The Société Asiatique (, ) is a French

learned society A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to al ...

dedicated to the study of

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. It was founded in 1822 with the mission of developing and diffusing knowledge of Asia. Its boundaries of geographic interest are broad, ranging from the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ), also known as the Arab Maghreb () and Northwest Africa, is the western part of the Arab world. The region comprises western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Maghreb al ...

to the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. The society publishes the ''

Journal asiatique The ''Journal asiatique'' (; full earlier title ''Journal Asiatique ou Recueil de Mémoires, d'Extraits et de Notices relatifs à l'Histoire, à la Philosophie, aux Langues et à la Littérature des Peuples Orientaux'') is a biannual peer-reviewed ...

''. At present the society has about 700 members in France and abroad; its library contains over 90,000 volumes.

History

The establishment of the society was confirmed by royal ordinance on April 15, 1829. Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy was the first president.

Notable people

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (; 5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treati ...

* Jacques Bacot * Jean Berlie * Eugène Burnouf *

Jean-François Champollion Jean-François Champollion (), also known as Champollion ''le jeune'' ('the Younger'; 23 December 1790 – 4 March 1832), was a French philologist and orientalist, known primarily as the decipherer of Egyptian hieroglyphs and a founding figure ...

Henri Cordier Henri Cordier (8 August 184916 March 1925) was a French linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, editor and Orientalist. He was President of the Société de Géographie ( French, "Geographical Society") in Paris.Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès Jean-Baptiste Benoît Eyriès (; 24 June 176713 June 1846) was a French geographer, author and translator, best remembered in the English speaking world for his translation of German ghost stories '' Fantasmagoriana'', published anonymously in ...

* Julius Klaproth * Louis Finot * Jean Leclant * Sylvain Lévi * Abdallah Marrash * Gaston Maspero *

Paul Pelliot Paul Eugène Pelliot (28 May 187826 October 1945) was a French sinologist and Orientalist best known for his explorations of Central Asia and the Silk Road regions, and for his acquisition of many important Tibetan Empire-era manuscripts and ...

* Joseph Toussaint Reinaud *

Ernest Renan Joseph Ernest Renan (; ; 27 February 18232 October 1892) was a French Orientalist and Semitic scholar, writing on Semitic languages and civilizations, historian of religion, philologist, philosopher, biblical scholar, and critic. He wrote wo ...

Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin (; 17 January 1791 – 17 July 1832) was a French academic, orientalist, and pioneer in the field of what would be known as Armenian Studies. Biography Antoine-Jean Saint-Martin was born in Paris on 17 January 1791, t ...

* Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy *

İbrahim Şinasi İbrahim Şinasi Efendi (; 5 August 1826 – 13 September 1871) was a pioneering Ottoman Empire, Ottoman intellectual, founder of Turkish dramaturgy, author, journalist, translator, playwright, linguist and newspaper editor. He was the innovato ...

* Charles Virolleaud

List of the presidents of the Société

*1822–1829: Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy *1829–1832: Jean-Pierre Abel Rémusat *1832–1834: Antoine-Isaac Silvestre de Sacy *1834–1847: Amédée Jaubert *1847–1867: Joseph Toussaint Reinaud *1867–1876: Julius von Mohl *1876–1878: Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy *1878–1884: Adolphe Régnier *1884–1892: Ernest Renan *1892–1908: Barbier de Meynard *1908–1928: Émile Senart *1928–1935: Sylvain Lévi *1935–1945:

*1946–1951: Jacques Bacot *1952–1964: Charles Virolleaud *1964–1969:

George Coedès George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

*1969–1974: René Labat *1974–1986:

Claude Cahen Claude Cahen (26 February 1909 – 18 November 1991) was a 20th-century French Marxist orientalist and historian. He specialized in the studies of the Islamic Middle Ages, Muslim sources about the Crusades, and social history of the medieval Isla ...

*1987–1996: André Caquot *1996–2002: Daniel Gimaret *2002–present: Jean-Pierre Mahé

External links

L'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres

''Journal Asiatique''

''Journal asiatique'' from 1822 to 1936
1822 establishments in France Ancient Near East organizations Learned societies of France Asian studies {{france-org-stub