François Martin de Vitré
François Martin de Vitré was a French sailor and adventurer from the city of Vitré who travelled to East Asia as far as Sumatra from 1601 to 1603. He was the first Frenchman to write an account of travels to the Far East.[1] He was however preceded to the Far-East by several French traders, such as Jean Parmentier in 1529. François Martin de Vitré seems to have been the surgeon of his ship.[1]
In December 1600 a French trading company was formed through the association of Saint-Malo, Laval and Vitré, to trade with the Moluccas and Japan.[2] Two ships, the Croissant and the Corbin, were sent around the Cape of Good Hope in May 1601. The Corbin was wrecked in the Maldives, beginning the adventure of François Pyrard de Laval, who managed to return to France in 1611.[2][3]
The second ship, the Croissant carrying François Martin de Vitré, reached Ceylon and traded with Aceh in Sumatra, but on the return leg was captured by the Dutch at Cape Finisterre.[3]
François Martin, together with François Pyrard, were among the first French merchants to visit India. They went to Surat and also visited the town of Gujarat.[4]
In his Memoires, François Martin wrote that the world was learning from China at that time.[5]
On his return, François Martin was asked by Henry IV to write the account of his travels, which he published in 1604.[1] The accounts of François Martin created a strong enthusiasm for Asian travel, and from 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin, Henry IV attempted to set up a French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands.[1][3][6]
In 1609, a Malay language dictionary was added to Martin's work, but this may be the work of Pierre-Olivier Malherbe, also from Vitré, who was just returning from a 27-year world tour and has a claim to being the first French circumnavigator.[1]
Works
- La Description du premier voyage fait aux Indes orientales par les Français en l'an 1603, contenant les mœurs, les lois, façon de vivre, religions et habits des Indiens Paris 1604 digitized
- Une Description et Remarque des animaux, épiceries, drogues aromatiques et fruits qui se trouvent aux Indes
- Un Traité du scorbut, qui est une maladie étrange qui survient à ceux qui voyagent en ces contrées Paris, 1609, in-12.
See also
- France-Asia relations
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Asia in the Making of Europe p.393
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 1 by Donald F. Lach p.93-94
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Cambridge history of the British Empire p.61
- ↑ Indian merchants and entrepreneurs in historical perspective by Makrand Mehta p.25
- ↑ China and Europe: images and influences in sixteenth to eighteenth centuries by Thomas H. C. Lee p.153
- ↑ A history of modern India, 1480-1950 by Claude Markovits p.144: The account of the experiences of François Martin de Vitré "incited the king to create a company in the image of that of the United Provinces"