- Compagnie de Chine
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The Compagnie de Chine was a French trading company established in 1660 by the Catholic society Compagnie du Saint-Sacrement, in order to dispatch missionaries to Asia (initially Bishops François Pallu, Pierre Lambert de la Motte and Ignace Cotolendi of the newly-founded Paris Foreign Missions Society).[1] The compagny was modelled on the Dutch East India Company.[2]
A ship was built in the Netherlands by the shipowner Fermanel, but the ship foundered soon after being launched.[3] The only remaining solution for the missionaries was to travel on land, since Portugal would have refused to take non-Padroado missionnaries by ship, and the Dutch and the English refused to take Catholic missionnaries.[4]
In 1664, the China Company would be fused by Jean-Baptiste Colbert with the Compagnie d'Orient and Compagnie de Madagascar into the Compagnie des Indes Orientales.
A second Compagnie de Chine was established in 1698.[5]
The Compagnie de Chine was reactivated in 1723.[6]
Notes
References
- Mantienne, Frédéric 1999 Monseigneur Pigneau de Béhaine Eglises d'Asie, Série Histoire, ISSN 12756865 ISBN 2914402201
- Missions étrangères de Paris. 350 ans au service du Christ 2008 Editeurs Malesherbes Publications, Paris ISBN 9782916828107
Categories:- History of France
- 1660 establishments
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