In
the 17th century, ships left Port-Louis in the south of Brittany
in search of rare produce. Today, each of Villa Kerasy’s
15 rooms represents a stop-off on the maritime route to Asia.
The India Company Museum in the citadel at Port-Louis retraces
the epic stories of the Breton seafarers...
Inaugurated by the Portuguese in the 16th century, the commercial
maritime route to the East Indies via the Cape of Good Hope
drew other nations into the exchanges between the West and
Asia during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The spices from Asia were eagerly awaited in the West: pepper
from India or Sumatra; cinnamon, the bark taken from a tree
in Ceylon; cloves harvested in the Maluku Islands; nutmeg
from the Banda Islands...
In just a few years, merchants became frenetic and trading
posts were established in the East.
Products such as fabrics (cottons, percale and silks), porcelain,
tea and coffee became popular at the tables of Europe. Three
companies rapidly established their supremacy: the Dutch V.O.C.
Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the English E.I.C. East
India Company and the French Compagnie des Indes Orientales. |
The
French India Company was established by Colbert in 1666 and
received the rights to all maritime trade with countries situated
beyond the Cape of Good Hope as an exclusive royal privilege.
As has been the case during many other periods in the history
of the world and intercontinental trade, out of the India
Company’s maritime trade routes came many artistic and
intellectual exchanges where works of art bore witness to
the close links between Eastern and Western civilisations.
Each of Villa Kerasy’s 15 rooms represents a stop-off
point on the maritime route to Asia.
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