View source for French India

{{Short description|French colony on the Indian subcontinent (1664–1954)}}
{{Use Indian English|date=June 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|fr|Établissements français dans l'Inde}}
| conventional_long_name = French Settlements in India
| common_name            = French India
| image_flag             = Royal Standard of the King of France.svg
| image_flag2            = Flag of France (1794–1815).svg
| empire                 = France
| status                 = Colony
| era                    = 
| year_start             = 1664
| year_end               = 1954
| event_start            = First [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]] Commissioner of [[Surat]]
| date_start             = 
| date_end               = 1 November
| event_end              = [[De facto]] transfer
| p1                     = Portuguese Empire
| flag_p1                = 
| s1                     = Puducherry (union territory)
| flag_s1                = Flag of India.svg
| s2                     = West Bengal
| flag_s2                = Flag of India.svg
| symbol_type            = Seal
| image_map              = French India 1815.gif
| image_map_caption      = {{legend|white|French India after 1815}}
| capital                = [[Puducherry (city)|Pondichéry]]
| common_languages       = [[Indian French|French]] (''de jure'')<ref>Not as widespread as English</ref><br />[[Bengali language|Bengali]]<br />[[Malayalam]]<br />[[Tamil language|Tamil]]<br />[[Telugu language|Telugu]]
| title_leader           = 
| leader1                = 
| year_leader1           =
| leader2                = 
| year_leader2           =
| title_representative   = Governor
| representative1        = [[François Caron]] {{small|(first)}} <ref>as Commissioner</ref>
| year_representative1   = 1668–1673
| representative2        = Georges Escaragueil<ref>as High Commissioner</ref>
| year_representative2   = 1954
| title_deputy           = 
| deputy1                = [[Charles François Marie Baron]] {{small|(first)}}
| year_deputy1           = 
| deputy2                = Georges Escargueil {{small|(last)}}
| year_deputy2           = 1954
| currency               = [[French Indian rupee]]
| today                  = [[India]]
| demonym                = 
| stat_year1             = 
| stat_area1             = 
| stat_pop1              = 
| stat_year2             = 1936
| stat_area2             = 510
| stat_pop2              = 298,861
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
| GDP_PPP                = 
| GDP_PPP_year           = 
| HDI                    = 
| HDI_year               = 
| status_text            = Colony of France (1664–1946)<br />[[Overseas territory (France)|Overseas Territory of France]] (1946–1954)
| legislature            = [[Representative Assembly of French India]]
}}
{{Colonial India}}

'''French India''', formally the '''{{lang|fr|Établissements français dans l'Inde}}'''{{efn|In France, it was popularly known as {{lang|fr|les Comptoirs de l'Inde}}. Strictly speaking though, a {{lang|fr|comptoir}} is a trading station, whereas the five French settlements were entire towns with the surrounding area, and not mere trading stations.}} ({{langx|en|French Settlements in India}}), was a [[Overseas territory (France)|French colony]] comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the [[Indian subcontinent]] that had initially been [[Factory (trading post)|factories]] of the [[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]]. They were ''de facto'' incorporated into the [[India|Republic of India]] in 1950 and 1954. The enclaves were {{lang|fr|[[Puducherry (city)|Pondichéry]]|italic=no}}, [[Karaikal|Karikal]], [[Yanam|Yanaon]] on the [[Coromandel Coast]], [[Mahé, India|Mahé]] on the [[Malabar Coast]] and [[Chandannagar|Chandernagor]] in [[Bengal]]. The French also possessed several {{lang|fr|loges}} ('lodges', tiny subsidiary trading stations) inside other towns, but after 1816, the British denied all French claims to these, which were not reoccupied.

By 1950, the total area measured {{convert|510|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}}, of which {{convert|293|km2|sqmi|abbr=on}} belonged to the territory of {{lang|fr|[[Puducherry (union territory)|Pondichéry]]|italic=no}}. In 1936, the population of the colony totalled 298,851 inhabitants, of which 63% (187,870) lived in the territory of Pondichéry.<ref>Jacques Weber, ''Pondichéry et les comptoirs de l'Inde après Dupleix'', Éditions Denoël, Paris, 1996, p. 347.</ref>

