Abstract

OFFICE OF CHEF DE COURTIER AND THE FRENCH EAST INDIA COMPANY: REVISITING COMMERCIAL RELATIONSHIP IN PONDICHERRY (1674-1761)

Sandeep Kumar Verma

Volume: 7 Issue: 2 2017

Abstract:

Pondicherry was occupied by the French East India Company in 1674 and it developed as an important commercial center on the Indian Ocean Rim, which repersented the French presence in India for centuries. In initial phase of their rule, they had established their relationship with the indigenous merchants of the region and appointed them as chef de courtier and chef de malabar. In traditional historiography, indigenous merchants have been represented as middlemen or intermediaries, who worked for the French East India Company. However, such description does not do justice to the interaction and the crucial roles played by indigenous merchants of the town that developed between the long-term resident merchants and the French East India Company in Pondicherry. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to address the various aspects of the indigenous merchants, such as their commercial activities, mutual ties, collective association, and their integration with the French officials and traders to show how the relations between indigenous merchants of Pondicherry and the French authority were negotiated and renegotiated continuously with some ruptures.

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