Speculation in its shares spread wildly among French people of all classes until the bubble burst in 1720 and left many investors bankrupt. Law's plans for developing the region demanded more time and money than he possessed. Exaggerated reports drew some colonists, while others were brought by force. As the Company's operations in lower Louisiana expanded, the Illinois district benefited: several French villages arose in the American Bottom south of here, and mining expeditions sought the rumored gold and silver. In Illinois, however, the true wealth lay in the fur trade and in agricultural produce that sustained other French posts. The Company continued to struggle until Indian warfare and poor financial returns forced it to surrender its charter in 1731.