== Background ==
{{See also|Franco-Indian alliances|Colonial History of Yanam|History of Puducherry}}
[[File:1751 map of India from "Historical Atlas of India", by Charles Joppen.jpg|thumb|India at the height of French influence (1751)]]
[[File:Ananda Ranga Pillai.JPG|thumb|A portrait of [[Ananda Ranga Pillai]]]]
[[File:Magasins de la Compagnie des Indes à Pondichéry.jpg|thumb|View of [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]] in the late 18th century]]
[[File:Patna French factory.jpg|thumb|French factory (trading post) at [[Patna]] on the Ganges]]
[[File:Trellis arcade supporting a vine in the Governor's Garden at Pondicherry in Tamil Nadu.jpg|thumb|Governor's Garden at Pondicherry, 18th century]]
[[File:Vue du palais du gouverneur de Pondichery vers 1850.jpeg|thumb|View of the Palace of the Governor of Pondicherry in 1850]]

France was the last of the major European maritime powers of the 17th century to enter the East India trade. Six decades after the foundation of the [[East India Company|English]] and [[Dutch East India Company|Dutch East India]] companies (in 1600 and 1602 respectively), and at a time when both companies were multiplying [[Factory (trading post)|factories]] (trading posts) on the shores of India, the French still did not have a viable trading company or a single permanent establishment in the East.

Seeking to explain France's late entrance in the East India trade, historians cite geopolitical circumstances such as the inland position of the French capital, France's numerous internal customs barriers, and parochial perspectives of merchants on France's Atlantic coast, who had little appetite for the large-scale investment required to develop a viable trading enterprise with the distant East Indies.<ref>Holden Furber, ''Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient, 1600–1800'', University of Minnesota Press, 1976, p. 201.</ref><ref>Philippe Haudrère, ''Les Compagnies des Indes Orientales'', Paris, 2006, p 70.</ref>

== History ==
=== Initial marine voyages to India (16th century) ===
The first French commercial venture to India is believed to have taken place in the first half of the 16th century, in the reign of [[Francis I of France|King Francis I]], when two ships were fitted out by some merchants of [[Rouen]] to trade in eastern seas; they sailed from [[Le Havre]] and were never heard of again. In 1604, a company was granted [[letters patent]] by [[Henry IV of France|King Henry IV]], but the project failed. Fresh letters patent were issued in 1615, and two ships went to India, only one returning.<ref name=EB1911/>

{{Lang|fr|La Compagnie française des Indes orientales}} ([[Louis XIV's East India Company|French East India Company]]) was formed under the auspices of [[Cardinal Richelieu]] (1642) and reconstructed under [[Jean-Baptiste Colbert]] (1664) when he sent an expedition to [[Madagascar]].<ref name=r1/><ref name=r2/><ref name=EB1911/>

=== First factory in India (1668) ===
In 1667, the French India Company sent out another expedition, under the command of [[François Caron]] (who was accompanied by a [[Persian people|Persian]] named Marcara), which reached [[Surat]] in 1668 and established the first French factory in India.<ref name=r1>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBZg0OhbiXMC&pg=PA747 |title=Asia in the making of Europe |page=747 |isbn=9780226467672 |last1=Lach |first1=Donald Frederick |year=1998 |publisher=University of Chicago Press }}.</ref><ref name=r2>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-08AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA66 |title=The Cambridge History of the British Empire |year=1940 |page=66 |last1=Benians |first1=Ernest Alfred |last2=Newton |first2=Arthur Percival |last3=Rose |first3=John Holland }}.</ref>

=== French expansion in India (1669-1672) ===
In 1669, Marcara succeeded in establishing another French factory at [[Masulipatam]]. In 1672, the French captured Fort Saint Thomas, but they were driven out by the [[Dutch Republic|Dutch]] after a long and costly siege. [[Chandernagore]] (present-day Chandannagar) was established in 1692, with the permission of [[Nawab]] Shaista Khan, the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] governor of [[Bengal]]. In 1673, the French acquired the area of Pondicherry from the [[qiladar]] of Valikondapuram under the Sultan of [[Bijapur Sultanate|Bijapur]], and thus the foundation of [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondichéry]] was laid. By 1720, the French had lost their factories at Surat, Masulipatam and [[Bantam (city)|Bantam]] to the British [[East India Company]].

=== Establishment of the colony at Pondichéry (1673) ===
On 4 February 1673, Bellanger de l'Espinay, a French officer, took up residence in the Danish Lodge in Pondichéry, thereby commencing the French administration of Pondichéry. In 1674, [[François Martin (Pondicherry)|François Martin]], the first Governor, initiated ambitious projects to transform Pondichéry from a small fishing village into a flourishing port-town. However, the French found themselves in continual conflict with the Dutch and the English. In 1693, the Dutch captured Pondichéry and augmented the fortifications. The French regained the town in 1699 through the [[Treaty of Ryswick]], signed on 20 September 1697.

