Explore our new BookBrowse Community Forum!

The French East India Companies: Background information when reading Beyond the Door of No Return

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop

Beyond the Door of No Return

A Novel

by David Diop
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • First Published:
  • Sep 19, 2023, 256 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2024, 256 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

The French East India Companies

This article relates to Beyond the Door of No Return

Print Review

Coat of Arms of the French East India CompanyIn David Diop's novel Beyond the Door of No Return, French botanist Michel Adanson journeys across 18th-century Senegal to discover the fate of a woman who was kidnapped. At the time of the story, much of the area was either directly or indirectly under the control of the French East India Company, a less-known competitor to the United East India Company.

Known in French as the Compagnie Française des Indes Orientales, the first French East India Company was founded in 1664 by Jean Baptiste Colbert with the backing of King Louis XIV as part of a wider plan to strengthen the French economy. The company was given several potentially lucrative grants, including a 50-year monopoly on trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. It was a joint stock company, meaning investors could buy shares in the company, much like modern stocks. However, the company initially struggled to secure investors and funding. Efforts to advertise the opportunity were met with mixed success, and the most significant investor was ultimately the king himself.

In its first few decades the company had difficulty making ends meet and often had to take out loans. Several factors contributed to this, including competition and conflict with the Dutch and continuing trouble obtaining investors, ships and even sailors.

In 1719 the Compagnie Française des Indes Orientales became a part of the broader Compagnie de Indes, which was active in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America. In colonized areas the company represented the French crown, essentially acting as a colonial government with powers up to and including the right to maintain armies and make war. These powers often led to brutal treatment of Indigenous people, and the company also played a major role in the transatlantic slave trade. France was the third most active perpetrator, after Portugal and Great Britain.

In the 17th century the majority of those enslaved by the French came from Senegal, where Diop's novel is set, though in the 18th century the focus gradually shifted to West Africa.

France's defeat in the Seven Years' War, which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, resulted in the loss of both Senegal and the majority of France's North American colonies to Britain. These losses sent the company into a steep decline. The third and final iteration of the company was founded in 1785 and lasted less than a decade. Its ultimate dissolution occurred in 1793, amidst a scandal in which members of the revolutionary government were accused of taking company bribes. Though never as successful as their Dutch and British counterparts, the French East India Companies played a massive role in French colonialism and the harm it caused.

Coat of arms of the French East India Company, courtesy of Le Républicain Lorrain

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This "beyond the book article" relates to Beyond the Door of No Return. It originally ran in September 2023 and has been updated for the September 2024 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Graveyard Shift
    Graveyard Shift
    by M. L. Rio
    Following the success of her debut novel, If We Were Villains, M. L. Rio's latest book is the quasi-...
  • Book Jacket: The Sisters K
    The Sisters K
    by Maureen Sun
    The Kim sisters—Minah, Sarah, and Esther—have just learned their father is dying of ...
  • Book Jacket: Linguaphile
    Linguaphile
    by Julie Sedivy
    From an infant's first attempts to connect with the world around them to the final words shared with...
  • Book Jacket
    The Rest of You
    by Maame Blue
    At the start of Maame Blue's The Rest of You, Whitney Appiah, a Ghanaian Londoner, is ringing in her...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

Great political questions stir the deepest nature of one-half the nation, but they pass far above and over the ...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

F the M

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.