Asia–France relations

[7] Expansion continued eastward, into the Aegean world, with a huge migration of Eastern Gauls appearing in Thrace, north of Greece, in 281 BCE in the Gallic invasion of the Balkans, favoured by the troubled rule of the Diadochi after Alexander the Great.

The invaders, led by Leonnorius and Lutarius, came at the invitation of Nicomedes I of Bithynia, who required help in a dynastic struggle against his brother Zipoites II.

[10] Christianity, following its emergence in the Near-Eastern part of Asia, was traditionally introduced by Mary, Martha, Lazarus and some companions, who were expelled by persecutions from the Holy Land.

They settled in the regions of Aquitaine and Poitou, which at one point was even called Thifalia or Theiphalia (Theofalgicus) in the 6th century, with remaining place names such as Tiffauges.

[18] The Roman general Aetius settled Alans in Gaul for military purposes, first in the region of Valence in 440 to control the lower Isère valley, and in 442 in the area around Orléans, apparently to counter the Armorican Bacaudae.

In 450 Attila proclaimed his intent to attack the powerful Visigoth kingdom of Toulouse, making an alliance with Emperor Valentinian III in order to do so.

The Romans under Aëtius allied with troops from among the Franks, the Burgundians, the Celts, the Goths and the Alans and finally stopped the advancing Huns in the Battle of Châlons.

[21][22] An Abbasid-Carolingian alliance[23][24][25] was attempted and partially formed during the 8th to 9th century through a series of embassies, rapprochements and combined military operations between the Frankish Carolingian Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate or the pro-Abbasid Muslim rulers in Spain.

[27] From the 10th to the 13th century, Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe, including France, were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, education, law, and technology.

The French scientist Gerbert of Aurillac, future Pope Sylvester II, who had spent some time in Catalonia in the 960s, was instrumental in the adoption of Arabic numerals,[28] as well as the abacus in France and Christian Europe.

[31] It caused a scandal in the Christian world,[32] and was designated as "the impious alliance", or "the sacrilegious union of the Lily and the Crescent"; nevertheless, it endured since it served the objective interests of both parties.

[38] Whereas other European governments repeatedly insisted on their avowed desire to cooperate with Persia against the Turks, France remained aloof due to the treaty of 1536 between Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent.

[38] When Suleiman I invaded north-west Persia and took Tabriz during the Ottoman-Safavid War (1532-1555), he was accompanied by the French ambassador Gabriel de Luetz, whose advice enabled the Ottomans to force the Persians to surrender the citadel of Van.

[38] When the tide turned in 1604 as Persia gained the upper hand against Ottonan Turkey, the French ambassador to the Porte, Savary de Brèves, wrote a memoir on how an alliance with Persian would be detrimental to Franco–Ottoman relations.

[38] Thus, the Turkish alliance prevented Henri IV from responding to the overtures made to him by shah Abbas I, who was rapidly reconquering lost territories and conquering beyond that in Anatolia and the Caucasus.

However, France played an important part in post-Safavid external policies through Marquis de Bonnac, ambassador to the Porte, and who was an active mediator between Russia, Iran, and Turkey, all regional rivals.

[39] However, things changed in 1804 when Fath-Ali Shah Qajar asked Napoleon to help him recover Georgia, which had been ruled by Persia for centuries and was part of its integral domains, but had been invaded and annexed by Imperial Russia.

[45] In July 1527, a French Norman trading ship from Rouen is recorded by the Portuguese João de Barros to have arrived in the Indian city of Diu.

The first instance of France-Thailand relations occurred according to the Jesuit Giovanni Pietro Maffei when about 1550 a French Franciscan, Bonferre, hearing of the great kingdom of the Peguans and the Siamese in the East, went on a Portuguese ship from Goa to Cosme (Pegu), where for three years he preached the Gospel, but without any result.

[46][50] The second ship, carrying François Martin de Vitré, reached Ceylon and traded with Acheh in Sumatra, but was captured by the Dutch on the return leg at Cape Finisterre.

[51] From 1604 to 1609, following the return of François Martin de Vitré, Henry IV developed a strong enthusiasm for commerce with Asia, and attempted to set up a French East India Company on the model of England and the Netherlands.

[50] In 1619, an armed expedition composed of three ships (275 crew, 106 cannons) called the "Fleet of Montmorency" under General Augustin de Beaulieu was sent from Honfleur, to fight the Dutch in the Far East.

[55] France adopted a more structured approach to its expansion in Asia during the 17th century during the rule of Louis XIV, in an organized attempt to establish a mercantile empire by taking a share of the lucrative market of the Indian Ocean.

[56] On the religious plane, the Paris Foreign Missions Society was formed from 1658 in order to provide for missionary work in Asia mainly, under French control.

In 1672, Caron helped lead French forces in Ceylon, where the strategic bay at Trincomalee was captured and St. Thomé (also known as Meilâpûr) on the Coromandel coast was also taken.

Following the development of France-Vietnam relations through early trade and religious contacts, France intervened militarily in Vietnam at the end of the 18th century through the French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh under Mgr Pigneau de Behaine.

[68] Napoleon handpicked a new Governor-General, the "Iron Marshall" Willem Daendels, sent ships and troops to reinforce the Dutch East Indies against possible British attacks, and had military fortifications built through the length of Java.

[69] A treaty of alliance was signed in 1808 between the new administration and the Balinese king of Badung, to provide workers and soldiers for the Franco-Dutch defensive effort, but Java was captured a British expedition in 1811, and the agreement was not implemented.

[71] Another mercenary of Ranjit Singh, Claude Auguste Court was an early student of Kushan coinage, whose coin–rubbings books are on display at the British Museum.

[72] Using these persecutions as a pretext, in 1843, the French Foreign Minister, François Guizot, sent a fleet to the East under Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille and Captain Charner, together with the diplomat Lagrene.