=== Establishment of colonies at Yanon (1723) and Karaikal (1739) ===
From their arrival until 1741, the objectives of the French, like those of the British, were purely commercial. During this period, the French East India Company peacefully acquired [[Yanaon (Inde française)|Yanam]] (about {{convert|840|km|mi|disp=or}} north-east of Pondichéry on Andhra Coast) in 1723, [[Mahé, India|Mahe]] on Malabar Coast in 1725 and [[Karaikal]] (about {{convert|150|km|mi|disp=or}} south of Pondichéry) in 1739. In the early 18th century, the town of Pondichéry was laid out on a grid pattern and grew considerably. Able governors like [[Pierre Christophe Le Noir]] (1726–1735) and [[Pierre Benoît Dumas]] (1735–1741) expanded the Pondichéry area and made it a large and rich town.

=== Ambition of establishment of French territorial empire in India and defeat (1741–1754) ===
Soon after his arrival in 1741, the most famous governor of French India, [[Joseph François Dupleix]], began to hold the ambition of a French territorial empire in India in spite of the pronounced uninterested attitude of his distant superiors and of the French government, which didn't want to provoke the British. Dupleix's ambition clashed with British interests in India and a period of military skirmishes and political intrigues began and continued even in rare periods when France and Great Britain were officially at peace. Under the command of the [[Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau]], Dupleix's army successfully controlled the area between [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]] and [[Cape Comorin]]. However, [[Robert Clive]], a British officer, arrived in India in 1744, and dashed the hopes of Dupleix to create a French empire in India. 

After a defeat and failed peace talks, Dupleix was summarily dismissed and recalled to France in 1754.

=== French vs British intrigues (1754–1871) ===
In spite of a treaty between the British and French agreeing not to interfere in regional Indian affairs, their colonial intrigues continued. The French expanded their influence at the court of the [[Nawab of Bengal]] and increased their trading activity in Bengal. In 1756, the French encouraged the Nawab ([[Siraj ud-Daulah]]) to attack and take the British [[Fort William (India)|Fort William]] in [[Calcutta]]. This led to the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757, where the British decisively defeated the Nawab and his French allies, resulting in the extension of British power over the entire province of Bengal.

Subsequently, France sent [[Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally|Lally-Tollendal]] to recover the lost French possessions and drive the British out of India. Lally arrived in Pondichéry in 1758, had some initial success and razed Fort St. David in [[Cuddalore]] District to the ground in 1758, but strategic mistakes by Lally led to the loss of the [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]] region, the [[Battle of Wandiwash]] and the [[siege of Pondicherry (1760)|siege of Pondicherry]] in 1760. In 1761, the British razed Pondichéry to the ground in revenge for the French depredations; it lay in ruins for four years. The French had lost their hold now in South India too.

In 1765, Pondichéry was returned to France in accordance with [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|a 1763 peace treaty]] with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Britain]]. Governor [[Jean Law de Lauriston]] set to rebuild the town on its former layout and after five months 200 European and 2000 [[Tamil people|Tamil]] houses had been erected. In 1769, the French East India Company, unable to support itself financially, was abolished by the French Crown, which assumed administration of the French possessions in India. During the next 50 years, Pondichéry changed hands between France and Britain with the regularity of their wars and peace treaties.

In 1816, after the conclusion of the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the five establishments of Pondichéry, [[Chandernagore]], Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam and the lodges at [[Machilipatnam]], [[Kozhikode]] and Surat were returned to France. Pondichéry had lost much of its former glory, and Chandernagore dwindled into an insignificant outpost to the north of the rapidly growing British metropolis of Calcutta. Successive governors tried, with mixed results, to improve infrastructure, industry, law and education over the next 138 years. 

A list from 1816 mentions the French had the possessions of [[Pondichéry]] (and its districts of [[Villianur|Villenour]] and [[Bahour]]), [[Karikal]], [[Yanaon]], [[Chandernagor]] and [[Mahe,India|Mahé]]. Other important trading posts included the ones in [[Masulipatnam]], [[Calicut]], [[Surat]], [[Muscat]], [[Mokha]] and [[Guangzhou|Canton]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Labarthe |first=Pierre |date=1816 |title=Intérêts de la France dans l'Inde |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k57909557.texteImage|page=11-12}}</ref>

