In August 1717, he organized the Compagnie d'Occident (Company of the West), to which the French government gave the control of trade between France and its Louisiana and Canadian colonies. In Canada, the French would trade in beaver skins. In the Louisiana colony they would trade in precious metals. The colony stretched for 3,000 miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River to parts of Canada. It included the present-day states that hug the river: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The colony of Louisiana's connection to the Mississippi River gave rise to the company's more popular name, the Mississippi Company.

–"John Law and the Mississippi Bubble,"
Jon Moen

What was the purpose of the Mississippi Company?

to increase trade between France and other European nations
to help French explorers locate new territory to settle in the Americas
to attract settlers from France to the colonies in North America
to control trade between France and its colonies in North America