Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures

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Distant Lands and Diverse Cultures The French Experience in Asia, 1600-1700

Glenn J. Ames, Ronald S. Love

Book Code: GM0864

ISBN: 0-313-30864-0

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-30864-2

DOI:

288 pages, maps

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 7/30/2003

List Price: $79.95 (UK Sterling Price: £44.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Series Title: Contributions in Comparative Colonial Studies

Series Number: 45

Reviews:

[I]s a worthwhile set of critical essays based around twelve different French travel accounts concerned with Asia (from the Ottoman Empire to China) and produced during the seventeenth century....In many ways the quality of reflection on the Asian world, as embodied in the genre of travel writing, is something the French did managed to contribute to, thereby sowing the seeds for the foundation-rocking relativism of the eighteenth century that acceptance of high cultures in Asia produced. The present book constitutes a useful exploration of this theme.
—Itinerario 2005
[E]ffectively illustrate the "tensions of empire" and the synergism intrinsic to imperial projects, and demonstrate the seventeenth-century French expansionsism was not simply driven by economic and political motives, but also, carried out in a spirit of wonder and fascination.
—Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History 2004

Description: Utilizing contemporary accounts of India, China, Siam and the Levant, this study provides rich detail about these exotic lands and explores the priorities that shaped and motivated these bold envoys and chroniclers. Ames and Love offer a fascinating look at the symbiotic nature of cross-cultural interaction between France and the major trading regions of the Indian Ocean basin during the 17th century. During this period of intense French interest in the rich trade and cultures of the region, Louis XIV and his minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert in particular were concerned with encouraging French travelers, both clerical and lay, to explore and document these lands. Among the accounts included here are those of François Bernier, Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, and François Pyrard. Because these accounts reflect as much about the structures and priorities of France as they do about the cultures they describe, Ames and Love hope their analysis bridges the gap between studies on early modern France and those on the major Asiatic countries of the same period. Their findings challenge the current thinking in the study of early modern France by demonstrating that overseas expansion to Asia was of considerable importance and interest to all segments of French society. Specialists in traditional "internal" French history will find much in this study of European expansion to complement and supplement their research.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Thévenot the Tourist: A Frenchman Abroad in the Ottoman Empire by Glenn Sundeen
A Veritable Bedouin: The Chevalier d'Arvieux in the Camp of the Emir Turabey by Deirdre Pettet
Secrets of the Seraglio: Harem Politics and the Rhetoric of Imperialism in the Travels of Sir Jean Chardin by S. Amanda Eurich
The French and Poncet's Ethiopia, 1698-1703 by Ronald S. Love and Theodore Natsoulas
The Travails of Madagascar: Rennefort's Relation du premier voyage de la Compagnie des Indies Orientales by Carl J. Sobocinski
Wonders of Nature, Diversity of Events: The Voyage of François Pyrard de Laval by Diane S. Margolf
Tavernier's Travels in India by Anne York
Mughal India During the Age of the Scientific Revolution: François Bernier's Travels and His Lessons for Absolutist Europe by Glenn J. Ames
A Young Physician on the Move: Dellon's Relation s'un voyage des Indes Orientales and his Relation de l'Inquisition de Goa by Glenn J. Ames
Simon de La Loubére: French Views of Siam in the 1680s by Ronald S. Love
In Search of a Passage to China: A French Jesuit's Perceptions of Siberia in the 1680s by Ronald S. Love
The Search for Souls in China: Le Comte's Nouveaux Memories by Linda and Marsha Frey
Index

LC Card Number: 2001057728

LCC Class: DS33

Dewey Class: 303


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