Bottmingen Schloss

Schlossgasse 9, 4103 Bottmingen

By Chris Allen

Bottmingen Schloss: Basel and the colonies

Bottmingen Schloss dates from 1363, when it was owned by the Kämmerer family. This aristocratic family in service of the Bishops of Basel are thought to have built the castle.

Figure 1 Drawing of Bottmingen Schloss by Emanuel Büchel, 1755, Supferstichkabinett Basel

In 1720, John Deucher acquired the castle Bottmingen Schloss and had the castle adapted to the French style and enriched it with several works of art. John Deucher earned his money as a successful speculator. Through his investments in global stocks he could purchase several properties within Basel as well as several stately homes in its vicinity. John Deucher (1671-1747) had close ties with the economist John Law (1671-1729), for whom he worked as spokesman.

Figure 2 John Law, painting by Casimir Balthazar, 1843, Photo 26.12.2019, Creative Commons

John Law held trade as the best way to produce wealth and strongly advocated in favor of paper money. He was also involved in intercontinental trade and in early stages of the colonisation of Louisiana, John Law would sell shares in his company “Mississippi Society” for cash, and this cash was then transferred into paper money and introduced to French society. The Mississippi Society later became the Compagnie des Indes, a colonial enterprise founded in 1664 to compete with the English and Dutch trading companies in the East Indies and later tried to colonise Madagascar. This company also had colonial ties to India where they controlled trade from Europe to India. By investing in this company John Deucher became very wealthy.

Figure 3 Compagnie des Indes Orientales. Book Des Voyages vers l’Est. 1725, Library of Reims, Creative Commons

John Law’s colonial enterprise transported 800 settlers to Louisiana in 1718, this doubled the European population in the area, over the course of the contract John Law’s company was also charged with transporting around 3000 enslaved people. By encouraging, through propaganda and advertisement of life in America, German speaking people to emigrate, John Law, by extension John Deucher’s investment, created an urban space whereby the local cultures became subaltern. This happened through acts of naming of places such as the “German Coast”. I would argue that these are colonial ideals of dominating a landscape through name appropriation and this was further enforced by the area being renamed “New France”; this colonial enterprise was partly made possible due to investments from people such as John Deucher.

Figure 4 Map of New France (around 1754-1755), Creative Commons

John Deucher’s close ties to John Law meant that he could buy early on shares of John Law’s colonial enterprise. This investment at the time led to great profit for the Deucher family.

Figure 5 Bottmingen Schloss. Photo C. Allen 3.10.2021

John Deucher’s money, which was used to purchase and renovate Bottmingen Schloss, can be seen as having a direct link from the city of Basel and John Law’s colonial enterprises. This site can be seen as directly tying the city of Basel to colonial regimes in the seventeen hundred as if it was not for money made through colonial enterprises the castle itself may not be around today. Due to the money being used by the Deucher family to restore Bottmingen Schloss rather than let it decline to a state of ruin.

Sources

Ames, G. (1996). Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French Quest for Asian Trade. DeKalb : Northern Illinois University Press.

Blumencron von Muller, (1992). Die Deucher in Basel in Basler Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Altertumskunde.

Cuevas. J. (2011). Cat Island: The History of a Mississippi Gulf Coast Barrier Island. McFarland & Company, Inc.

Moen, J. (2001). John Law and the Mississippi Bubble: 1718 – 1732. Mississippi History Now.

Mole, G. (2016). Privileging Commerce: The Compagnie des Indes and the politics of trade in old Regime France. Carolina Digital Repository.

Techer, E. (1942). Die Thurgauer Familien Teucher und Deucherim Laufe der Jahrhunderte. Thurgauer Jahrbuch.

Thuring, S. (2019). Bottmingen Castle. This is Basel. https://www.basel.com/en/attractions/bottmingen-castle-4dd9e61806.