French West India Company

The French West India Company (French: Compagnie française des Indes occidentales) was a French trading company founded in 1664 by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and dissolved in 1674. The company received the French possessions of the Atlantic coasts of Africa and America, and was granted a monopoly on trade with America, which was to last for forty years. It was supposed to populate Canada, using the profits of the sugar economy that began in Guadeloupe. Its capital was six million pounds and its headquarters was in Le Havre.

The stock of the company was so considerable, that in less than 6 months, 45 vessels were equipped, with which they took possession of all the places in their grant, and settled a commerce. In 1674, the grant was revoked, and the various countries reunited to the King's dominions, as before; the King reimbursed the actions of the adventurers.

This revocation was owing partly to the poverty of the company, caused by its losses in the wars with the Kingdom of England, which had necessitated it to borrow large sums; and even to alienate its exclusive privilege for the coasts of Guinea, but also to its having in good measure answered its end, which was to recover the commerce of the West Indies from the Dutch, who had taken it away from them. The French merchants being so accustomed to traffic to the Antilles, by permission of the company, were so attached to it, that it was not doubted they would support the commerce after the dissolution of the company.

In 1665 the Company obtained the Regiment Carignan-Salt to provide security against Iroquois invasion, and contributed to the settlement of the colony, by the arrival of 1200 men from the Dauphiné, Liguria, Piedmont and Savoy. In 1666, Jean Talon organized the first census, counting 3215 inhabitants. The population of the colony grew to 6700 inhabitants in 1672, as a result of policies encouraging marriage and fertility. In 1667, several tribes of Iroquois, the Mohawks and Oneidas, agreed to make peace.

Charles Aubert de La Chesnaye, fur trader in Tadoussac between 1663 and 1666, was appointed general clerk of the Company from 1666 to 1669, when he left the company for logging in Lac-Saint-Jean, a brick and a long stay in La Rochelle, which allows him to establish business relations with several European countries and owning several vessels .

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