ABSTRACT
The total value of printed fabrics produced illegally or smuggled from abroad amounted in a single year to the incredible sum of sixteen million francs! Some artisans, therefore, conceived the idea of copying the imported fabrics according to the process brought back by travelers in the Orient, and thus the native industry of French indiennes was created.” The ministry wishes the French navy and French commerce, in rivalry with Holland, to develop colonies and the Africans are in their eyes excellent instruments for work, the traffic in human merchandise being a possible source for serious benefits. They are in favor of this, thus in 1666 an action is passed by Parliament to buy and trade the Africans. “The most beautiful of these fabrics, which the Indians termed chittes and the French merchants described as perses, were pro duced at Patna, at Seronge, at Tuticorin, at Madras, Negapatam, Palkot, and Sadraspatman.
