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Jean-Baptiste Colbert

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Jean-Baptiste Colbert
Jean-Baptiste Colbert was a French politician that served as Minister of Finances of France in the mid seventeenth century under the rule of King Louis XIV. His relentless hard work and dedication made him a respected minister. He is most frequently accredited with stimulating French manufacturing, stabilizing the economy, and centralizing France’s administrative government. Over the course of his career as Minister of Finance, Colbert had established an immense administrative project that served as a state encyclopedia. This was Colbert’s great innovation as no other administrator had attempted to establish a “…interdisciplinary library and state information archive together…in response to policy needs.” (Soll) He had accumulated his
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