Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine. Correspondance au départ avec les colonies (première partie)
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (English)
National Overseas Archives
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
fra
Contact information: postal address
29 Chemin du Moulin de Testa, 13090 Aix-en-Provence
Contact information: phone number
0033 442933850
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
anom.aix@culture.gouv.fr
Reference number
COL B
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Secretary of State of the Navy. Correspondence sent to the colonies (first part)
Title (official language of the state)
Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine. Correspondance au départ avec les colonies (première partie)
Language of title
fra
Creator / accumulator
Secrétariat d'Etat à la Marine
Date(s)
1654/1715
Language(s)
fra
Extent
22.5 linear metres
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This series contains the minutes of letters and instructions addressed by the king and the secretary of state to governors, intendants, and other colonial officers, as well as to authorities or individuals in France who had to deal with colonial affairs, such as secretaries of state, the controller-general of finances, intendants of provinces and ports, bishops, religious authorities, shipowners, merchants, suppliers, directors of commercial companies, etc. The series also includes other documents such as edicts, letters patent, letters of naturality, ordinances, commissions of officers, orders of payment, financial statements, etc.
Therefore, this is a series of high importance for the study of French colonial policy, colonial institutions, evangelization, foreign affairs, relations with local people, Atlantic trade, and also, of course, the Western Sephardic Diaspora in French colonial territories. Some documents regarding the presence of Iberian conversos and Sephardic Jews in French America are the following:
COL B 3 F° 60: Letter from the king to Jean-Charles de Baas, governor-general of the French Antilles, ordering him to give complete freedom of conscience to the Jews of Martinique and to make them enjoy the same privileges as the other inhabitants. It includes another letter from Colbert to Baas on the same subject. May 23, 1671.
COL B 10 F° 25 v°: Royal order for the expulsion of the Jews from the French American islands. September 24, 1683.
COL B 14 F° 471 v°: Letter to the Count of Blénac, governor-general, on the refusal of the naturalization of Benjamin da Costa, a Portuguese Jew from Saint-Christopher. February 26, 1693.
COL B 18 F° 28: Letters to the Count of Blénac and Dumaitz de Goimpy, intendant, on Jewish families settled in Martinique and other matters. April 28, 1694.
COL B 21 F° 363 v°: Letter to the Marquis of Amblimont, governor-general, on a Jew who would have settled in Martinique and whom it was essential to get out of the island. June 17, 1699.
Therefore, this is a series of high importance for the study of French colonial policy, colonial institutions, evangelization, foreign affairs, relations with local people, Atlantic trade, and also, of course, the Western Sephardic Diaspora in French colonial territories. Some documents regarding the presence of Iberian conversos and Sephardic Jews in French America are the following:
COL B 3 F° 60: Letter from the king to Jean-Charles de Baas, governor-general of the French Antilles, ordering him to give complete freedom of conscience to the Jews of Martinique and to make them enjoy the same privileges as the other inhabitants. It includes another letter from Colbert to Baas on the same subject. May 23, 1671.
COL B 10 F° 25 v°: Royal order for the expulsion of the Jews from the French American islands. September 24, 1683.
COL B 14 F° 471 v°: Letter to the Count of Blénac, governor-general, on the refusal of the naturalization of Benjamin da Costa, a Portuguese Jew from Saint-Christopher. February 26, 1693.
COL B 18 F° 28: Letters to the Count of Blénac and Dumaitz de Goimpy, intendant, on Jewish families settled in Martinique and other matters. April 28, 1694.
COL B 21 F° 363 v°: Letter to the Marquis of Amblimont, governor-general, on a Jew who would have settled in Martinique and whom it was essential to get out of the island. June 17, 1699.