By a decree of 25 January 1871, French India was to have an elective general council ({{lang|fr|conseil général}}) and elective local councils ({{lang|fr|conseil local}}). The results of this measure were not very satisfactory, and the qualifications for and the classes of the franchise were modified. The governor resided at Pondichéry and was assisted by a council. There were two {{lang|fr|[[tribunal d'instance|tribunaux d'instance]]}} ('tribunals of first instance', at Pondichéry and Karikal) one {{lang|fr|cour d'appel}} ('[[Court of Appeal (France)|Court of Appeal]]', at Pondichéry) and five {{lang|fr|juges de paix}} ('[[Justice of the Peace|Justices of the Peace]]'). Agricultural production consisted of rice, peanuts, tobacco, betel nuts and vegetables.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=India, French|volume=14|page=421|inline=1}}</ref>

[[File:1954 French ID issued at their colony of Pondicherry before the transfer.jpg|thumb|1954 French ID issued at their colony of Pondicherry before the transfer.]]

=== Independence movement (18th–20th century) and merger with India (1954) ===
{{Location map+|India|width=300|float=right
 |alt=French India
 |caption={{center|French establishments and loges as of 1947<br />{{legend inline|green|[[Bengal]]}} {{legend inline|blue|[[Coromandel coast]]}} {{legend inline|gold|[[Gujarat]]}} {{legend inline|red|[[Malabar coast]]}} {{legend inline|black|[[Orissa Province|Orissa]]}}}}
 |places=
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=11.911082|lon_deg=79.812533|position=right|mark=Blue_pog.svg|marksize=12|label='''Pondichéry'''}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=10.932701|lon_deg=79.831853|position=right|mark=Blue_pog.svg|marksize=12|label='''Karikal'''}}
{{Location map~|India|lat_deg=16.17|lon_deg=81.13|position=right|mark=Blue_pog.svg|label=Masulipatam}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=11.701111|lon_deg=75.536667|position=right|background=white|mark=Red_pog.svg||marksize=12|label='''Mahé'''}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=11.25|lon_deg=75.77|position=right|mark=Red_pog.svg|label= Calicut}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=22.87|lon_deg=88.38|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|marksize=12|label='''Chandernagore'''}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=24.12|lon_deg=88.28|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label=Cassimbazar}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=22.2517546|lon_deg=88.4331189|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label=Jugdia}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=23.7|lon_deg=90.366667|position=right|background=white|mark=Green_pog.svg|label=Dacca}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=21.49|lon_deg=86.93|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label=Balasore}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=25.6|lon_deg=85.1|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label=Patna}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=21.17024|lon_deg=72.831061|background=white|position=left|mark=Gold_pog.svg|label=Surat}}
  {{Location map~|India|lat_deg=16.733333|lon_deg=82.216667|position=left|mark=Black_pog.svg|marksize=12|label='''Yanaon'''}}
}}
The [[Indian Independence Act 1947|Independence of India]] on 15 August 1947 gave impetus to the union of France's Indian possessions with former [[British India]]. The lodges in Machilipatnam, Kozhikode and Surat were ceded to India on 6 October 1947.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://francearchives.fr/fr/facomponent/22ad424ec7e764c64c8c31d37bad6e938f57be05 |title=Accord par échange de lettres relatif à la date de la cession des anciennes loges françaises de l'Inde au gouvernement de l'Inde |publisher=Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères |year=1947 |location=Paris |pages=5 |language=French |trans-title=Agreement by exchange of letters relating to the date of the cession of the former French lodges of India to the Government of India |quote="the Government of India note and accept with pleasure the decision of the Government of France that October 6th will be the day from which the historic rights which France has exercised in the areas known as the French Loges in India will be renounced." |access-date=2 September 2022}}</ref> An agreement between France and India in 1948 agreed to an election in France's remaining Indian possessions to choose their political future. Governance of Chandernagore was ceded to India on 2 May 1950; it was then merged with [[West Bengal]] state on 2 October 1954. On 1 November 1954, the four enclaves of Pondichéry, Yanam, Mahe– and Karikal were ''de facto'' transferred to the Indian Union and became the [[Union Territory]] of [[Puducherry (union territory)|Puducherry]]. The ''de jure'' union of French India with India did not take place until 1962 when the [[Parliament of France|French Parliament]] in [[Paris]] ratified the treaty with India.

