https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=French_East_India_CompanyFrench East India Company - Revision history2026-07-31T23:16:58ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=French_East_India_Company&diff=117524&oldid=prev2001:630:21:9DF6:1995:36D1:A576:E6CC at 21:02, 30 June 20212021-06-30T21:02:12Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Defunct French trading company}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}<br />
{{Expand French|date=March 2016}}<br />
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{{Infobox company<br />
| type = [[Public company|Public]]<br />
| industry = [[Trade]]<br />
| name = French East India Company<br />
| native_name = Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes Orientales<br />
| native_name_lang = fr<br />
| image = Armoiries de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales.jpg<br />
| image_caption = Coat of Arms <br> <br>'''Motto''': ''[[Florebo quocumque ferar]]''<br>[[Latin]] for "I will flourish wherever I will be brought"<br />
| logo = File:Drapeau du régiment de la Compagnie des Indes en 1756.png<br />
| logo_caption = Company flag<br />
| logo_size = 150<br />
| fate = Dissolved and activities absorbed by the French Crown in 1769; reconstituted 1785, bankrupt 1794<br />
| successor = <!--company merged into etc.--><br />
| foundation = 1 September 1664<br />
| founder = [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]]<br />
| location = [[Lorient]]<br />
}}<br />
{{Colonial India}}The '''French East India Company''' ({{lang-fr|Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales}}) was a imperial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the [[English East India Company|English]] (later British) and [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch]] trading companies in the [[East Indies]].<br />
<br />
Planned by [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]], it was chartered by King [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] for the purpose of trading in the [[Eastern Hemisphere]]. It resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 [[Compagnie de Chine]], the Compagnie d'Orient and Compagnie de Madagascar. The first Director General for the Company was François de la Faye, who was adjoined by two Directors belonging to the two most successful trading organizations at that time: [[François Caron]], who had spent 30 years working for the [[Dutch East India Company]], including more than 20 years in [[Japan]],<ref>Caron lived in Japan from 1619 to 1641. ''A Collector's Guide to Books on Japan in English'' By Jozef Rogala, p.31 [https://books.google.com/books?id=29cty-eprmgC&pg=PA31&dq=Fran%C3%A7ois+Caron+years+Japan&ei=DrbASNjkKJzayATrmPiJDg&sig=ACfU3U22eUcPvD3B42fwRk_cEkMFPpDBpg]</ref> and [[Marcara Avanchintz]], an [[Armenians|Armenian]] trader from [[Isfahan]], [[Persia]].<ref>McCabe, p.104</ref><br />
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==History==<br />
In 1604, French king [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] authorized the first ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'', granting the firm a 15-year monopoly of the Indies trade.<ref name="booneshares.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.booneshares.com/Indes.htm|title=The Compagnie des Indes|year=2001|access-date=2008-03-06|author=Shakespeare, Howard |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071225184121/http://www.booneshares.com/Indes.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date = 2007-12-25}}</ref> This precursor to [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert|Colbert]]'s later ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'', however, was not a joint-stock corporation, and was funded by the Crown.<br />
<br />
The initial capital of the revamped ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'' was 15 million livres, divided into shares of 1000 livres apiece. [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]] funded the first 3 million livres of investment, against which losses in the first 10 years were to be charged.<ref name="booneshares.com"/> The initial stock offering quickly sold out, as courtiers of Louis XIV recognized that it was in their interests to support the King's overseas initiative. The ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'' was granted a 50-year monopoly on French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, a region stretching from the [[Cape of Good Hope]] to the [[Strait of Magellan|Straits of Magellan]].<ref name="booneshares.com"/> The French monarch also granted the Company a concession in perpetuity for the island of Madagascar, as well as any other territories it could conquer.<br />
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The Company failed to found a successful [[colony]] on [[Madagascar]], but was able to establish ports on the nearby islands of Bourbon and Île-de-France (today's [[Réunion]] and [[Mauritius]]). By 1719, it had established itself in [[India]], but the firm was near [[bankruptcy]]. In the same year the ''Compagnie des Indes Orientales'' was combined under the direction of [[John Law (economist)|John Law]] with other French trading companies to form the ''[[Mississippi Company|Compagnie Perpétuelle des Indes]]''. The reorganized corporation resumed its operating independence in 1723.<br />
