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Jean-Baptiste Colbert

Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Lord of Vandières and Cernay
Colbert1666.jpg
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, by Philippe de Champaigne (1655)
Chief Minister of the French Monarch
In office
9 March 1661 – 6 September 1683
Monarch Louis XIV
Preceded by Jules Raymond Mazarin
Succeeded by Vacant (1683–1715)
Guillaume Dubois
Secretary of the Navy
In office
7 March 1669 – 6 September 1683
Monarch Louis XIV
Succeeded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Jr.
Controller-General of Finances
In office
4 May 1661 – 6 September 1683
Monarch Louis XIV
Preceded by Nicolas Fouquet
Succeeded by Claude Le Peletier
Secretary of State of the Maison du Roi
In office
1664 – 6 September 1683
Monarch Louis XIV
Preceded by Antoine de Ratabon
Succeeded by François-Michel le Tellier
Personal details
Born (1619-08-29)29 August 1619
Reims, France
Died 6 September 1683(1683-09-06) (aged 64)
Paris, France
Resting place Saint-Eustache, Paris
Nationality French
Spouse(s) Marie Charron (m. 1648; d. 1683)
Children Jean-Baptiste
Jacques Nicolas
Jean-Jules-Armand
Religion Roman Catholicism
Nickname(s) Le Grand Colbert
(The Great Colbert)
Academic career
Institution French Monarchy
Académie française
Académie royale d'architecture
French Academy of Sciences
Field Economics
Military science
Architecture
School or
tradition
Mercantilism
Influences
Influenced
Contributions Colbertism
Awards Order of the Holy Spirit

Jean-Baptiste Colbert (French: [ʒɑ̃.ba.tist kɔl.bɛʁ]; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French politician who served as the Minister of Finances of France from 1665 to 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and thrift made him an esteemed minister. He achieved a reputation for his work of improving the state of French manufacturing and bringing the economy back from the brink of bankruptcy. Historians note that, despite Colbert's efforts, France actually became increasingly impoverished because of the King's excessive spending on wars. Colbert worked to create a favourable balance of trade and increase France's colonial holdings.

Colbert's market reforms included the foundation of the Manufacture royale de glaces de miroirs in 1665 to supplant the importation of Venetian glass (forbidden in 1672, as soon as the French glass manufacturing industry was on sound footing) and to encourage the technical expertise of Flemish cloth manufacturing in France. He also founded royal tapestry works at Gobelins and supported those at Beauvais. Colbert worked to develop the domestic economy by raising tariffs and by encouraging major public works projects. Colbert also worked to ensure that the French East India Company had access to foreign markets, so that they could always obtain coffee, cotton, dyewoods, fur, pepper and sugar. In addition, Colbert founded the French merchant marine.


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