===The myth of "our immense empire in India"===
From the mid-19th century onward there developed in France the belief that the five tiny settlements recovered from Britain after the Napoleonic Wars were remnants of the "immense empire" acquired by Dupleix in the 18th century. "Our immense empire of India was reduced to five settlements" wrote French economist and colonial expansion promoter [[Pierre Paul Leroy-Beaulieu]] in 1886.<ref>{{cite book |first=Paul |last=Leroy-Beaulieu |title=De la colonisation chez les peuples modernes |publisher=Librairie Guillaumin et Cie |edition=2nd |date=1886 |page=vi }}</ref> An atlas published in the 1930s described those five settlements as "remnants of the great colonial empire that France had created in India in the 18th century".<ref>{{cite book |first=Kathryn |last=Dale |title=France's Lost Empires. Fragmentation, Nostalgia and la fracture coloniale |editor1-first=Kate |editor-last=Marsh |editor2=Nicola Frith |publisher=Lexington Books |date=2010 |page=37 }}</ref> More recently, a historian of French India post-1816 described them as "debris of an empire" and the "last remnants of an immense empire forever lost".<ref>{{cite book |first=Jacques |last=Weber |title=Les établissements français en Inde au XIXe siècle (1816–1914 |publisher=Librairie de l'Inde Éditeur |date=1988 |pages=24–25 }}</ref> However, France never held much more than the five settlements recovered in 1816. The historian of French India and archivist [[Alfred Albert Martineau|Alfred Martineau]], who was also governor of French India, pointed out that the authority granted to Dupleix over the Carnatic in 1750 should not be construed as a transfer of sovereignty, as wrote most historians, given that Dupleix only became so to speak the lieutenant of the Indian [[subah]], who could withdraw his power delegation at his convenience.<ref>{{cite book |quote={{lang|fr|Elle n'entraînait pas le droit de l'exercice de la souveraineté, ainsi que l'ont écrit presque tous les historiens; Dupleix ne devenant en réalité que le lieutenant, ou naëb, du soubab; celui-ci conservait le pouvoir éminent et pouvait à sa convenance retirer sa délégation}} |first=Alfred |last=Martineau |title=Dupleix, sa vie et son œuvre |publisher=Société d'éditions géographiques, maritimes et coloniales |location=Paris |date=1931 |pages=168–169 }}</ref> Philippe Haudrère, historian of the French East India Company, also wrote that Dupleix controlled those territories through a complex system of treaties and alliances, a system almost feudal in nature, territories guarded by garrisons with French commanders, but neither annexed nor transformed into protectorates.<ref>{{cite book |quote={{lang|fr|Dupleix mène une grande politique visant à contrôler un vaste territoire, il s'agit bien de contrôle et non d'annexion, ni même de protectorat; c’est un ensemble compliqué reposant sur une série de traités et d'alliances et sur l'installation de garnisons commandées par des officiers français. [...] C'est un système très souple de caractère presque féodal}} |first=Philippe |last=Haudrère |chapter=Présence française en Inde et dans l’Océan indien |title=Présences françaises outre-mer (XVIe–XXIe siècles) |editor1-first=Philippe |editor1-last=Bonichon |editor2=Pierre Gény |editor3=Jean Nemo |publisher=[[Académie des sciences d'outre-mer]] |date=2012 |volume=1 |page=245 }}</ref>

== List of French settlements in India ==
{{Further|Municipal administration in French India}} French establishments in the [[Indian peninsula]] as of 1839 were:<ref>Chapitre II, Notices statistiques sur les colonies françaises, 1839.</ref>

# On the [[Coromandel coast]],
#* '''[[Puducherry (city)|Pondichéry]]''' and its territory comprising districts of Pondichéry, Villenour and Bahour;
#* '''[[Karaikal|Karikal]]''' and its dependent ''maganams'', or districts.
# On the coast of [[Andhra Pradesh]],
#* '''[[Yanaon]]''' and its territory comprising dependent aldées or villages;
#* The [[Masulipatam]] lodge{{refn|group=note|The French Factory at Masulipatam was founded in 1669}} and a garden named Francepeth.{{refn|group=note|It is the largest and most significant loge among all others and was located on the outskirts of Masulipatam. It included two bungalows, a chapel and some other buildings. Its total area is around 61 acres (0.28sqkm).<ref name="francepethReference1993">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TWjiNLj2jx0C|title=A Geographical Account of Countries Round the Bay of Bengal, 1669 to 1679|author=Thomas Bowrey |publisher=Asian Educational Services|year=1993|isbn=9788120608481 }}</ref>{{rp|64}}}}
# On the [[Malabar coast]],
#* '''[[Mahé, India|Mahé]]''' and its territory;
#* The [[Calicut]] lodge.{{refn|group=note|This French Loge was within the British-held Calicut town and consisted of 6 acres on the seashore about half a mile north of the Calicut Lighthouse and adjoins the old district jail site.}}
# In [[Bengal]],
#* '''[[Chandannagar|Chandernagore]]''' and its territory;
#* The five lodges<ref name="LogesinBengalandOrissa">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2OKvG5wbaAC|title=A History of Modern India, 1480-1950|author=Claude Markovits|publisher=Anthem Press|page=210|year=2004|isbn=9781843311522 }}</ref> of [[Cossimbazar|Cassimbazar]],{{refn|group=note|This factory supplied silk goods cargoes and situated in the heart of silk belt.}} [[Jugdia|Jougdia]],{{refn|group=note|This factory supplied ordinary fabrics to the French East India Company. It was established in 1735 by [[Joseph François Dupleix|Dupleix]].}} [[Dacca]],{{refn|group=note|This factory exported muslins of 4 lakh rupees per annum by the mid-eighteen century. It was founded in 1722.}} [[Balasore]]{{refn|group=note|This factory was founded at the end of the seventeenth century but suffered from a lack of proper road transport and it lost its commercial activity during the next century.}} and [[Patna]].{{refn|group=note|This factory used to sell drapes from Europe and bought saltpetre and opium. It was founded in 1727.}}
# In [[Gujarat]], 
#* [[Surat]] factory.{{refn|group=note|This factory was founded in 1668 after securing a firman and a factory site from Emperor Aurangzeb.}}

