The Company of the Moluccas () was a French trading company which was established in 1615 for trade in the

East Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...

. The company received trading privileges for the Far East for a period of 18 years. On 1 June 1604, the French king Henry IV issued letter patents to Dieppe merchants to form the Dieppe Company, giving them exclusive rights to Asian trade for 15 years, but no ships were finally sent. Other cities such as

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

maneuvered to obtain trading rights. In 1615, the regent

Marie de Médicis Marie de' Medici (french: link=no, Marie de Médicis, it, link=no, Maria de' Medici; 26 April 1575 – 3 July 1642) was Queen of France and Navarre as the second wife of King Henry IV of France of the House of Bourbon, and Regent of the Kingdom ...

incorporated the merchants of Dieppe and other harbours to found the Company of the Moluccas. In 1616, two expeditions were sent to Asia from Honfleur in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

: three ships left for

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, and two ships for Bantam. One ship returned from Bantam in 1617 with a small cargo, and letters from the Dutch expressing their hostility toward French ships in the

.''Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 1'' by

Donald F. Lach Donald Frederick Lach (pronounced "Lach, as in Bach") (24 September 1917 – 26 October 2000) was an American historian based as a professor in the Department of History at the University of Chicago. He was an authority on Asian influence in th ...

pp. 93–9

/ref> Also in 1616, two ships were sent from

Saint-Malo Saint-Malo (, , ; Gallo: ; ) is a historic French port in Ille-et-Vilaine, Brittany, on the English Channel coast. The walled city had a long history of piracy, earning much wealth from local extortion and overseas adventures. In 1944, the All ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...

. One was captured by the Dutch, but the other obtained an agreement from the ruler of Pondicherry to build a fortress and a factory there, and returned with a rich cargo. One of the main enterprises of the Company of the Moluccas was the expedition of

Augustin de Beaulieu Augustin de Beaulieu (1589–1637) was a French general, who in 1619 led an armed expedition to the East Indies composed of three ships (275 crews, 106 cannons) and called the "Fleet of Montmorency", after its sponsor the Admiral Montmorency.''A ...

in 1619–1622. The company was superseded with the creation of the Compagnie d'Orient in 1642, and the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in th ...

in 1664.''Literature of Travel and Exploration: A to F'' by

Jennifer Speake Jennifer Speake, ''née'' Drake-Brockman (born 1944, Toronto) is a Canadian-British freelance writer and editor of reference books. Life Jennifer Anne Speake was born in Toronto in 1944. She was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Guy Percy Lumsde ...

, p. 36

/ref>

Notes

{{reflist Trading companies of France 1615 establishments in France

See also

Notes