Competitor of The Dutch East India Company
Le Maire found his first opportunity to thwart the VOC in the efforts of France to set up a French trading company for India. King Henry IV of France invited him in 1607 for that purpose. Le Maire advised the French on the establishment and organization of a company, and in doing so ignored the competition stipulation with the VOC. However, at that time a French company was not yet established.
Next came the idea to involve Henry Hudson in the French plans. Hudson had already made two unsuccessful attempts for England to find a new North-Eastern passage, and in 1608 he came to the Netherlands to interest the VOC for that plan. He came in contact with Le Maire who proposed to the king of France to finance this expedition. With this attempt to find a new route to the Indies, Le Maire would not commit a breach of contract with the VOC, because the VOC only had a patent to trade via the Cape of Good Hope and the Strait of Magellan, until then the only two known routes to the Indies. The VOC got scent of this intention and offered Hudson a better contract, which ultimately led to his famous third voyage in 1609, discovering the river that was named after him. After the VOC had caught away Hudson, Le Maire and the king of France secretly came to an agreement to make the North-Eastern journey with another captain. The newly to be discovered strait would be named after the French king, and the new discoveries would be made under the French flag. However, the voyage, led by Melchior van den Kerckhove, was a failure.
In 1609, Isaac Le Maire travelled together with Joris van Spilbergen, Balthazar de Moucheron and others to Paris, again to discuss the formation of a French East India Company. De Moucheron played a double role in these discussions, because at one point he asked the ambassador of the Netherlands what it would be worth if he would disrupt the proceedings. The discussions so flagged because of mistrust by the French in Le Maire. Within the VOC the intrigues of Le Maire led to indignation, but it didn't result in actual actions against him, probably because the Republic wasn't looking for a conflict with France during the war with Spain. In 1610 the King of France was killed and thus plans for a French East India Company were shelved.
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