Under the French East India Company's regime, the name 'lodge' was given to factories or insulated establishments consisting of a home and adjacent ground where France had the right to fly its flag and establish trading posts.

<gallery class="center" widths="200px">
File:Pro-merger movement of French Settlements in India 1954.jpg|Pro-merger movement of French Settlements in India, 1954
File:Dupleix meeting the Soudhabar of the Deccan.jpg|[[Joseph François Dupleix|Dupleix]] meeting the Soudhabar of the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], [[Murzapha Jung]]
File:Suffren meeting with Haider Ali, 26 july 1782 engraved by J B Morret 1789.jpg|[[Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez|Suffren]] meeting with ally [[Hyder Ali]] in 1782, J. B. Morret engraving, 1789
File:French India postage stamps.jpg|French India postage stamps
File:Fiebig Government House Chandernagore.jpg|Chandernagore's Government House c. 1850
</gallery>

==List of chief governing officers==
<!-- This section is linked from [[Gouverneur Général de l'Inde française]] -->

=== Commissioners ===
* [[François Caron]], 1668–1672
* François Baron, 1672–1681
* [[François Martin (Pondicherry)|François Martin]], 1681 – November 1693
* ''Dutch occupation'', September 1693 – September 1699 — '''[[Treaty of Ryswick]]''' (1697)

