"It is simply, and solely, the abundance of money within a state [which] makes the difference in its grandeur and power." - Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
It is greatly debated on who was most responsible for France's greatness during the 1600s, but the man who was most influential for France during this time was the brilliant Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Colbert shown his great ability to run government through his expertise surrounding the emergence of the state economy. He was also extremely intelligent when he spent a lot of time and money creating and developing France's overseas colonial empire. And finally Colbert was also very influential through his ability to see a problem within France's tax and system and restructure it in a way that benefits the nation. One of the projects Colbert took on was the emergence of the state economy.
After receiving the power that comes with being the controller general of France, Colbert knew he had to do something for the state's economy. The first project that Colbert took into consideration was investing in infrastructure. His goal was to create traveling routes throughout France and he did so by doing numerous things, Colbert went onto drain swamps, clear forests, and build roads, bridges, and canals. By doing all of this, it was much easier for French goods to be transported throughout the country and trade became very popular within France. Colbert also went onto establish a national currency. This was very beneficial to France because before this it was very easy to skim taxes, a national currency helped the aristocratic landlords receive the right amount of taxes from their inhabitants. A national currency also helped with trade within France because each item that one would want to purchase would be an equal price for everyone. Colbert also would go on to create royal monopolies. By granting these monopolies to privately owned businesses, Colbert brought money to the French government because they would have to purchase their monopoly and he also helped in overseas trade and fostering economic investment and growth.
