January 2, 1719 - Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat
A successful Bordeaux merchant who built his commercial network through Protestant exile connections, Laffon de Ladebat expanded into the transatlantic slave trade from 1764, adding human trafficking to an already prosperous colonial trade operation. His career illustrates how merchant capital in the French Atlantic world frequently moved from wine and goods into the slave trade as the economic logic of the West Indies colonies took hold.
From Wikipedia
Jacques-Alexandre Laffon de Ladebat (2 January 1719 – 18 November 1797) was a prominent shipbuilder and merchant of the port of Bordeaux in the late 18th century. His son, André-Daniel Laffon de Ladebat (November 30, 1746 – October 14, 1829), succeeded him, and later became involved in politics. In 1789, he participated in the French Revolution.
He was born on 2 January 1719 in the Netherlands to Daniel Laffon de Ladébat and Jeanne Nairac. His family, being Protestant, had fled to the Netherlands following revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685).
Following the death of Louis XIV, Ladébat was able to return to France without fear of religious persecution. There, he and his brother established a business as wine merchants and maritime traders through the network of correspondents that they had developed in the Netherlands.
In 1755, Ladébat began to trade in the colonies of the French West Indies and, from 1764, this included the slave trade.
- Last updated on .