=== Governors ===
In the days of the French East India Company, the title of the top official was most of the time Governor of Pondicherry and General Commander of the French settlements in the East Indies ({{langx|fr|Gouverneur de Pondichéry et commandant général des établissements français aux Indes orientales}}). After 1816, it was Governor of French establishments in India ({{langx|fr|Gouverneur des établissements français de l'Inde'}}).[[File:Quai Duplex at Strand Road Chandernagor.jpg|thumb|376x376px|Quai Dupleix at Strand Road [[Chandannagar|Chandernagor]]]][[File:Chandernagor Government Place and Covent.jpg|thumb|379x379px|[[Chandannagar|Chandernagore]] Government House and Convent]]
* [[François Martin (Pondicherry)|François Martin]], September 1699 – 31 December 1706
* [[Pierre Dulivier]] (Acting), January 1707 – July 1708
* [[Guillaume André d'Hébert]], 1708–1712
* [[Pierre Dulivier]], 1713–1715
* [[Guillaume André d'Hébert]], 1715–1718
* [[Pierre André Prévost de La Prévostière]], August 1718 – 11 October 1721
* [[Pierre Christoph Le Noir]] (Acting), 1721–1723
* [[Joseph Beauvollier de Courchant]], 1723–1726
* [[Pierre Christoph Le Noir]], 1727–1734
* [[Pierre Benoît Dumas]], 1735–1741
* [[Joseph François Dupleix]], 14 January 1742 – 15 October 1754
* [[Charles Godeheu]], Le commissaire (Acting), 15 October 1754 – 1754
* [[Georges Duval de Leyrit]], 1756–1758
* [[Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally]], 1758 – January 1761
* First British occupation, January 15, 1761 – June 25, 1765 — [[Treaty of Paris (1763)]]
* [[Jean Law de Lauriston]], 1765–1766
* [[Antoine Boyellau]] (Acting), 1766–1767
* [[Jean Law de Lauriston]], 1767 – January 1777[[File:Chandernagor Government House.jpg|thumb|376x376px|[[Chandannagar|Chandernagor]] ''Government House'']]
* Second British occupation, 1778 – 1783 – [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris (1783)]]
* [[Guillaume de Bellecombe]], January 1777 – 1778
* [[Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau]], 1783–1785
* [[François de Souillac]], 1785
* [[David Charpentier de Cossigny]], October 1785 – 1787
* [[Thomas Conway]], October 1787 – 1789
* [[Camille Charles Leclerc, Chevalier de Fresne]], 1789–1792
* [[Dominique Prosper de Chermont]], November 1792 – 1793
* L. [[Leroux de Touffreville]], 1793
* Third British occupation, 23 August 1793 – 18 June 1802 — [[Treaty of Amiens]] (1802)
* [[Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen]], 18 June 1802 – August 1803
* [[Louis Binot]], 1803
* Fourth British occupation, August 1803 – 26 September 1816 — [[Treaty of Paris (1814)]]
* [[Comte Dupuy]], 26 September 1816 – October 1825
* [[Joseph Cordier]], Marie Emmanuel (Acting), October 1825 – 19 June 1826
* [[Eugène Desbassayns de Richemont]], 1826 – 2 August 1828
* [[Joseph Cordier]], Marie Emmanuel (Acting), 2 August 1828 – 11 April 1829
* [[Auguste Jacques Nicolas Peureux de Mélay]], 11 April 1829 – 3 May 1835
* [[Hubert Jean Victor, Marquis de Saint-Simon]], 3 May 1835 – April 1840
* [[Paul de Nourquer du Camper]], April 1840 – 1844
* [[Louis Pujol]], 1844–1849
* [[Hyacinthe Marie de Lalande de Calan]], 1849–1850
* [[Philippe Achille Bédier]], 1851–1852
* [[Raymond de Saint-Maur]], August 1852 – April 1857
* [[Alexandre Durand d'Ubraye]], April 1857 – January 1863
* [[Napoléon Joseph Louis Bontemps]], January 1863 – June 1871
* [[Antoine-Léonce Michaux]], June 1871 – November 1871
* [[Pierre Aristide Faron]], November 1871 – 1875
* [[Adolph Joseph Antoine Trillard]], 1875–1878
* [[Léonce Laugier]], February 1879 – April 1881
* [[Théodore Drouhet]], 1881 – October 1884
* [[Étienne Richaud]], October 1884 – 1886
* [[Édouard Manès]], 1886–1888
* [[Georges Jules Piquet]], 1888–1889
* [[Louis Hippolyte Marie Nouet]], 1889–1891
* [[Léon Émile Clément-Thomas]], 1891–1896
* [[Louis Jean Girod]], 1896 – February 1898
* [[François Pierre Rodier]], February 1898 – 11 January 1902
* [[Louis Pelletan]] (Acting), 11 January 1902
* [[Victor Louis Marie Lanrezac]], 1902–1904
* [[Philema Lemaire]], August 1904 – April 1905
* [[Joseph Pascal François]], April 1905 – October 1906
* [[Gabriel Louis Angoulvant]], October 1906 – 3 December 1907
* [[Adrien Jules Jean Bonhoure]], 1908–1909
* [[Ernest Fernand Lévecque]], 1909 – 9 July 1910
* [[Alfred Albert Martineau]], 9 July 1910 – July 1911
* [[Pierre Louis Alfred Duprat]], July 1911 – November 1913
* [[Alfred Albert Martineau]], November 1913 – 29 June 1918
* [[Pierre Étienne Clayssen]] (Acting), 29 June 1918 – 21 February 1919
* [[Louis Martial Innocent Gerbinis]], 21 February 1919 – 11 February 1926
* [[Henri Léo Eugène Lagroua]] (Acting), 11 February 1926 – 5 August 1926
* [[Pierre Jean Henri Didelot]], 1926–1928
* [[Robert Paul Marie de Guise]], 1928–1931
* [[Adrien Juvanon]], 1931–1934
* [[Léon Solomiac]], August 1934 – 1936
* [[Horace Valentin Crocicchia]], 1936–1938
* [[Louis Bonvin]], 26 September 1938 – 1945
* [[Nicolas Ernest Marie Maurice Jeandin]], 1945–1946
* [[Charles François Marie Baron]], 20 March 1946 – 20 August 1947

French India became an [[Overseas territory (France)|Overseas territory]] ({{langx|fr|territoire d'outre-mer}}) of France in 1946.

