Editing Louis XIV (section)

===Non-European relations and the colonies===
{{Further|French colonial empire|Orientalism in early modern France}}
[[File:Ambassade Perse auprès de Louis XIV.jpg|thumb|The [[Persian embassy to Louis&nbsp;XIV]] sent by [[Soltan Hoseyn]] in 1715. ''Ambassade de Perse auprès de Louis{{Nbsp}}XIV'', studio of [[Antoine Coypel]].]]

[[French colonial empire|French colonies]] multiplied in Africa, the Americas, and Asia during Louis's reign, and French explorers made important discoveries in North America. In 1673, [[Louis Jolliet]] and [[Jacques Marquette]] discovered the [[Mississippi River]]. In 1682, [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle]], followed the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] to the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and claimed the vast Mississippi basin in Louis's name, calling it ''[[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiane]]''. French trading posts were also established in India, at [[Chandannagar|Chandernagore]] and [[Puducherry (city)|Pondicherry]], and in the Indian Ocean at [[Réunion|Île Bourbon]]. Throughout these regions, Louis and Colbert embarked on an extensive program of architecture and urbanism meant to reflect the styles of Versailles and Paris and the 'gloire' of the realm.{{Sfn|Bailey|2018|p=14}}

[[File:SiameseEmbassyToLouisXIV1686NicolasLarmessin.jpg|thumb|left|[[Siamese embassy to France (1686)|Siamese embassy of King Narai to Louis XIV]]{{Nbsp}}in 1686, led by [[Kosa Pan]]. Engraving by Nicolas Larmessin.]]

Meanwhile, diplomatic relations were initiated with distant countries. In 1669, [[Suleiman Aga]] led an [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] embassy to revive the old [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faroqhi |first=Suraiya |title=The Ottoman Empire and the World Around It |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |date=2006 |isbn=978-1-8451-1122-9 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=oMHwBktE9MMC&pg=PA73 73]}}</ref> Then, in 1682, after the reception of the Moroccan embassy of [[Mohammed Tenim]] in France, [[Ismail Ibn Sharif|Moulay Ismail, Sultan of Morocco]], allowed French consular and commercial establishments in his country.{{Sfn|Bluche|1986|p=439}} In 1699, Louis once again received a Moroccan ambassador, [[Abdallah bin Aisha]], and in 1715, he received a [[Persian embassy to Louis XIV|Persian embassy]] led by [[Mohammad Reza Beg]].

From farther afield, [[Siamese embassy to France (1686)|Siam dispatched an embassy]] in 1684, reciprocated by the French magnificently the next year under [[Alexandre, Chevalier de Chaumont]]. This, in turn, was succeeded by another Siamese embassy under [[Kosa Pan]], superbly received at Versailles in 1686. Louis then sent another embassy in 1687, under [[Simon de la Loubère]], and French influence grew at the Siamese court, which granted [[Mergui]] as a naval base to France. However, the death of [[Narai|Narai, King of Ayutthaya]], the execution of his pro-French minister [[Constantine Phaulkon]], and the [[siege of Bangkok]] in 1688 ended this era of French influence.{{Sfn|Keay|1994|pp=201–204}}

France also attempted to participate actively in [[Jesuit missions in China|Jesuit missions]] to China. To break the Portuguese dominance there, Louis sent Jesuit missionaries to the court of the [[Kangxi Emperor]] in 1685: [[Jean de Fontaney]], [[Joachim Bouvet]], [[Jean-François Gerbillon]], [[Louis Le Comte]], and [[Claude de Visdelou]].{{Sfn|Pagani|2001|p=182}} Louis also received a Chinese Jesuit, [[Michael Shen Fu-Tsung]], at Versailles in 1684.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sullivan |first=Michael |title=The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art |publisher=University of California Press |date=1989 |isbn=978-0-5202-1236-7 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8pLhEWdaMvEC&pg=PA98 98]}}</ref> Furthermore, Louis's librarian and translator [[Arcadio Huang]] was Chinese.{{Sfn|Barnes|2005|p=85}}{{Sfn|Mungello|2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/greatencounterof0000mung_m1v1/page/125 125]}}