French East India Company

[Galveston Bay]

OOC:  Placing this here for ease of access

The East India Company already has some investment by the French Crown and Nobility in OTL by this point

IC
In 1707, the French Crown carefully examines the French East India Company.  Having made the original investment of 3 Million Livres (of 15 million invested) the Crown already has a sizeable stake.  The 50 year monopoly given the company remains, as well as its mandate to conquer plant a colony on Madagascar, a task it has failed at.   However, the Company has managed to establish a small outpost at Bourbon (Reunion).

Agents of the company were particularly helpful in getting trade treaties with Siam and the Malayan Sultanates, and previous contacts with Japan, Formosa, Indochina and China itself will be valuable in the future.  

Determined to expand the French Mercantile Empire in Asia and eventually beyond into the Pacific, King Philippe VIII of France decides that a massive investment is called for by the French Crown and he also persuades the Regent of Naples, the Duke of Lorraine, that an excellent way for Naples to expand into the ranks of mercantile powers would be to also invest.

That year, France establishes a formal claim on a region of the South African Indian Ocean coast northeast of the Dutch, just south of the Portuguese (RL Kwaza Natal) which is to be called New Gascony.   The French East India Company is charged with the mission of establishing a trading post there, exploring the land and determining its resources and inhabitants, and given a monopoly on the Ivory Trade from ivory obtained from the Indian Ocean side of the continent of Africa (The French West Africa Company has the monopoly on the Atlantic trade).  

The Company is also given leave to establish an army, to police and protect its possessions and property, as well as any French Crown property in the Indian Ocean basin.   It may recruit from Kingdoms of France and Naples, as well as any foreigners viewed as useful, including Africans and Indians (Asian Indians).  

The Crown of France and Regency of Naples thus announce the investment of 30 points over 3 years into the company, and allows the company to sell additional shares as buyers can be found.  In a stroke however the Crown of France becomes the dominant investor, with Naples as the junior partner and other investors as smaller partners still.

[Galveston Bay]

Holdings as of January 1708
trading post Pondicherry, + 1 point of trade income

Reunion Island
Village (1705) value .1
(settled 1663, technically called Ile Bourbon)

East India company total: 1.35 (its 2 merchant marine fleets are counted as part of the Metropol economy)

[Galveston Bay]

budget 1708
Income 1.35
Investment 15 points (10 French Crown, 5 Naples Regency)
Trading Post Bangkok (3 points)
Trading Post Singapore (3 points)
Trading Post Caronville (named for Francois Caron, a great explorer of Asia from France)(RL Durban South Africa) (3 points)
Fund Fortress at Isle de Bourbon (4 points)(will not be finished until end of 1709)
Depot at Pondicherry (for the raising of Colonial troops) (2)
15 points total
usual 1.35 points paid to French Crown
beginning 1709 revenues will be split between Naples and France

The French Crown provides 2 infantry battalions and 2 cavalry regiments from the French Metropol, these will be sent to Singapore (1 inf bn), Isle de Bourbon (1 inf bn,2 Cav Reg) although they will not reach their destination until summer (Isle de Bourbon) and Fall (Singapore)

A French Fleet is established (Indian Ocean Fleet), consisting of 2 BatRon, 2 CruRon, and 1 PatRon and will sail for Isle de Bourbon (its temporary home) in the Winter of 1708

[Galveston Bay]

Holdings as of January 1708
trading post Pondicherry, + 1 point of trade income

Reunion Island
Village (1705)  value .1
(settled 1663, technically called Ile Bourbon)  

East India company total: 1.35 (its 2 merchant marine fleets are counted as part of the  Metropol economy)

Holdings 1709
Southern Indian Ocean
Reunion Island
Village (1705) value .1
(settled 1663, technically called Ile Bourbon)


India
Trading Post Pondicherry + 1 point trade income

Siam
Trading post Bangkok

Malaya
Trading post Singapore

Southeast Africa
Trading Post Caronville

Metropol
2 Merchant Flotillas (included in Metropol income)

Military forces on loan from France
Fortress Isle de Bourbon (beginning 1710)
2 cavalry regiments, 1 infantry battalion Isle de Bourbon
1 infantry battalion Singapore
1 depot Pondicherry

[Galveston Bay]

1709 Investment 10 points (5 each France and Naples)
4 points (complete purchase) fortress at Singapore (ready 1711)
4 points (complete purchase) fortress at Caronville (ready 1711)
2 points (complete purchase) 1 PatRon (Flower class) (ready in 1711)

[Galveston Bay]

1710 Investment 10 points (5 each France and Naples)
purchase 1 merchant fleet (3rd one for Malta) 3 points (available 1712)
rent 9 commercial flotillas (from Italian and French merchant sources) to move 15 infantry battalions and 4 cavalry regiments plus a massive stockpile of supplies (especially extra horses and fodder) from Marseilles to Caronville, Natal (7 points)

[Galveston Bay]

Winter 1710
French officials from the Ministere de la Marine, Ministère de la Guerre, and French East India Company begin planning and carrying out the preliminary administrative work needed to hire 9 merchant fleets for the transport of 20,000 soldiers, 20,000 horses and mules, 2,000 wagons, and many tons of fodder, food and other basic supplies from France to Caronville, Natal.