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With the decline of the [[Mughal Empire]], the French decided to intervene in Indian political affairs to protect their interests, notably by forging alliances with local rulers in south India. From 1741 the French under [[Joseph François Dupleix]] pursued an aggressive policy against both the Indians and the British until they ultimately were defeated by [[Robert Clive]]. Several Indian trading ports, including [[Pondicherry district|Pondichéry]] and [[Chandernagore]], remained under French control until 1954.<br />
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[[File:French East Indies Cannon de 4 bronze 1755 Douai 84mm 237cm 545kg iron ball 2kg.jpg|thumb|French East India Company [[cannon]] ("Canon de 4"). [[Bronze]], 1755, [[Douai]]. Caliber: 84mm, length: 237cm, weight: 545kg, ammunition: 2kg iron balls.|224x224px]]<br />
The Company was not able to maintain itself financially, and it was abolished in 1769, about 20 years before the [[French Revolution]]. King [[Louis XVI of France|Louis XVI]] issued a 1769 edict that required the Company to transfer to the state all its properties, assets and rights, which were valued at 30 million livres. The King agreed to pay all of the Company's debts and obligations, though holders of Company stock and notes received only an estimated 15 percent of the face value of their investments by the end of corporate liquidation in 1790.<ref name="booneshares.com"/><br />
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The company was reconstituted in 1785<ref name=Soboul192>Soboul, p.192.</ref> and issued 40,000 shares of stock, priced at 1,000 livres apiece.<ref name="booneshares.com" /> It was given monopoly on all trade with countries beyond the Cape of Good Hope<ref name=Soboul192 /> for an agreed period of seven years.<ref name="booneshares.com" /> The agreement, however, did not anticipate the [[French Revolution]], and on 3 April 1790 the monopoly was abolished by an act of the new [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|French Assembly]] which enthusiastically declared that the lucrative Far Eastern trade would henceforth be "thrown open to all Frenchmen".<ref name=Soboul192 /> The company, accustomed neither to competition nor official disfavor, fell into steady decline and was finally liquidated in 1794.<ref name="booneshares.com" /><br />
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==Map gallery==<br />
<gallery><br />
File:Bellin Indoustan 1770.jpg|Carte de L'Indoustan. Bellin, 1770.<br />
Image:European settlements in India 1501-1739.png|French and other European settlements in India.<br />
Image:French India 1741-1754.png|Acme of French influence 1741–1754.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
==Liquidation scandal==<br />
Even as the company was headed consciously toward extinction, it became embroiled in its most infamous scandal. The [[Committee of Public Safety]] had banned all joint-stock companies on 24 August 1793, and specifically seized the assets and papers of the East India Company.<ref name=Soboul360>Soboul, pp.360–363.</ref> While its liquidation proceedings were being set up, directors of the company bribed various senior state officials to allow the company to carry out its own liquidation, rather than be supervised by the government.<ref name=Soboul360 /> When this became known the following year, the resulting scandal led to the execution of key [[The Mountain|Montagnard]] deputies like [[Fabre d'Eglantine|Fabre d'Églantine]] and [[Joseph Delaunay]], among others.<ref name=Soboul360 /> The infighting sparked by the episode also brought down [[Georges Danton]]<ref>Doyle, pp. 273–274.</ref> and can be said to have led to the downfall of the Montagnards as a whole.<ref name=Soboul360 /><br />
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==Coins==<br />
<gallery><br />
File:French issued copper coin cast in Pondicherry for internal Indian trade.jpg|French-issued copper coin, cast in [[Puducherry (union territory)|Pondichéry]] for internal Indian trade.<br />
File:French issued gold Pagoda for Southern India trade cast in Pondicherry 1705 1780.jpg|French-issued "[[Pagoda (coin)|Gold Pagoda]]" for [[Southern India]] trade, cast in [[Puducherry (union territory)|Pondichéry]] 1705–1780.<br />
File:French issued rupee in the name of Mohammed Sha 1719 1758 for Northern India trade cast in Pondicherry.jpg|French-issued [[rupee]] in the name of [[Muhammad Shah|Mohammed Shah]] (1719-1748) for Northern India trade, cast in Pondichéry.<br />
</gallery><br />
<br />
== See also ==<br />
[[File:Pondicherry Dupliex.jpg|thumb|Monument to Joseph François Dupleix in [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]].|244x244px]]<br />
{{portal|Companies}}<br />
