Talon, Jean Baptiste zhäN bätēst´ tälôN´ [key], 1625?–1694, intendant of New France, b. France. He entered French administrative service c.1653. In his short tenure (1665–68, 1670–72) as intendant of New France he accomplished much. He encouraged agriculture, sent prospectors to hunt for minerals and to explore little-known territory, made energetic efforts to introduce brewing, lumbering, and shipbuilding industries, planned for trade with the West Indies and France, and encouraged immigration so vigorously that the population almost doubled during his tenure. After his return to France in 1672, he became a royal secretary.
See T. Chapais, The Great Intendant (1914).