Jean Althen

{{Infobox person

| name = Jean Althen

| image = Jean Althen (page 338 crop).jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Hovhannès Althounian

| birth_date = {{birth year|1709}}

| birth_place = Chaouch, Safavid Empire

| death_date = {{death year and age|1774|1709}}

| death_place =

| spouse =

| children =

| relatives =

| known_for = Developing madder cultivation in France

}}

Jean-Baptiste Joannis Althen,{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} better simply known as Jean Althen (Hovhannès Althounian; 1709–1774), was an Armenian agronomist from Safavid Iran who developed the cultivation of madder in France.{{sfn|Dédéyan|2007|p=919}}{{sfn|Henri|2000|pp=188-195}}{{sfn|Bradshaw|1807|p=110}}{{sfn|Secretary of Agriculture|1848|p=192}}

Although the plant had been present in the region before his arrival, it was Jean-Baptiste Althen who developed its cultivation, turning it into an industry.

Biography

File:Avignon-Jean-Althen-statue-5608.jpg]]

Jean-Baptiste was born to a certain "Althen and Catherine Madrecha" in the Safavid Empire, in a village he called "Chaouch".{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} Jean-Baptiste grew up in a time of much turmoil, as the Safavid Empire, then ruled by King (Shah) Sultan Husayn ({{reign}}1694–1722), was in a state of heavy decline. During the Afghan invasion, Jean-Baptiste's parents were killed while he was enslaved and brought to Kayseri in the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} According to Sibylla Schuster-Walser / Encyclopædia Iranica, in Kayseri, "he learned cotton cultivation and dyeing".{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} In ca. 1736, Jean-Baptiste managed to escape and moved to France.{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}}

In France, he received authorization by incumbent King Louis XV ({{reign}}1715–1774) "to start state-aided cotton fields".{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} When it became apparent that his efforts to grow cotton had been in vain, Jean-Baptiste started cultivating "Oriental madder" in Avignon in 1754, with great success.{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} Associated with a local landlord, Clauseau Aïné, he produced a crop of 2500 kg (5500 lbs) in 1769. Sibylla Schuster-Walser notes that madder "soon became a main crop of the region".{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} Jean-Baptiste died in poverty in 1774.{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}}

In 1846, about 70 years after his death, Jean-Baptiste was honored for his efforts as the French erected a statue of him in Avignon.{{sfn|Schuster-Walser|1989|page=912}} A French commune, Althen-des-Paluds, is named after him, as well as statues and streets in several cities of the south of France. The plant genus Althenia is also named after him.{{cite web |title=Genus Althenia |url=https://casabio.org/taxa/althenia |website=CasaBio |access-date=28 April 2024 |ref=casabio}}

References

Sources

{{cite journal|last1=Henri|first1=Michel|title=Հայազգի ժան Ալթենը՝ Ֆրանսիայում բամբակի և տորոնի մշակության առաջնեկ [Armenian J. Althen - a Pioneer of Adoption of the Cultivation of Cotton and Rubia tinctorum in France]|journal=Patma-Banasirakan Handes|date=2000|issue=2|pages=188–195|url=http://hpj.asj-oa.am/4489/|publisher=Armenian Academy of Sciences|location=Yerevan|language=hy|issn=0135-0536}}
{{cite book|last=Dédéyan|first=Gérard|author-link=:fr:Gérard Dédéyan|title=Histoire du peuple arménien [History of the Armenian People]|year=2007|publisher=Privat|location=Toulouse|isbn=978-2-7089-6874-5|page=907|language=fr}}
{{cite encyclopedia | title = ALTHEN, JEAN-BAPTISTE JOANNIS | last = Schuster-Walser | first = Sibylla | authorlink = | url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/althen-jean-baptiste-joannis-1121-88-1709-74-iranian-who-introduced-the-culti-vation-of-madder-rubia-peregrina-l | editor-last = | editor-first = | editor-link = | encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica, Vol. I, Fasc. 9 | page = 912 | location = | publisher = | year = 1989 | isbn = }}
{{cite book|title=Annual Reports of the Department of Agriculture ... : Report of the Secretary of Agriculture. Reports of Chiefs|year=1848|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=iEA7AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA192 192]|author=United States Department of Agriculture|author-link=United States Department of Agriculture|ref={{harvid|Secretary of Agriculture|1848|p=192}}}}
{{cite book|last=Bradshaw|first=George|title=Bradshaw's Illustrated Hand Book to France|year=1807|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/bradshawsillust01bradgoog/page/n184 110]|author-link=George Bradshaw}}

Jean Althen

Biography

References

Sources

Further reading