Introducer and first cultivator of madder in the Avignon area
Jean-Baptiste Joannis Althen, 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.
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
Jean-Baptiste was born to a certain « Althen and Catherine Madrecha » in the Safavid Empire, in a village he called « Chaouch ». Jean-Baptiste grew up in a time of much turmoil, as the Safavid Empire, then ruled by King (Shah) Sultan Husayn (r. 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.[1] According to Sibylla Schuster-Walser / Encyclopædia Iranica, in Kayseri, « he learned cotton cultivation and dyeing ». In ca. 1736, Jean-Baptiste managed to escape and moved to France.
In France, he received authorization by incumbent King Louis XV (r. 1715–1774) « to start state-aided cotton fields ». 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. 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 ». Jean-Baptiste died in poverty in 1774.
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.
A French commune, Althen-des-Paluds, is named after him, as well as statues and streets in several cities of the south of France.
