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Louis De Geer (17 November 1587 - 19 June 1652) was a Walloon/Dutch merchant and industrialist. He is considered the father of Swedish industry for introducing Walloon blast furnaces in Sweden. He also produced cannons for the German Protestant movement, as well as for Dutch admirals and the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company.
Louis de Geer in 1632[]
Prompted by letters from his niece, Colette, who settled in Grantville shortly after the Ring of Fire, Louis de Geer backed the establishment of an industrial complex in Essen. He would later become governor-general of the Republic of Essen. The diplomats Scaglia and Rubens met with de Geer on behalf of Don Fernando in 1633 to inquire about chloramphenicol for their soldiers in the Amsterdam seige lines. Louis took this opportunity to sell them insecticide, bleaching powder and water filtration units, and procure additional benefits for the new Republic of Essen.
During the events of 1635: The Wars for the Rhine, he is involved in an intrigue with Richelieu which eventually leads to the death of Wolfgang Wilhelm von Neuberg (Duke of Julich and Berg) and ensuing complications which take up most of that book. He is not as successful as he had hoped in expanding Essen's territory at Julich and Berg's expense.