The supplies and building materials begin making their way first, along with the animals beginning in the spring. The troops are scheduled to begin moving at the beginning of the summer in convoys that will be escorted by the Toulon Fleet to Brazil, where they will then pick up escorts from the Indian Ocean Fleet.

[TLS]

The Great Expedition

Buoyed by reports of temperate climes, fertile lands, and a docile population, the French King amasses the largest ever force to be sent into the heart of the Dark Continent. His mighty fleet is dedicated to the task of carrying his new army across the great ocean and into Natal. The massive endeavor requires the majority of the administrative efforts of the French government, and the financial heft (underwritten by substantial grants from the crowns of France and Naples) to put the expedition into motion.

Though the French have the ability to call freely on the ports of Portugal, most importantly at the half-way point in Brazil, no other European nation (critically, the Dutch) allow the French to use their resources or ports to facilitate the movements. Overnight the French King has attempted to raise a European settlement of 20,000, and the logistical efforts of establishing such an expedition are mighty. Though the French are able to readily raise the necessary men to staff their army, the journey from Europe to Natal would take a ship up to 4 months, depending on the weather, winds, and other obstacles. The French have established the basic infrastructure to defend their colonial outpost (a fortress) but the scale of this new endeavor is unprecedented in the history of European colonialism.

Though the obscene rates of losses from earlier colonial expeditions across the North Atlantic are a thing of the past, the journey to Natal is still far beyond what is manageable for most horses. The key loss for the French is that of the tens of thousands of horses and mules they are attempting to send to the cape, barely a tenth survive. Immobility, infirmity, poor diet, sickness, and the tempests of the sea take heavy tolls. The loss for the men is less drastic, but the critical stretch at sea and transition through the tropics takes its toll on the soldiers of France.

Upon their arrival in Natal, the loss of much of the animal capital of the force critically impedes much of the work, and the lack of proper port facilities hampers the unloading and management of resources. Hundreds of sea-sick and infirm men pour ashore at a time, effectively landing on a beach with impromptu piers, to chaos. The main bodies of troops begin to arrive towards the tail end of the Natal winter and beginning of spring, with heavy rains bogging down much of the slip-shod rapid growth in the settlement. The landing of the soldiers, combined with the rains, weather, and chaotic nature, means that the settlement is hit by waves of the attendant camp diseases, such as camp fever and cholera. The proximity to the Dutch Cape provides a powerful incentive for many of the young men, particularly those of Huguenot extraction, to attempt to desert and make their way to their correligionists down the coast--though many barely make it into the wilds without being set upon by beasts or men, and the strict military justice for deserters serves to dis-incentivize others.

The French mission was also tasked with forcing the neighboring tribes and peoples to cower in fear, forcible seizing their resources, enslaving their people, and using this booty to build and expand the colony. The French King essentially declares that "up to half of the population is expendable," expecting his forces to sweep aside all resistance. Unfortunately, this also does not go as planned. The loss of much of the cavalry has critically hampered the military force, and the diminished cavalry and illness-ridden French soldiers are not as fearsome as projected from the grand salons of Versailles. The French are able to secure an area around the settlement, within 20 miles(as opposed to, originally envisioned, 100), but in the process have burned much of the potential for good ties with the native population. Hamfisted attempts to play tribe against tribe have resulted in some helpful alliances with some impoverished tribes, but insufficient to either guarantee a supply of foodstuffs or give enough information and knowledge to easily subjugate the region. Though diffuse, quarrelsome, and poorly armed, the arrival of the aggressive French army has pushed many of the tribes into discussions of alliances--with each other, and with the Dutchmen down the Cape.

