Compagnie des Indes Orientales popularly known as the French East India Company, was formed by Colbert (the famous minister of Louis XIV), under state patronage in 1664 AD. After three years, an expedition was sent under Francois Caron, who established the first French factory in India at Surat.
In 1669 AD, Marcara founded another French factory at Masulipatnam by securing a patent from the Sultan of Golconda. In July 1672, the French squadron under De La Haye occupied San Thome near Madras, which the Sultan of Golconda had conquered from the Portuguese ten years earlier.
the Portuguese ten years earlier. This led to an alliance of the Dutch and the Sultan of Golconda against the French. Faced with a critical situation, De La Haye had to capitulate (6th September 1674) and surrender San Thome to the Dutch, who allowed the Sultan of Golconda to reoccupy it.
Meanwhile, in 1673 AD, Francois Martin, director of the Masulipatnam factory, obtained a site for a factory from Sher Khan Lodhi, Governor of Valikondapuram. The same later developed into Pondicherry and its first Governor was Francois Martin. In Bengal, the French laid the foundation of their famous settlement of Chandranagar in 1690 AD on a site granted to them by Shaista Khan.
EARLIER FOREIGN MERCHANTS AND EUROPEANS
The earlier foreign merchants had mere commercial motives and had very little or no support from their native governments. But the European merchants, who came to India during this period had enough political and military support from their respective governments
They were not individual merchants and represented their respective nations. They tried to establish and safeguard their maritime trade on the strength of their superior naval power.
Military superiority was the backbone of their commercial enterprise and they established their fortified trading settlements, called factories, on the coastal parts of India, immune from the administrative control of the local power.
No doubt, due to the participation of the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the French, India’s foreign trade grew phenomenally in the 16th and 17th centuries, but in the course of time, the commercial motives turned into territorial ambitions, and the close of the 18th century, from a bulk exporter, India transformed into one of the biggest importers of the industrially manufactured goods.
THE STRUCTURE AND PATTERN OF TRADE
There was an adverse balance of trade as the European powers had very few goods to offer back to Asia. Therefore, trade was financed through semiprecious metals extracted from South American colonies. Later, intra-state trade was practiced i.e. bringing spices from the spice islands and copper from Japan to India and exporting Indian textiles to South-East Asia and Europe. But the problem of trade finance and deficit was over with the conquest of Bengal and the export of opium to China.
THE ANGLO-FRENCH STRUGGLE IN SOUTH INDIA
It should be noted here that the French power in India reached its peak, during the Governorship of Dupleix (1742-54). But during the closing years of his term itself (1753-54), they began to lose their ground to the English, and in the early 1760s, they completely lost their position to the English in India. This Anglo-French rivalry and the rise and fall of the French in India can be best seen in three Carnatic wars, fought essentially between the French and the English between 1745 and 1763.
- FIRST CARNATIC WAR (1746-48 AD)
In March 1740, the War of Austrian Succession took place in Europe. In this war, the French and the English were on the opposite sides. Against the direction of home authorities, hostilities broke out between the two companies in India in 1746 AD. The hostility in India was initiated by the EIC (East India Company) when the English navy under Barnett captured French ships.
Dupleix (French Governor of Pondicherry from 1742-54 AD) captured Fort St George (Madras) in 1746 AD. However, his efforts to capture Fort St David (a small English factory near Pondicherry) did not succeed. The war came to an end with the termination of hostilities in Europe.
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748 AD) brought the Austrian War of Succession to an end. According to this treaty, the English got back Madras and the French got the Louisburg region in North America. As a consequence of this war, Dupleix capitalized on the advantage and greatly expanded French influence in South India.
- SECOND CARNATIC WAR (1749-54 AD)
The conflict began with the issue of disputed succession to the thrones of Hyderabad and Carnatic. The two companies supported rival candidates for the nawabship of Carnatic.
The French supported Chanda Sahib to become the Nawab and the English wanted to install Mohammed Ali as the Nawab. In the war that followed, the French were defeated and Chanda Sahib was beheaded
The peace treaty concluded between the English and the French and Mohammed Ali was recognized as the Nawab of Carnatic. The French disaster in the Second Carnatic War sealed the fate of Dupleix.
Dissatisfied with the political ambitions of Dupleix and the huge expenditure that it involved, the Directors of the French Company, decided to recall him. Godeheau replaced Dupleix as the Governor-General of the French possession in India (1754 AD).
Godeheau then signed the Treaty of Pondicherry in 1755 with the English. By this treaty, they agreed not to interfere in the quarrels of the Indian princes.
- THIRD CARNATIC WAR (1756-63 AD)
The final phase of the Anglo-French conflict started in 1756 AD, when the seven years’ war broke out in Europe. The French Army under Comte de Lally (French Governor-General) captured Fort St David (1758 AD). This alarmed the British and they retaliated inflicting heavy losses on the French Army.
After a series of conflicts, the English Army under General Eyre Coote decisively defeated the French forces at Wandiwash (a fort in the Carnatic state) on 22nd January 1760. The English captured Pondicherry (headquarters of French settlement), Mahe, and Jinji.
The war came to an end with the termination of hostilities in Europe. The Treaty of Paris (1763 AD) brought the 7 years of war to an end.
According to this treaty, Pondicherry and some other French settlements returned to the French. The Third Carnatic War proved to be a decisive battle between the English and the French in India.
The Treaty of Paris restored to the French their factories in India. Thereafter, the French, like their Portuguese counterparts, confined themselves to their small settlements and their political influence completely disappeared.
Thus, the French, who were the first among the Europeans to acquire political power in South India, could retain it only for a short time (1750-58) and consequently, their rule in the four Northern circars (also spelled sarkars) also lasted for a very small duration (1752-58).