Joseph François Dupleix
Governor of French India
Joseph François Dupleix (French pronunciation: [ʒozɛf fʁɑ̃swa dyplɛks]; Unknown – 10 November 1763) was Governor-General of French India and rival of Robert Clive.
Biography
Dupleix was born in Landrecies, on January 23, 1697. His father, François Dupleix, a wealthy fermier général, wished to bring him up as a merchant, and, in order to distract him from his taste for science, sent him on a voyage to India in 1715 on one of the French East India Company's vessels. He made several voyages to the Americas and India, and in 1720 was named a member of the superior council at Bengal. He displayed great business aptitude, and in addition to his official duties made large ventures on his own account, acquiring a fortune.
In 1730 he was made superintendent of French affairs in Chandernagore. In 1741, he married Jeanne Albert, widow of one of the councillors of the company. Albert was known to the Hindus as Joanna Begum and proved of great help to her husband in his negotiations with the native princes.
His reputation procured him in 1742 the appointment of governor general of all French establishments in India. Dupleix saw in the constant succession disputes among the Princes of India an opportunity to advance the interests of the French in India, and for this purpose he entered into relations with the native princes, and adopted a style of oriental splendour in his dress and surroundings.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q560071. VIAF identifies the subject as 76324896. The Library of Congress control number is no91001662. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1763, 1697, 1715 and 1720.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph François Dupleix” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.