Louis XIV, known as "The Sun King" and as "Louis the Great", ruled France for seventy-two years. He reigned from 1643 to 1715. Louis was only four years old when his father died and his mother Queen Anne selected Cardinal Mazarin as Prime Minister. Mazarin's attempts to increase the revenue led to civil wars, called the Fronde, which lasted intermittently from 1649 to 1652. Riots wrecked Paris and violence continued for a number of years, resulting in Louis and Mazarin fleeing the city. However, internal differences between the nobles and the middle class and the overall chaos in the county contributed to Louis XIV's eventual return.
             After the death of Mazarin in 1661, Louis became his own prime minister and adopted the ideal of the Divine Right of Kings, which stated that God chose the king to rule, and only God had authority over him, not a parliamentary body or any group of nobles. Louis XIV also sought to control religion, believing that more than one religion could not exist and that religious unity was necessary for absolute control. In 1685, he revoked the Edict of Nantes. He destroyed Huguenot schools and churches and took away their civil rights. The Huguenots escaped France and settled in Holland, England, and America. Many of those who fled were craftsmen and business people and their loss hurt the French economy.
             During Louis XIV's 72-year reign, France became a dominant power in Europe. Jean Baptiste Colbert, Louis' finance minister helped revive trade and economy. To advance prosperity, Colbert promoted good farming methods, internal improvements (roads and canals), support of both old and new industries, and the creation of a strong merchant marine, which enabled France to establish trading posts in North America as well as Asia. Colbert's goal was to make France self sufficient by centralizing the economy through government control of trade and industry.
             ...