Claude Céberet du Boullay
Encyclopedia
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
) in 1687. He was co-representative of the mission with the diplomat Simon de la Loubère
Simon de la Loubère
Simon de la Loubère was a French diplomat, writer, mathematician and poet.-Mission to Siam:Simon de la Loubère led an embassy to Siam in 1687 . The embassy, composed of five warships, arrived in Bangkok in October 1687 and was received by Ok-khun Chamnan...
.
Mission to Siam
In 1685, Céberet became one of the 12 Directors of the French East India CompanyFrench East India Company
The French East India Company was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India....
. During the 1687 embassy to Siam, Céberet was put in charge of the commercial interests of France, and particularly those of the French East India Company. Céberet left from Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
with the embassy for Siam on March 1, 1687. The embassy sailed on board the warships L'oiseau (46 guns), Le Gaillard (52 guns), La Loire (24 guns), La Normande and Le Dromadaire.
The embassy arrived in Thailand in September and October 1687. An interview with the Siamese king Narai
Narai
Somdet Phra Narai or Somdet Phra Ramathibodi III was the king of Ayutthaya from 1656 to 1688 and arguably the most famous Ayutthayan king. His reign was the most prosperous during the Ayutthaya period and saw the great commercial and diplomatic activities with foreign nations including the...
occurred on November 2, 1687. The mission achieved little more than the confirmation of the 1685 commercial treaty obtained by the Chevalier de Chaumont. It also seems that Father Tachard considerably interfered with the mission so as to render it useless. There were some important results on the military plane however, as the troops which had arrived with the mission occupied the cities of Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and Mergui
Mergui
Myeik is a city in Tanintharyi Division in Myanmar , located in the extreme south of the country on the coast of an island on the Andaman Sea. the estimated population was over 209,000. The area inland from the city is a major smuggling corridor into Thailand.-History:Myeik was the southernmost...
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Return to France
In December 1687, Céberet left again for France first by going overland from AyutthayaAyutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
to the harbour of Mergui
Mergui
Myeik is a city in Tanintharyi Division in Myanmar , located in the extreme south of the country on the coast of an island on the Andaman Sea. the estimated population was over 209,000. The area inland from the city is a major smuggling corridor into Thailand.-History:Myeik was the southernmost...
. He left on January 4, 1688, on the ship President for Pondicherry, which he reached on January 25.
While in Pondicherry, Céberet ordered the Governor of Pondicherry François Martin
François Martin
François Martin was the first Governor General of Pondicherry. He founded Pondicherry, the future capital of French India in 1674. He was Commissioner of French East India Company before holding this post and was preceded by François Baron and succeeded by Pierre Dulivier. There is a street named...
to send his son-in-law André Deslandes to found Company trade counters in the Bengal
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
region. Deslandes left Pondicherry on August 30, 1688, and would found the counters of Balassor and Cassimbazar in 1689.
Back in France, after being intendant in Lorient
Lorient
Lorient, or L'Orient, is a commune and a seaport in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France.-History:At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants who were trading with India had established warehouses in Port-Louis...
, Céberet became intendant
Intendant
The title of intendant has been used in several countries through history. Traditionally, it refers to the holder of a public administrative office...
of Dunkirk. Claude Céberet died on September 18, 1702, and was buried in Dunkirk.