The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Overseas Expansion (1686-1746) (European Expansion and Indigenous Response)

Heijmans, Elisabeth

Brill（2019/11発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 243 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9789004409439

Full Description

In The Agency of Empire: Connections and Strategies in French Expansion (1686-1746) Elisabeth Heijmans places directors and their connections at the centre of the developments and operations of French overseas companies. The focus on directors' decisions and networks challenges the conception of French overseas companies as highly centralized and controlled by the state.

Through the cases of companies operating in Pondicherry (Coromandel Coast) and Ouidah (Bight of Benin), Elisabeth Heijmans demonstrates the participation of actors not only in Paris but also in provinces, ports and trading posts in the French expansion. The analysis brings to the fore connections across imperial, cultural and religious boundaries in order to diverge from traditional national narratives of the French early modern empire.

Contents

 Acknowledgements

General Series Editor's Preface

List of Abbreviations

List of Maps, Tables, Figures and Graphs

Glossary

 Introduction

 1When Principals Become Agents

 1Structure and Continuity

 2Metropolitan Directors

 3Upward Social Mobility and the Chamber of Justice

 4Safe Investment? Institutional Factors

 5Market Access

 2Overseas Directors as Mediators

 1Overseas and Company Contexts

 2Trading Systems and Commercial Actors in Pondicherry and Ouidah

 3Multiplicity of Interests within Companies

 3Cross-cultural Relations with Rulers

 1Sovereign Powers

 2Negotiating Cross-cultural Relations

 3Competition and Foreign Intermediaries

 4Inter-imperial Cooperation

 1European Power Dynamics

 2Means of Cooperation

 3Motives of Cooperation

 4Nuances of Competitive Interactions

 5Attempts at Self-sustainability

 1Accessing Funds

 2Integrating Regional Trading Networks

 Conclusion

 Bibliography

 Index