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 to the Gulf of Mexico and claimed the vast
Mississippi basin in Louis's name, calling it Louisiane. French trading posts were also
established in India, at Chandernagore and Pondicherry, and in the Indian Ocean at 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.[52]
Meanwhile, diplomatic relations were initiated with distant countries. In 1669, Suleiman
Aga led an Ottoman embassy to revive the old Franco-Ottoman alliance.[53] Then, in 1682,after the reception of the Moroccan embassy of Mohammed Tenim in France, Moulay Ismail, Sultan of Morocco, allowed French
consular and commercial establishments in his country.[54] In 1699, Louis once again received a Moroccan ambassador, Abdallah
bin Aisha, and in 1715, he received a Persian embassy led by Mohammad Reza Beg.
From farther afield, 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
Non-European relations and the colonies