Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert ran the French economy for twenty-two years and built the navy that fought Louis XIV's wars. Born in Reims in 1619 to a family of merchants and minor officials, he began as a commissary of war and became Mazarin's private steward, which taught him where the money went. His entry into government was a denunciation. He assembled the case against Nicolas Fouquet, the superintendent of finances, whose fortune and famous château made him an obvious target, and Fouquet was tried, convicted and imprisoned for life in 1661. Colbert took his functions without his title. The method has been called mercantilism ever since. Wealth was held to be a matter of the stock of bullion, so exports were to be maximised and imports discouraged; high tariffs were imposed in 1664 and 1667, chartered companies were founded for the East and West Indies and the Levant, roads and canals were built including the canal du Midi, and manufacture was directed by the state with royal factories, imported foreign craftsmen and quality regulations of extraordinary detail — the width of a bolt of cloth was law. He rebuilt the navy from about twenty usable ships to over 250, organised a system of conscription for seamen, and founded academies for science, architecture and inscriptions. The taxation he could not reform, because the privileged were exempt and the king would not fight them. He also spent his last decade watching the wars consume everything he had accumulated. He died in 1683, hated by taxpayers.
- Lived: 1619 CE – 1683 CE
- Nationality: French
- Roles: finance_minister, statesman, mercantilist
