Louis De Geer (industrialist, 1587)

Louis De Geer the Elder by David Beck

Louis De Geer , also Lodewiik De Geer , Lovis De Geer and Louys De Geer (born November 17, 1587 in Liège , † June 19, 1652 in Amsterdam ) was a Dutch merchant and industrialist and is generally considered to be the father of Swedish industry.

Life

After his parents moved to Dordrecht in the Netherlands , the young Louis received extensive training at home and on various trips abroad. The focus was on the introduction to business. After the death of his father he worked as a merchant, first in Dordrecht and later in Amsterdam. The Swedish royal family needed loans, weapons and other war material at this time and made contact with de Geer.

From two compatriots, the de Besche brothers , Louis de Geer learned a lot about Sweden's natural wealth. In 1618 one of these brothers leased a farm and land near Finspång on de Geer's account . Then de Geer let a lot of capital flow to Finspång and build blast furnaces , hammer mills and factories . Various areas of the iron industry were improved on the French and Belgian models. Nearby Norrköping soon became the capital of the emerging industry. A large number of Belgian miners and blacksmiths were brought to Sweden.

King Gustav Adolf promoted De Geer as best he could and in 1627 he moved to Sweden, where he was immediately naturalized. Shortly before, de Geer had leased further lands and mines. He now took on a large number of royal orders. So he had the upper hand over all royal rifle factories and later he became director of the state copper and salt trade alongside Erik Larsson von der Linde . In order to tie Louis de Geer even more closely to Sweden, he was awarded the Swedish title of nobility by the government in 1641. He was also able to buy some of his leased goods tax-free.

When the Torstensson War broke out in 1643 , De Geer went to Holland as a commissioner and asked for assistance from Sweden. Since this request was rejected, however, he equipped a fleet in Amsterdam at his own expense under the Dutch admiral Maerten Thijssen , which was supposed to bring the Swedish army to Funen . At the first attempt, however, this fleet was repulsed in the sea ​​battle in Lister Tief on May 16, 1644, before it had reached the Swedish allies. Only on the second attempt were the ships able to break through into the Baltic Sea and unite with Carl Gustav Wrangel's fleet ; on October 13, 1644, they took part in the ultimately decisive sea ​​battle near Fehmarn .

After the peace negotiations were over, De Geer turned back to his private business. In his later years he also dealt with the expansion of Swedish trade relations and Swedish colonialism . After visiting Sweden for the last time in 1651, he died in Amsterdam in June 1652.

literature

• Louis De Geer . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 1 : A-K . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 224 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Web links

Commons : Louis De Geer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Louis de Geer (English)