Hovhannès Althounian

Jean Althen (Hovhannès Althounian) was an Armenian agronomist, who developed in France the cultivation of madder.

The son of “Althen and Catherine Madrecha,” he was born in a village he spells “Chaouch.” He lost his parents during the Afghan invasion and was taken as a slave to Kayseri in Anatolia, where he learned cotton cultivation and dyeing.

In about 1736 he escaped to France, where he was received by Louis XV in Versailles and authorized to start state-aided cotton fields. When his attempts to grow cotton in southern France proved fruitless, he began to cultivate Oriental madder; this proved so successful that madder soon became a main crop of the region.

Although the plant had been present in the region before his arrival, it was Althen who developed its cultivation, turning it into an industry. In 1754, he arrived in Avignon where he started experimenting with the cultivation of madder. Associated with a local landlord, Clauseau Aïné, he produced a crop of 2500 kg (5500 lbs) in 1769. Poor business decisions led to financial problems, and he died in poverty in 1774. Only in 1846 were his efforts honored, by the erection of his statue on the rock of the cathedral of Avignon, Notre Dame des Doms.

A French commune, Althen-des-Paluds, is named after him, as well as statues and streets in several cities of the south of France.