French West India Company
The French West India Company ( French Compagnie des Indes Occidentales Françaises ) was a West India company founded in 1664 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert with the aim of trading with the French possessions in America. Since the administration of the French colony New France in North America was entrusted to her by the previous Compagnie de la Nouvelle France , she should also take care of the settlement of this area. Their home port was Le Havre .
The trade took place mainly with the French colonies founded across the Atlantic, New France and Saint-Domingue . For 40 years, the company received both ownership of the French possessions on the African and American Atlantic coasts, as well as the monopoly of triangular trade .
As a result, however, she soon came into conflict with the French colonists in the French West Indies , who operated smuggling trade with the Dutch , as their trade monopoly resulted in resale prices that were unaffordable for the settlers compared to the Dutch.
The Franco-Dutch War (1672–1679) disrupted the company's business. In 1674 the French crown took over the direct administration of the colonies in the course of the dissolution of the society .
In 1718 the re-established Tobacco Monopoly Company took over , merged with the Senegal Company and finally in 1719 with the French East India Company .
literature
- Philippe Haudrère: La Compagnie française des Indes au XVIIIe siècle. 2. Edition, review and corrigée. Les Indes savantes, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-84654-048-9 (two-volume, revised and corrected new edition of Haudrères' dissertation from 1987, first published in 1989 in four volumes).
- Philippe Haudrère, Gérard Le Bouëdec: Les compagnies des Indes. Ouest-France, Rennes 1999, ISBN 2-7373-2169-7 (richly illustrated, easily understandable introduction).