Louis De Geer (1587–1652)

Louis De Geer (17 November 1587 – 19 June 1652) was a Walloon-Swedish entrepreneur, banker, industrialist and slave trader, who was part of the prominent De Geer family. A pioneer of foreign direct investment in the early modern period, De Geer is considered to be both the father of Swedish industry for introducing Walloon blast furnaces to Sweden and the father of the Swedish slave trade for pioneering Sweden's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Furnaces owned by De Geer produced cannons for German Protestants and the Dutch Navy and the Dutch East and West India Companies.