Philip François Renault
French explorer
Philippe François Renault (c. 1686 – 24 April 1755) was a French politician, businessman, explorer, metallurgist, and favorite courtier of King Louis XV of France, who left his native Picardy in 1719 for the Illinois Country, Upper Louisiana, in French North America.
Renault was an important contributor to early efforts at mining, especially for lead, in the French colonies, which began in earnest when he transported African slaves from Saint-Domingue to settlements on the Mississippi River. More successful than his lead mines was his concession of land on the east bank of the river, on which he founded St. Philippe, an early agricultural community. The village quickly became prosperous by exporting surpluses to other settlements on the river.
Early life
Renault was born in Picardy, in northern France. His father, Philippe Renault, was a wealthy iron founder at Cousolre, near Maubeuge, and a stockholder in the Royal Company of the Indies.
Company of the Indies
Renault was appointed director-general of mining operations by the Company of the West, which had been formed by the French for the exploitation of their American possessions. It acquired the French East India Company and became the Company of the Indies in 1719.
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This entry incorporates text from “Philip François Renault” 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.