This entry is a subtopic of French Colonies.
The European quest for a direct sea link to the source of Indian spices had begun in the fifteenth century with the Portuguese voyages directed by Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460). Vasco da Gama (c. 1460–1524) had "discovered" the sea route to the pepper-rich Malabar Coast of India during his epic first voyage of 1497–1499, and for the next century the Portuguese had dominated the spice trade. The desire of France to share in this rich trade had begun as early as the reigns of Francis I (ruled 1515–1547) and Henry III (ruled 1574–1589). In 1527 a Norman ship reached Diu; the next year the Marie de Bon Secours was seized by the Portuguese; and in 1530 two French ships reached Sumatra. Yet it was only after the chaos of the Wars of Religion ended that the Compagnie des Mers Orientales was formed in November 1600 by merchants of Saint-Malo, Laval, and Vitré. Although two ships were sent to Asia, this company was soon moribund. In June 1604 Henry IV (ruled 1589–1610) issued letters patent granting a trading monopoly in Asia to a "Société . . . pour le voyage des Indes orientales." A promising beginning for this company, however, was soon undermined by a lack of private investment, Portuguese and Dutch opposition, the continued preeminence of continental foreign policy aims, and the internal strife of Louis XIII's (ruled 1610–1643) minority. In vain the crown attempted to instill new life into the project in July 1619 by transferring monopoly privileges to a reconstituted concern, the Compagnie des Moluques. Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642) also tried his hand at creating a viable East India Company. Between 1633 and 1637 several ships were sent to Asia by a Société Dieppoise, and monopoly privileges were granted to a Compagnie d'Orient by letters patent of June 1642. Nevertheless the cardinal's scheme to colonize Madagascar (Isle Dauphine) eventually bankrupted the company. Private attempts to break into the trade between 1655 and 1662 under the auspices of the maréchal (marshal) de la Meilleraye and Nicolas Fouquet (1615–1680) were also failures.
Louis XIV's (ruled 1643–1715) finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683) was responsible for the greatest French attempt of the early modern period to break into the Asian trade. Colbert, a firm disciple of mercantilist theories, believed the key to the kingdom's economic prosperity rested in its ability to destroy the burgeoning trade of the Dutch East India Company while establishing a strong French presence in that trade. In 1664 he formed the Compagnie royale des Indes orientales, based on the Dutch model, with a formidable capital pool and the firm support of the king. During the next few years twenty ships were sent out and three million livres were spent on the project. As a result, Fort Dauphin on Madagascar was reoccupied and a factory was established at the Gujarati entrepôt of Surat. By 1669 Colbert had resolved on a more bellicose approach. A powerful royal fleet, the so-called Persian Squadron, consisting of nine well-armed ships and twenty-three hundred men, was dispatched under Viceroy Jacob Blanquet de La Haye in March 1670 to finally establish French power in India. Nevertheless, flawed command decisions in Asia and a lack of interest in the project on the part of Louis XIV after the beginning of the Dutch War in Europe in 1672 doomed this campaign. The only territorial legacy of 150 years of French efforts to establish a position in the Indian trade was the coastal town of Pondicherry, which La Haye received from Sher Khan Lodi in late 1672 in the midst of his campaigning on the Coromandel Coast of India. From 1674 to 1763, French efforts in India were consistently undermined by increased competition from the English East India Company, along with a lack of support from the French crown. The Royal East India Company was incorporated into John Law's grandiose Company of the Indies in 1719, and also shared in the collapse of his Mississippi scheme the following year. During the 1740s and 1750s, Joseph François Dupleix, governor in Pondicherry, skillfully exploited the declining power of internal Indian states to build significant French power in south and central India. Nevertheless, a lack of support from Paris resulted in his eventual defeat by the British under Robert Clive, followed by his recall in 1754. Bankruptcy resulted in the dissolution of the French East India Company in 1769.
Bibliography
Ames, Glenn J. Colbert, Mercantilism and the French Quest for Asian Trade. De Kalb, Ill., 1996.
Cole, Charles Woosley. Colbert and a Century of French Mercantilism. 2 vols. New York, 1939.
Malleson, G. B. History of the French in India. Edinburgh, 1909.
Sen, Siba Pada. The French in India: First Establishment and Struggle. Calcutta, 1947.
—GLENN J. AMES
