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A: Paris, Île-de-France, France

Foundation of the First Business School

12/1/1819

Established on December 1, 1819, l'Ecole Spéciale de Commerce et d’Industrie (now ESCP Europe) was the first business school. It was founded in Paris by a group of economic scholars and businessmen, including the economist Jean-Baptiste Say, who held the first Chair of Economics, and the trader Vital Roux. The school was patterned after the École Polytechnique founded by politician, engineer and mathematician Lazare Carnot and mathematician Gaspard Monge, but was much more modest in its beginnings, mainly because it did not receive state funding. It soon was renamed Ecole Supérieure de Commerce, and gradually gained in stature and importance during the 19th century. Fifty years after its founding it was acquired by the Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris (CCIP), and became a government institution.

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