MANUSCRIBE. - [SEYCHELLES]. Memorandum for... - Lot 259 - Giquello

Lot 259
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15000 - 20000 EUR
MANUSCRIBE. - [SEYCHELLES]. Memorandum for... - Lot 259 - Giquello
MANUSCRIBE. - [SEYCHELLES]. Memorandum for Mr. M. Interested on the Concession requested in Isle Seychelles. S.l.n.d. [years 1770-1780]. In-folio manuscript (316 x 195 mm), tabbed, 16 pages, marbled half calf with small vellum corners, spine decorated with grotesque, red title piece (Modern binding in the old taste). Manuscript from the second half of the 18th century, presumably unpublished, detailing a project for a private company to exploit the archipelago. Perfectly legible writing, on watermarked laid paper. The beginnings of the colonisation of the Seychelles (1756-1789). The archipelago, known as early as the 9th century by Arab merchants, was officially discovered in the 1500s by Portuguese navigators, notably Vasco de Gama. In 1756, it became French thanks to an officer of the Royal Navy, Corneille Nicolas Morphey, who took possession of Mahé, the main island, which was immediately renamed Ile Seychelle [sic] in honour of Moreau de Séchelles, general controller of finances under Louis XV. The tropical climate and the geographical situation of the Seychelles (close to the Ile de France (Mauritius) and Bourbon (Reunion Island)) are major assets. It is being considered as a stopover on the way to the East Indies, or even as a counter. The prospect of creating a prosperous colony there and making considerable profits from it thus decided a French shipowner named Brayer du Barré to embark on the adventure: with the permission of the State, the latter thus founded the very first colony there around 1770. The avatars of the Brayer du Barré experience will leave indelible traces in the history of the colonisation of the Mahé islands. ...] Settling on a desert island where you have to bring everything, organize everything, build everything, is certainly not easy. Especially if the purpose of the operation is to earn a financial income [...]. Spend some more time there to get wood, commies and turtles [...]. But from there to take ro
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