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The Formation of French Indochina

9/16/2019

1 Comment

 
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Pre-colonized Vietnam was split into three states, Cochinchina, Annam, and Tonkin. Cochinchina covered the most southern part of Vietnam in which its primary city was Saigon. Annam was the central state of Vietnam where the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hue, was located. Tonkin was the most northern region where its main city was Hanoi. 
The first European arrival to Indochina, which was made up of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, began with Portuguese and Dutch missionaries during the 16th and 17th centuries, respectively. These missionaries’ main objective was to start up trading posts along the Vietnamese coast.
​

During the mid-1620s, Jesuit priest, Father Alexandre de Rhodes, arrived in Cochinchina and traveled throughout Vietnam to Tonkin. While in Vietnam, de Rhodes learned the language through speaking with villagers and would write several books chronicling his experience in Vietnam, as well as contain a part in which de Rhodes expresses his interest in the language. In 1630, de Rhodes was expulsed from Vietnam for his preaching of Catholicism where he was able to convert over 6,000 Vietnamese. In 1640, de Rhodes returned to Cochinchina to continue establishing missionaries. In 1645, he would be executed, but by this time, there would be a total of over 120,000 Vietnamese who converted to Christianity. Father de Rhodes was important because through his contribution, he was able to spread Catholicism in a major way in Vietnam and through his books, many others would follow his path to use Southeast Asia to spread Christianity and establish trading networks. Following these European missionaries, there would be an escalation of desire to not only control ports along Vietnam, but also control Southeast Asia to control a major trading line. 

The end of the 17th century saw the first arrival of the French in the form of the French East India Company trading organization who were there to establish a trading network in Southeast Asia and spread Catholicism through missionaries. Due to prejudice against Christians and foreigners, after a few centuries of the French establishing missions and trading ports across the Vietnamese coast, the French missionaries, traders and soldiers were attacked by the local Vietnamese. In retaliation, the French waged wars against Vietnamese local tribes and planned to take control over Indochina to establish their colony. In 1862, French and Vietnamese emissaries met in Saigon to cease the war and come to a negotiation. The treaty granted France with Cochinchina where missionaries had the freedom to build missions and preach. France also gained the freedom to allow ships in through the Mekong Delta and open coastal ports to open trade with the west. In 1863, Cochinchina gained its first governor, Admiral Pierre-Paul de la Grandiere, who took an interest in international affairs with Cambodia and the Cambodian monarchy. As governor, La Grandiere signed a treaty with Cambodia granting protection for trade. La Grandiere proposed the expansion into Tonkin in northern Vietnam. As a result, he issued two expeditionary forces to invade Tonkin. While the first expeditionary advance failed in 1868, the second one, launched in 1883, was able to successfully control Hanoi. Following the capture of Hanoi, there was a meeting, known as the Treaty of Hue, between the French and Vietnamese emperor Tu Duc. This treaty granted France full control over Vietnam. 

The French government followed their victory by merging their colonies into a single state under one authority figure. This state would be known as the Indochinese Union, or French Indochina. Along with the colonies of Vietnam, it would also include Laos and Cambodia. France altered the political and economic structure of French Indochina to be able to benefit their ways of governing and to make it easier to govern under French rule. Firstly, France moved the capital from Hue to Hanoi which changed the administrative and political central focus of French Indochina closer to China and the Red River Delta. France also established a governor general who would be in charge from Hanoi over all of French Indochina, while governors of smaller colonies, for example, Cochinchina, would work under the governor general. The governor general was also supported by the Upper Council of Indochina, five directors in charge of the colonies’ services. 

The French had not only altered Vietnam’s political system, but also changed the social and economic environment within French Indochina. Paul Doumer, in 1897, became General Governor of French Indochina and began forming departments to control finances, customs and monopolies, public works, agriculture and trade, the postal and telegraph service, and other state agencies to maintain civil and international services. Doumer organized three monopolies based around opium, salt, and alcohol. Based on these three items, France applied a heavy tax on these items for the Vietnamese and took away property if the taxes weren’t paid. These taxes were used to help govern the administrative cost of Indochina. The countries, particularly Vietnam, of French Indochina had economic benefits for France based on its natural resources. Vietnam produced rice, rubber and coal. The French government in Indochina began exporting these goods and using villagers to increase their work and increase production rates to keep up with demands. Vietnam became the third largest exporter of rice in the world behind Burma and Thailand. Tire companies such as the Michelin Tire Company bought thousands of acres of land in Vietnam to use the Vietnamese peasants to assist in working for these tire companies through producing rubber to build the tires in return the peasants would be able to keep their land although under French jurisdiction. The farmers, peasants, and coal miners, all of whom were Vietnamese, were underpaid and overworked to support French manufacturing and trading companies. 

French Indochina, in particular, Vietnam, through its geographical location and natural resources, became an important strategic economically, and later, militarily, country in Southeast Asia. For the next hundred years, many countries such as France and Japan would see Vietnam as a country to use for their own economic and military goals in which would turn their citizens against their oppressors leading into one of the most important wars in history. 