* [[British East India Company]], founded in 1600<br />
* [[Portuguese East India Company]], founded 1628<br />
* [[Carnatic Wars]]<br />
* [[Chanda Sahib]]<br />
* [[Dutch East India Company]], founded in 1602<br />
* [[Dutch West India Company]], founded in 1621<br />
* [[:fr:Compagnies européennes fondées au XVIIe siècle|European chartered companies founded around the 17th century]] (in French)<br />
* [[France-Asia relations]]<br />
* [[French colonial empire]]<br />
* [[French India]]<br />
* [[List of trading companies]]<br />
* [[Lorient]]<br />
* [[Muzaffar Jang]]<br />
* [[Salabat Jang]]<br />
* [[Swedish East India Company]], founded in 1731<br />
* [[Whampoa anchorage]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Ames|first=Glenn J. |title=Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French Quest for Asian Trade|year=1996|publisher=Northern Illinois University Press|location=DeKalb, IL|isbn=0-87580-207-9 }}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Boucher |first=P. |title=The Shaping of the French Colonial Empire: A Bio-Bibliography of the Careers of Richelieu, Fouquet and Colbert |year=1985 |publisher=Garland |location=New York }}<br />
*{{Cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=William |author-link=William Doyle (historian) |title=The Oxford History of the French Revolution |edition=2 |year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford; New York |isbn=978-0-19-925298-5 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryoff00doyl }}<br />
*Greenwald, Erin M. (2016). ''Marc-Antoine Caillot and the Company of the Indies in Louisiana: Trade in the French Atlantic World.'' Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. {{ISBN|9780807162859}}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Lokke |first=C. L. |title=France and the Colonial Question: A Study of Contemporary French Public Opinion, 1763-1801 |year=1932 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York }}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Malleson |first=G. B. |title=History of the French in India |author-link=George Bruce Malleson |year=1893 |publisher=W.H. Allen & Co |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoffrenchi00mallrich}}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=S. P. |title=The French in India, 1763-1816 |year=1958 |publisher=Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay |location=Calcutta |asin=B000HINRSC }}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Sen |first=S. P. |title=The French in India: First Establishment and Struggle |year=1947 |publisher=University of Calcutta Press |location=Calcutta }}<br />
*{{Cite book |title=The French Revolution 1787–1799 |last=Soboul |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Soboul |year=1975 |publisher=Vintage |location=New York |isbn=0-394-71220-X |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gt4AAAAIAAJ |access-date=2011-01-01 }}<br />
*{{Cite book |last=Subramanian |first=Lakshmi, ed. |title=French East India Company and the Trade of the Indian Ocean: A Collection of Essays by Indrani Chatterjee |year=1999 |publisher=Munshiram Publishers |location=Delhi }}<br />
*{{Cite book |title=Orientalism in early Modern France |last=McCabe |first=Ina Baghdiantz |year=2008 |publisher=Berg |isbn=978-1-84520-374-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LK0iAQAAIAAJ |access-date=2011-01-01 }}<br />
* Wellington, Donald C. ''French East India companies: A historical account and record of trade'' (Hamilton Books, 2006).<br />
<br />
== External links ==<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140425154556/http://musee.lorient.fr/ Museum of the French East India Company at Lorient]<br />
* [http://www.cambaceres.org/relation/financiers/financiers.htm#CIE-INDES The French East India Company (1785-1875)] History of the last French East India Company on the site dedicated to its business lawyer Jean-Jacques Regis of Cambaceres.<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080603033843/http://www.les-compagnies-des-indes.com/ French East Indies Company nowadays]<br />
*[https://frenchbooksonindia.com/ Frenchbooksonindia.com, an open access multilingual discovery tool with book data from 1531 to 2020, full-text ebooks from 1531 to 1937 and in-text search from c. 1830 to c. 1920]<br />
{{French overseas empire}}<br />
{{Chartered companies}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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[[Category:French East India Company| ]]<br />
[[Category:Yanam]]<br />
[[Category:Colonial Indian companies]]<br />
[[Category:1664 establishments in France]]<br />
[[Category:Companies established in 1664]]<br />
[[Category:1769 disestablishments in France]]<br />
[[Category:Companies disestablished in 1769]]<br />
[[Category:Trading companies of France]]<br />
[[Category:1785 establishments in France]]<br />
[[Category:1794 disestablishments in France]]<br />
[[Category:1794 disestablishments in French India]]<br />
[[Category:French companies established in 1785]]</div>2001:630:21:9DF6:1995:36D1:A576:E6CC