François Martin (1634– octobre 1706) was the first Governor General of

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

. In 1673, Sher Khan Lodi, the governor of Valokondapuranam under the sultan of Bijapur granted sieur Bellanger de l'Espinay a site for a settlement. A shrewd and able administrator, François Martin, former director of the Masulipatnam lodge, developed Pondicherry, the future capital of

French India French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were '' ...

in 1674 into a thriving port. He is known as the Father of Puducherry.Donald F. Lach, Edwin J. Van Kley, ''Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance'' (1998), p. 258. The town was taken and sacked by the Dutch in 1693. François Martin, his family and followers, including Father Tachard, were taken captives to Batavia. Martin eventually negotiated his return to Chandernagor. He was Commissioner of

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 ...

before holding this post and was preceded by François Baron and succeeded by Pierre Dulivier. His ''Mémoires'' provide an accurate account of early French settlements in India. There is a street named after François Martin in Pondicherry.

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French colonial governors and administrators Governors of French India 1634 births 1706 deaths {{Puducherry-politician-stub