Chromium was discovered by Louis-Nicholus Vauquelin in 1797 in France. The following year, he isolated the metal by the carbon reduction of crocoite, or red lead, a chromate mineral whose color inspired Vauquelin to give the metal its current name, which comes from Greek word Chrôma, which means color.
Iron containing chromium was first produced in the mid nineteenth century and the first use of chromium as an alloying agent in the manufacture of steel took place in France in the 1860's.
In 1893 Henri Moissan smelted chromium ore and carbon in an electric furnace and produced ferrochromium. Which has remained the basis of the modern commercial method of producing the alloy even while the method has continuously evolved under the influence of changing markets, technology, and raw materials.
In 1809 Hans Goldschmidt, a German chemist, produced pure chromium by the aluminothermic reduction of chromium oxide.