It is not all disaster for the French. Though disease and losses along the way hampered, and severely reduced the effective size of the force, they have still managed to land a formidable army. Additionally, with the arrival of the French troops came the first trickle of actual settlers. However, there are few local sources of supplies, shelter, or assistance. While there is technically a Portuguese colonial presence in nearby Mozambique, there are a handful of Europeans clinging to small missions (churches, isolated trading posts) which exist in a symbiotic and fearful relationship of their native "subjects". The only nearby source of agricultural goods, the Dutch Cape, refuses to engage in trade with the French--though unscrupulous Dutch subjects are willing to look past the official restrictions to sell supplies at outrageous markups. When reports and news of the abysmal conditions in Natal trickle back to France, the King's government works hurriedly to suppress that information, but it spreads throughout the literate population of much of the urban population--though the government can still find illiterate rural peasants willing to take up land grant offers, few of the necessary skilled landowners or tradesmen are willing to take the desperate gambits. As with his original grand scheme to clear North Africa of the Barbary Pirates, it appears the French King's reach may have exceeded his grasp.

-------------------------
Game Effects:

• Due to attrition, disease, desertion, and loss of materiel in the shipment across the Atlantic, the French force by the start of 1711 stands at:
  -1 Fortress
  -1 Cavalry regiment
  -1 Cavalry Remnant
  -6 Infantry battalions
  -4 Infantry Remnants
  
• Maintenance rates for these units are currently doubled to reflect the high cost of shipping supplies and materiel to the region from the nearest friendly ports in Brazil and the high cost/low availability of supplies from the Cape.
  
• An outpost (200 souls) appears at Durban, but due to distance and other issues will grow at 1/3rd speed (meaning it will take 15 years to reach a village of 1,000)
  

[Galveston Bay]

1711   No direct investment in the East India Company this year
Caronville (RL Durban) is now an outpost, loss of .25 income (taken from payment to Naples as their share of the cost of South Africa expansion)

Naples is supplying a dedicated merchant flotilla to carry people, animals, supplies, building materials to Caronville for 1711

France is providing 2 points direct aid (for the next 5 years) to enlarge Caronville into a port
France is also providing the military maintenance for all forces assigned to protect East India Company territorial assets

[Galveston Bay]

In 1712 Naples forgoes its dividends so that 1 point can be invested into Natal, and borrows 2 points to invest further (5 of 10 points needed have been invested)

[Galveston Bay]

Winter / Spring 1712 (Summer and Fall in South Africa)
In Natal, the French Governor, Sir Rafael Gignac, has instructions to reduce the running sore that is Natal.  While likely he groans a bit at this, as his original recommendations were ignored and thousands are dead because of that, he does the best he can.

Attempts are made to make contact with the local natives.  Offers of goods and tools, cloth, tobacco, rum, wine, marijuana (from Cayenne), peppers, and powder and shot are made.  Also offered is the profound apologies of the French King, who has (it is claimed) only now has been informed of the poor behavior of his soldiers here in Natal and he wishes to offer his most profound apologies.

Gifts of gem stones, gold, silver in worked form (jewelry and the like, some of it the proceeds of confiscation, other from the Royal Household) are also offered as tokens of this deep and well meant apology.  

A more fruitful, to both sides, trade relationship is sought, with beef cattle (which the Bantu raise in large numbers as a form of wealth), beer, Elephant Ivory (which gets an excellent price in China, Southeast Asia and India) and Rhino Horn (also for sale to China and Southeast Asia) are sought in return for such goods as the Bantu find of value.

(1 point has been allocated for this purpose)

OOC: I have no idea who this actually would be, so name created from 2 French soccer players)

[Galveston Bay]

Summer- Fall 1713
in the aftermath of the Franco-Dutch War and with war still continuing between France and the Lanteran Coalition, changes have come to Natal and to the French East India Company.

The company suffered tremendous losses, with Singapore destroyed by the Dutch, the trade with Siam badly disrupted, and the sale and transfer of Pondicherry to England.

However, Natal has sufficient settlers both from Europe and French who moved from Capetown that Caronville has expanded to a village, and the work of Rafael Gignac has brought peace between the Bantu and French (aside from occasional incidents) and trade has been restored.

Reunion is still in untouched by the war as well and the basis of trade with the Orient remains.

What is needed is further investment to rebuild trade with the Orient and India, although with the War in Europe draining treasuries and banks dry, that will be some time in the future.

[Galveston Bay]

Fall 1713
As the Franco-Dutch War has ended, diplomats and traders from the French East India begin discussions with Siam about reestablishing their trade connections.   Also brought up is the possibility access to Phukat, on the Andaman Sea coast line.

