Madagascar was the scene of the activities of the French East India Company. The French East India Company (French: La Compagnie Francaise des Indes Orientales or Compagnie Francaise pour le Commerce des Indes Orientales) was a commercial enterprise, founded in 1664 to compete with the British and Dutch East India companies in colonial India. Planned by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, it was chartered by King Louis XIV for the purpose of trading in the Eastern Hemisphere. It resulted from the fusion of three earlier companies, the 1660 Compagnie de Chine, the Compagnie d'Orient and Compagnie de Madagascar. The first Director General for the Company was De Faye, who was adjoined two Directors belonging to the two most successful trading organizations at that time: Francois Caron, who had spent 30 years working for the Dutch East India Company, including more than 20 years in Japan, and Marcara Avanchintz, a powerful Armenian trader from Isfahan, Persia.