Although originally established by a charter that King Henry IV granted in 1604, the French East India Company lacked funds and soon went out of business. In 1664, however, Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683), the finance minister of Louis XIV, infused new spirit into the company through state funding and the granting of trade monopolies. He also equipped the company with guns and soldiers, so that it could compete with the Dutch and British East India Companies for raw materials and markets in Asia and Africa. To encourage French merchants and aristocrats to support the company, Louis XIV himself started investing in it and gave it his royal patronage. In 1674, headed by François Martin, the company established its headquarters in South India at Pondicherry and set up subsidiary factories at Surat north of Mumbai (Bombay) and at Chandarnagar near Calcutta and the Hughli River. In 1722 the company brought the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon in the Indian Ocean under its military control.
The French East India Company gained further military and financial strength in 1742 under Joseph-François Dupleix (1697–1763), the French governorgeneral of Pondicherry. Dupleix easily captured Madras on the southeast Indian coast in 1746. When challenged by Anwar-ud-Din, the ruler of Carnatic in southern India, for the possession of Madras, Dupleix led 230 French soldiers supported by 700 Indian sepoys (soldiers) to victory over a 10,000-man Indian army and gained control of Carnatic.
With such easy conquests Dupleix came to believe that India was ripe for French imperialism, and he became a de facto ruler in the south of India. To secure the French East India Company's position against the British East India Company, Dupleix acted as a kingmaker by aiding pro-French and anti-British Indian rulers. He also interfered in the dynastic problems of contending Indian rulers. When in 1748 the old Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad died, Dupleix placed his own nominee on the throne against the Nizam's wishes. In the ensuing war Dupleix's French forces defeated the army of Nizam's nominee, whom the British favored. In 1754, however, the British East India Company, under Robert Clive (1725–1774), defeated the French forces of Dupleix, and Dupleix was recalled to France.
Dupleix had gained an enormous knowledge of India. But his expensive warfare against Indian rulers, and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) between France and England, led to the company's bankruptcy and ultimately to its complete collapse during the French Revolution in 1789.
Further Reading
Malleson, George Bruce. (1984). History of the French in India: From the Founding of Pondicherry in 1674 to the Capture of That Place in 1761. Delhi: Renaissance.
Subramanian, Lakshmi, ed. (1999) French East India Company and the Trade of the Indian Ocean. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.
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