Colbert, Mercantilism, and the French Quest for Asian Trade

by Glenn Ames

Overview

This examination of French trade with Asia analyzes France's attempt to establish a mercantile empire in the East by breaking into the lucrative market of the Indian Ocean. Between 1664 and 1674, France advanced a vigorous strategy of commerce and colonization. It founded the powerful East India Company and constructed a large royal fleet as the principal instrument for entrenching French power in Asia. Drawing on archival sources, Ames offers a new interpretation of France's mercantilism in the context of the rise of the world market economy of the early modern period. This study sheds new light on the reign of Louis XIV, the mercantilist theories of Colbert, the origins of the Dutch War, and the Asian trading empires of the French, Dutch, English, and Portuguese during the late seventeenth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780875807584
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	08/25/2016
Edition description:	1
Pages:	259
Sales rank:	860,900
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Glenn J. Ames (1955–2010) was professor of history at the University of Toledo.

Table of Contents

List of Maps ix

Preface xi

Introduction: European Powers and the Asian Trade 3

I Paris, 1665: The Birth of a New Compagnie des Indes Orientates 12

II Surat, 1668: Initial Forays and Difficulties in the Asian Trade 32

III Paris, 1669: Shifting Priorities and the Escalating Anti-Dutch Campaign 49

IV London and Lisbon, 1670: Enemies or Allies in Europe and Asia? 66

V Surat, 1671: Advance and Indecision on the Eve of the Dutch War 89

VI Batavia and the Malabar Coast, 1672: Frustrated Alliances and a Frustrating Start to the Anti-Dutch Crusade 109

VII Paris, the Low Countries, and Trincomalee, 1672: Gloire in Europe, an Enigmatic Defeat on Ceylon 126

VIII The Coromandel Coast, Paris, and Flanders, 1673: Escalating Difficulties in Europe and Asia 147

IX Les Indes Orientales and Paris, 1674: Reconfirming Traditional Priorities in Europe: Establishing the Basis for the Postwar Trade in Asia 166

Epilogue, 1675-1683 186

Notes 193

Bibliography 227

Index 239

Editorial Reviews

""This is a well-researched, interesting narrative of Jean Baptiste Colbert's bid to create a Compagnie des Indies Orientales capable of competing with the Dutch Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) in the East Indies trade."—French History"

From the Publisher