Other traders and diplomats begin talking to the Kedah Sultanate about the possibility of opening a trading post at Penang Island

In Canton, French traders begin discussions with Qing officials about increasing trade between the two nations, specifically offering Elephant Ivory and Rhino Horns from South Africa, and furs of all sorts from North America in exchange for porcelain and silk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Factories

(China trade has been ongoing although somewhat limited in value since 1685)

[TLS]

Fall 1713
As the Franco-Dutch War has ended, diplomats and traders from the French East India begin discussions with Siam about reestablishing their trade connections.   Also brought up is the possibility access to Phukat, on the Andaman Sea coast line.

Other traders and diplomats begin talking to the Kedah Sultanate about the possibility of opening a trading post at Penang Island

In Canton, French traders begin discussions with Qing officials about increasing trade between the two nations, specifically offering Elephant Ivory and Rhino Horns from South Africa, and furs of all sorts from North America in exchange for porcelain and silk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Factories

(China trade has been ongoing although somewhat limited in value since 1685)

Responses:

Ayutthaya: The government of Ayutthaya is unwilling to entertain the reimposition of trade. The King feels that his predecessor's attempt to re-establish trade with the French so soon after the (url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bangkok]Siege of Bangkok[/url] was misguided, and has no interest in re-engaging with France--particularly when it brings the risk of Dutch meddling in his affairs.

Kedah Sultanate: The Kedah Sultanate, constantly wary of attacks from the Siamese to the North and Perak to the West, not to mention the risk of the Dutch reprising their famous seizure of Malacca, are willing to grant France trade rights in return for guarantees of protection from those three powers. In order to protect their holdings in the region, the French shall be allowed to utilize the island as a base for its fleets as well as leave a small garrison (1 battalion) for its defense.

China: The French are instructed that in order to open trade with the Qing dynasty through Canton, a serious gift will be required. In return for a substantial gift to the Emperor, complete with the requisite obeisance (full kowtow and recognition of the Emperor as Sovereign of all below Heaven), the French will be allowed to quarter themselves for part of the year in one of the Hongs of Canton, like the Portuguese and Dutch already do. (the French East India Company needs to pay 3 points, in addition to the 3 points to establish the trading post, to open trade with China through Canton).

[Galveston Bay]

Crown budget plans are made for 1715 to fund the Chinese and Penang endeavors. As the principal share holder in the Company, the Crown is looking for opportunities to expand the wealth of France through trade in the Far East.

In addition, the Navy is tasked with finding ships and crews to provide for a small fleet to guard French shipping from Malay Pirate depredations. The Dutch are quietly reminded that while France agreed not to fortify Singapore, that does not apply to other agreements on other territories.

Very quietly, talks begin with the Trinh in northern Vietnam (Tonkin) as their border with China is viewed as a potential valuable route into China as well (via indirect trade). Haiphong is also viewed as a more desirable harbor than the harbors further south which are either outstanding anchorages with little settlement nearby (Cam Ranh Bay) or too close to other European players in the region.

[Galveston Bay]

In 1715, Pierre Le Noir, agent general of the French East India Company with the mission of relations with China and Penang, arrives at Canton aboard the French frigate Griffon with presents (3 points worth) and gifts for the Emperor

[Galveston Bay]

The French East India Company 1717

Headquarters and shipping
Bordeaux (financial center)(included in metropol income)
2 shipping units (included in metropol income)

Responsible for trade with the Orient and Indian Ocean territories
Natal (South Africa)
Caronville (village 1713, becomes a town 1723, city 1733, port 1743)
current income: .1 points
A small French colony trades with 250,000 Bantu tribesmen for beef cattle, hides, tallow, plus exotic items like Rhino Horn, Ostrich Eggs, Elephant Ivory.  The exotic items are sent on to China  as trade goods.  A few vineyards have also been planted and agreements are being worked out with the natives regarding land use.
Reunion Island (Indian Ocean)
St Denis (village 1705, town 1715, city 1725)
current income. 25 points
A population of French planters , French indentured servants (convicts) and African Slaves raises Sugar cane, and Bourbon Vanilla is now being grown.  Another product of the island is Spiced (Vanilla) Rum which the French East India Company hopes to sell in Europe and China.  
Penang
A new trading post (factory) has been established to function as a stop over point for ships voyaging between Natal/Reunion and Canton China but also to allow trade with various Malay Princes and Kings. It exports pepper specifically, which is purchased with French goods and coin.  
Current income: .25 points
China Trade – Canton, where French, Portuguese and Dutch traders deal with Chinese Hongs (merchants) in order to trade with China.   Primary French purchases are silk and porcelain.  
Current income: .25 points
Total French East India Company income 1717:  .85 points
while down from the 1.35 points of income the Company was generating in 1710, this income is expected to increase sooner rather than later.

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