=== Commissioners ===
* [[Charles François Marie Baron]], 20 August 1947 – May 1949
* [[Charles Chambon]], May 1949 – 31 July 1950
* [[André Ménard]], 31 July 1950 – October 1954
* [[Georges Escargueil]], October 1954 – 1 November 1954

French India ''[[de facto]]'' transferred to the [[India|Republic of India]] in 1954.

=== High Commissioners ===
{{See also|List of lieutenant governors of Puducherry}}
{{see|List of consuls general of India in the French India}}
The first High Commissioner, Kewal Singh was appointed immediately after the ''Kizhoor referendum'' on 21 October 1954 as per Foreign Jurisdiction Act, 1947.<ref name="ref2004"/>{{rp|964}} The Chief Commissioner had the powers of the former French commissioner, but was under the direct control of the Union Government.<ref name="reference1963">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7We3DQAAQBAJ|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1963: The One-Volume ENCYCLOPAEDIA of all nations|work=S. Steinberg|publisher=MACMILLAN&Co.LTD, London|year=1963|isbn=9780230270893 }}</ref>{{rp|198}}

The list of Chief Commissioners is given below<ref name="ref2004">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DFqbAAAAMAAJ|title=Cabinet Responsibility to Legislature|work= G. C. Malhotra|publisher=Lok Sabha Secretariat|year=2004|isbn=9788120004009 }}</ref>{{rp|977}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! {{Abbr|No.|Number}}
! Name
! class=unsortable | Took office
! class=unsortable | Left office
|-
| 1 || {{Sortname|Kewal |Singh}}
|  21 October 1954 || 16 November 1956
|-
| 2 || {{Sortname|M.K.|Kripalani}}<ref name="ref1958">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G_0mAQAAIAAJ|title=Civil Affairs|volume=5|publisher=Monthly Journal of Local Govt. and Public Administration in India|year=1958}}</ref>{{rp|103}}
|  17 November 1956||27 August 1958
|-
| 3 || {{Sortname|Lal Ram Saran|Singh}}<ref name="reference1960">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7We3DQAAQBAJ|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1960: The One-Volume ENCYCLOPAEDIA of all nations|work=S. Steinberg|publisher=MACMILLAN&Co.LTD, London|year=1960|isbn=9780230270893 }}</ref>{{rp|197}}
|  30 August 1958||8 February 1961
|-
| 4 || {{Sortname|Sisir Kumar|Dutta}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6NbMDQAAQBAJ|title=The Statesman's Year-Book 1963: The One-Volume ENCYCLOPAEDIA of all nations|work=S. Steinberg|publisher=MACMILLAN&Co.LTD, London|pages=474–475|year=1963|isbn=9780230270923 }}</ref>
|  2 May 1961||1 August 1963
|-
| 5 || {{Sortname|K.J.|Somasundaram}}
|  2 August 1963||13 October 1963
|}

== See also ==
{{Portal|France|India|History}}
* [[Apostolic Prefecture of French Colonies in India]] (Catholic mission)
** [[Paris Foreign Missions Society]]
* [[British Raj]]
* [[Colonial India]]
* [[Coup d'état of Yanaon]]
* [[Danish India]]
* [[Dutch India]]
* [[Municipal administration in French India]]
* [[Portuguese India]]
* [[Bourbons of Bhopal]], a supposed branch of the House of Bourbon
* [[France–India relations]]
** [[Franco-Indian Alliances]]
* [[Jacobin Club of Mysore]]
* [[François Bernier]], French explorer, diplomat to the court of [[Aurangzeb]], and early proponent of [[scientific racism]]
* [[Orientalism in early modern France]]
** [[Indienne]]
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|group=note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* Sudipta Das (1992). ''Myths and realities of French imperialism in India, 1763–1783''. New York: P. Lang. {{ISBN|0820416762}}. 459pp.

==External links==
{{Commons}}
*[https://frenchbooksonindia.com/ Frenchbooksonindia.com, an open access multilingual discovery tool with book data from 1531 to 2020, full-text ebooks from 1531 to 1937 and in-text search from c. 1830 to c. 1920]
* [[V. Sankaran]], [http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0898/f1808986.html ''Freedom struggle in Pondicherry''] – Gov't of India publication

{{Indian independence movement}}
{{Former French colonies}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:French India| ]]
[[Category:1769 establishments in French India]]
[[Category:1954 disestablishments in French India]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1769]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1954]]
[[Category:Colonial India]]
[[Category:Colonial Kerala]]
[[Category:Former colonies in Asia]]
[[Category:Former countries in South Asia]]
[[Category:France–India relations]]