Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures

The French Experience in Asia, 1600-1700

Glenn J. Ames, Ronald S. Love

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2003
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780313071942
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Utilizing contemporary accounts of India, China, Siam and the Levant, this study provides rich detail about these exotic lands and explores the priorities that shaped and motivated these bold envoys and chroniclers. Ames and Love offer a fascinating look at the symbiotic nature of cross-cultural interaction between France and the major trading regions of the Indian Ocean basin during the 17th century. During this period of intense French interest in the rich trade and cultures of the region, Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in particular were concerned with encouraging French travelers, both clerical and lay, to explore and document these lands. Among the accounts included here are those of François Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, and François Pyrard.

Because these accounts reflect as much about the structures and priorities of France as they do about the cultures they describe, Ames and Love hope their analysis bridges the gap between studies on early modern France and those on the major Asiatic countries of the same period. Their findings challenge the current thinking in the study of early modern France by demonstrating that overseas expansion to Asia was of considerable importance and interest to all segments of French society. Specialists in traditional internal French history will find much in this study of European expansion to complement and supplement their research.

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. Thévenot the Tourist: A Frenchman Abroad in the Ottoman Empire Glenn Sundeen
• 2. A Veritable Bedouin: The Chevalier d’Arvieux in the Camp of the Emir Turabey Deirdre Pettet
• 3. Secrets of the Seraglio: Harem Politics and the Rhetoric of Imperialism in the Travels of Sir Jean Chardin S. Amanda Eurich
• 4. Charles Poncet’s Travels to Ethiopia, 1698 to 1703 Theodore Natsoulas
• 5. The Travails of Madagascar: Rennefort’s Relation du premier voyage de la Compagnie des Indes Orientales Carl H. Sobocinski
• 6. Wonders of Nature, Diversity of Events: The Voyage de François Pyrard de Laval Diane C. Margolf
• 7. Travels in India: Jean-Baptiste Tavernier Anne York
• 8. Mughal India during the Age of the Scientific Revolution: François Bernier’s Travels and Lessons for Absolutist Europe Glenn J. Ames
• 9. The Perils of Seeking a Multi-Cultural View of the East Indies: Charles Dellon, His Travels and the Goa Inquisition Glenn J. Ames
• 10. Simon de La Loubère: French Views of Siam in the 1680s Ronald S. Love
• 11. In Search of a Passage to China: Philippe Avril’s Quest for Grand Tartary, 1685 to 1690 Ronald S. Love
• 12. The Search for Souls in China: Le Comte’s Nouveaux Memoires Linda S. Frey and Marsha L. Frey
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Editors and Contributors