SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
The joyous return of the second Dutch voyage to the East Indies, 1599.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
“No trade without war, no war without trade.”
A Dutch land-sea force invades the spice-rich Moluccan island of Tidore in 1604, blowing up two
large Portuguese ships and storming the Portuguese fortress.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
The Battle of Bantam (on today’s Java), 30 December 1601.
Five Dutch ships defeated 30 Portuguese ships and galleys.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
Louis XIV giving patent letters to the directors that officially established the French East India
Company in August 1664.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
Arms of the La Compagnie des Indes or French East India Company.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
The port of Lorient as it appeared in 1690.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
European settlements in India showing the principal French outposts in Chanderagar (near
Calcutta) and Pondicherry on the southeast coast.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
This map shows the routes typically followed by French East Indiamen during the early and mid
18th century.
SO482 – Bonhomme Richard Project
The East India Companies
French India in the 1740s and ‘50s. During the Seven Years War of 1756-63 they were effectively
ousted from the sub-continent by the British.