On Trade Activities of the French East India Company in Siam in the Second Haft of 17th Century

Abstract

Comparison to Dai Viet, her neighboring country on the Indochinese Peninsula, Ayutthaya Court (Siam) was connected by the French quite earlier. Nevertheless the CIO's trade relations with Siam were more restricted on time than its relation to Tonkin and Cochinchina of Dai Viet. Additionally, a distinct remark of the trade relations between the CIO and Ayutthaya was that: they were always impacted and dominated by the political (as Siam facts in 1688 - Affaires de Siam en 1688) and religious (Jesuits' roles - stressed by author) ambitions. It seems that the trading relations were only considered as marginal issues. In spite of some grandiose plans had been discussed in French Court and among inexperienced merchants, nobody could save the trading relation of France with Siam. They were suspended in 1688 and finally ended after 1700.