August Friedrich Wilhelm Crome
German economist and statistician
August Friedrich Wilhelm Crome (8 June 1753 in Sengwarden – 11 June 1833 in Rödelheim) was a German economist and statistician, and Professor of Cameralism at the University of Giessen. He is known particularly for his 1782 product map of Europe, which is considered by some as the earliest known printed economic map and thematic map.
Life and work
Youth
Crome was born into a middle-class family. His father Johann Friedrich Crome (1724-1802) was first headmaster in Stadthagen, then pastor, and later superintendent and official in the village of Sengwarden (allegedly he had two legendary encounters with the devil). His mother Christiane Lucretia, born Büsching, was a pastor's daughter from Stadthagen. In his autobiography (1833) Crome praised the simple life at home, which gave him "a good foundation for a physically strong constitution. Its pure unadulterated sense was connected with true religion of the heart."
Together with his brother Heinrich he was tutored by his father until university entrance. His brother Heinrich later studied law in Göttingen and became a lawyer in Kniphausen.
Thanks to the financial help of his uncle, the geographer, historian, educator and theologian Anton Friedrich Büsching in Berlin, the Count of Bentinck, and the church of his father, Crome was able to study in theology from 1772 to 1774 at the University of Halle. Through teaching at the Latin school of the orphanage, he earned money for lunch and dinner, and gained his first teaching experience.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q91229. VIAF identifies the subject as 69176826. The Library of Congress control number is no90021698. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1753, 1833, 1782 and 1724.
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This entry incorporates text from “August Friedrich Wilhelm Crome” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.