India
The Dutch and British both established their East India Companies well before the French, who were a latecomer to exploit the riches to be had in the Indian trade. Historians have long been at a loss to explain why, with several different theories proposed and debated. What is known for certain is that several expeditions set out in the first half of the seventeenth century, including one in which two ships departed Le Havre to be lost at sea, evidently on the voyage out since there is no record of their arrival in India. By the time the French did initiate trade with India the British and Dutch East India Companies had built several factories on the subcontinent.
France came late to India but quickly began to make up for lost time. Several French trading establishments and manufacturing facilities were constructed on the subcontinent, and the small fishing village of Pondichery transformed into a flourishing port. Up until the mid-eighteenth century French interest in India was commercial (as was that of the Dutch), and beyond the properties which had been acquired through negotiation and purchase there was little territorial ambition. Pondichery, a small collection of huts when the French arrived, became a prosperous town, with streets laid in a grid pattern, and the residence of the French East India Company Governor.
In 1741 Joseph Francois Dupleix arrived to govern the French communities, bringing with him the idea of acquiring a territorial empire in India. Although the French government was decidedly against the idea officially, not wanting to provoke the British, they were aware of his plans. During the many European wars, the French, British, and Dutch interests in India changed hands, usually to be returned in the treaties which ended the conflicts. Dupleix intended to create a permanent French Empire, fortifying the possessions and garrisoning them with company troops, supported by those raised from the colonials.
Dupleix’s army eventually controlled a swathe of India’s coast from Hyderabad to Cape Comorin, leading the British to dispatch Robert Clive to lead the British troops in India. Clive was a professional soldier rather than a company officer or adventurer, and the French were soon defeated with Dupleix recalled to France. In settling the matter both the British and French agreed to commercial operations in India, but also to a hands off policy regarding government of India. Neither stuck to the letter of the agreement, and military adventurism and political scheming between the Indians, French, and English continued.
French possessions in India were lost during the Seven Year’s War, returned to them by treaty, lost again during the Napoleonic Wars, returned again, and remained in French hands up to the time of Indian independence following World War Two. Throughout the nineteenth and most of the twentieth century the British and French exploited the Indian subcontinent, competing with each other for economic gains. Both the British Empire and that of the French created army regiments from the Indian population, using them to support their aims in other areas of their dominions. After Indian independence from Great Britain, the French grudgingly granted independence of French India which wasn’t finalized until 1962.