Archival history
The origins of the Navy archives are still little known. A historical note written in 1879 by Octave de Branges, then assistant curator of the Archives, alleged that Colbert created the Dépôt de la Marine in 1680, but there is no documentary evidence to support this assumption. According to tradition, the archives were originally located in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. In 1699, Jérôme de Pontchartrain (1674-1747), the Navy minister, installed the Dépôt de la Marine in a building in Place des Victories, in Paris. It was at this time that the Dépôt de la Marine started operating more systematically.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of strong criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, etc.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets
divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
Pierre Clairambault must be considered the founder and first organiser of the archives. In 1699, he found the archives completely disorganised, and several pieces were missing. The following years were dedicated to the organisation and inventorying of the fonds. From 1740, by the hand of the archivist François-Maurice Lafîllard, the archives underwent a radical reclassification. The reorganisation of the documents followed a "blind" alphabetical order, with no attention to subjects, provenances, or matters, which was later the target of strong criticism. His successor, Laurent Truguet, tried to reverse Lafîllard's work and, in 1755, proposed a reorganisation by dividing the archives into ten divisions or series. A part of this new classification was indeed adopted, and it is still reflected in some series to the present.
At the beginning of 1763, the Archives de la Marine left Paris and went to Versailles to occupy the Hôtel de la Guerre et de la Marine building. The new archivist, Jean-Charles Horque d'Hamecourt, respected the classification adopted by Truguet, merely adding an additional division for the papers received from the Bureau des Fonds.
In 1781, the Archives de la Marine gained a new service, the Dépôt des chartes de las colonies, organised by an edict of June 1776. This institution was intended to preserve in France a duplicate of all public papers established in the colonies, such as parish records, notarial minutes, population census, etc.
The transfer of the Ministry of the Navy after the Revolution was not followed by the archives, which remained in Versailles. However, the archives' organisation and management were modified at the end of 1791, with a division into two offices: one for the Navy, headed by Antoine Villet, and the other for the Colonies, headed by Claude Deluzines.
In 1812, Nicolas- Charles Stévenot (1750-1822) replaced Deluzines and was responsible for a new classification of both the Navy and the Colonial Archives: the first divided into ten series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Contentieux; Campagnes; Missions particulières; Invalides et prisonniers; Ordonnances et arrêts; Mémoires généraux; and Objets
divers), and the second into nine series (Personnel; Matériel; Fonds; Campagnes; Concessions, commerce et domaine; Ordonnances et arrêts; Contentieux; Mémoires généraux; Colonies en général; and Objets divers). The Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies continued to be a particular fonds.
The archives returned to Paris in 1837 and were housed in a building in the courtyard of the rue Royale. The Commission des Archives, established in 1849, was responsible for designing a new method for classifying collections. Following the recommendations of this commission, the documents were divided into seven categories corresponding to the main divisions of the Département de la Marine et des Colonies: Personnel (currently corresponding to C and CC), Matériel (D and DD), Colonies, Comptabilité (E and EE), Invalides (F and FF), Service général (B and BB), and Dépôt des papiers publics des Colonies.
Administrative / Biographical history
The period from the 17th century to 1815 is usually referred to as the "premier empire colonial" (first colonial empire). France settled in Canada, the West Indies, French Guiana, the Regency of Algiers, Saint-Louis du Sénégal, Gorée, and Rufisque. In the Indian Ocean, it gained a foothold in Madagascar (Fort-Dauphin), in the Ile de France, and in the Ile Bourbon. In India, the French colonial empire established itself in Surat, in Pondicherry in 1673, and then in the whole Deccan peninsula. Its apogee was under the reign of Louis XV. The European wars affected the colonial empires. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 marked the first collapse of France, which lost Canada and all the settlements in Senegal except Gorée, and kept only five trading posts in India. However, France retained Martinique, Guadeloupe, the occupied part of Santo Domingo and Saint Lucia, as well as French Guiana. The Napoleonic period saw the liquidation of the Colonial Empire. France recovered a few shreds of its former possessions under the Treaties of Paris (1814-15). It was not until 1830 that the French Empire took off again.
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
System of arrangement
The series is divided into two subseries: Régime des Compagnies des Indes orientales et occidentales (Regime of the East and West India Companies) and Régime d'administration royale directed (Regime of direct royal administration). Each subseries is divided into two sections: one with letters addressed to colonies and the other with letters addressed in France and abroad. The documentation of each section is organised by place and/or type.
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
Linked resources
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