Abstract EN:

The specific aim of this study is to demonstrate the progress in knowledge of the far east among frenchmen in the sixteenth century : at the beginning of the century the french image of that part of the world was based on myth, which was itself inherited from mediaeval sources. Gradually knowledge became more empirical, based on travel literature written mainly by foreigners (spanish, italian or dutch), translated into french and published during the sixteenth century. The other main source for french knowledge of the far east was the accounts of jesuit missionaries which were based on years of scrupulous observation and experience of that region, as is shown by numerous collections of their letters translated and published in french. The other sources studied are the productions of the cartographers and the humanists which were published in french at the time. It is concluded that, by the end of the century, india remained more or less unknown to the french, whereas china and japan gained significantly more attention : china fascinated by virtue of the splendour of its civilization, and japan was seen as fertile terrain for new converts to christianity.