Resources
  1.  "Chapter 1 The French in Indochina - Digital History." http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit12_1.pdf. Accessed 9 Sep. 2019.
  2. Dommen, Arthur J.  (2001). The Indochinese experience of the French and the Americans : nationalism and communism in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, p. 4-18.
  3. Goscha, Christopher E. (2016). Vietnam: A New History. Basic Books: New York, p. 87-88.
  4. Vietnam: A New History. p. 88.
  5. "Chapter 1 The French in Indochina - Digital History."

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1 Comment
Nam
12/17/2022 10:32:06 am

There is a mistake in the information provided; de Rhodes was not executed in 1645, but was given the death sentence which was reduced to exile. In fact, he died in 1660 in Persia.

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  • Home
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      • Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Background of Biochemical Warfare Development
        • Imperial Japan's Chemical Warfare Development Program
        • Map of Unit 731
        • Personnel of Unit 731
        • Duties of Unit 731
        • Human Experimentation
        • [GRAPHIC] Germ Warfare Attacks
        • Cover Ups After the War
        • [OLD] Cover Ups After the War
      • Philippines' Resistance - Guide >
        • Philippines World War II Timeline
        • The Japanese Invasion & Conquest of the Philippines
        • Bataan Death March
        • Formation of Underground Philippines Resistance
        • Supplies of the Guerrilla Fighters
        • The Hukbalahap
        • Hunter's ROTC
        • Marking's Guerrillas
        • United States Army Forces in the Philippines of Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL)
        • The Aetas
        • Chinese and Filipino-Chinese Nationalist Guerrilla Units
        • The Female Faces of the Philippine Guerrillas
      • Rising Sun Flag - Guide >
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        • Atrocities Committed Under the Flag
        • Rising Sun Flag in Pop Culture
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        • The Fierce Heneralas and Kumanders of the Hukbalahap Guerrillas
        • Amazons of the Pacific Theater
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        • The Legacy of the Asian Women Soldier
      • Fall of Singapore - Guide >
        • Singapore World War II Timeline
        • History of World War II in the Pacific
        • History of Singapore
        • Japan's Conquest in Asia
        • Japan's Invasion of the Malay Peninsula
        • Sook Ching Massacre
        • Double Tenth Incident
        • Social Changes and Challenges in Singapore
        • Voices from Syonan
        • Return to British Rule
      • Three Years and Eight Months - Guide >
        • Hong Kong before WW2
        • Buildup to World War 2
        • The Battle of Hong Kong
        • Life during 3 Years and 8 Months
        • East River Column Guerrilla Fighters
        • Prisoners of War Camps
        • End of Japanese Occupation
        • War Crimes Trials
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        • The Land of Smiles
        • The Thai-Japanese Relationship
        • Phibun’s Domestic and International Policies
        • The Free Thai Resistance Movement
        • Post WW2 Aftermath of Thailand
      • The Khabarovsk War Crimes Trial - Guide >
        • Defendants of Khabarovsk War Crime
        • The Japanese Empire and USSR in WW2
        • The Employment of the Bacteriological Weapon in the War
        • Planning of Japan invasion to USSR
      • Unit 731 Cover-up : The Operation Paperclip of the East - Guide >
        • Establishing Manchukuo
        • The Development of Unit 731
        • Plan Kantokuen and Bacteriological Warfare
        • The Downfall of the Japanese WW2 Era
        • Three Stages of Interrogations
        • Lasting Impacts
      • Marutas of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • How did Ishii Shiro start unit 731?
        • A Beta Testing Site
        • Establishing Pingfan
        • Experiences at the Human Experimentation Complex
        • Vivisection at the Unit 731
        • Anta Testing Grounds
        • Overall Advance from the Laboratory Creations
        • The End of the War
      • Prince Konoe Memoir - Guide >
        • Who is Prince Konoe?
        • Preparation to Tripartite Pact
        • Emperor Hirohito and Prince Konoe
        • The End of Prince Konoe
      • Competing Empires in Burma - Guide >
        • What was the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • When did the China-Burma-India Theater Happen?
        • Who Fought in the China-Burma-India Theater?
        • The Second Sino Japanese War
        • Japan in the South
        • Operation U-Go
      • Battle of Shanghai - Guide >
        • The Battle of Shanghai. Background
        • Shanghai Before War
        • The First Battle of Shanghai 1932
        • Battle of Shanghai 1937
        • Aftermath of Battle for Shanghai
      • Ishi Shiro - Guide >
        • History of Biological Weapons and The Young Ishii Shiro
        • Establishment in Manchuria
        • Pingfang District - Harbin
        • Failures and Corruption
        • Post War
      • Taiwan The Israel of the East - Guide >
        • Background of Formosa
        • Industrialization of Japan
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        • Taiwan under Kuomintang
        • New Taiwanese National Identity
      • Seeking Justice for Biological Warfare Victims of Unit 731 - Guide >
        • Introduction of Wang Xuan
        • Colonel Memorandum
        • The Beginning of Biological Warfare
        • The Bacteriological Warfare on China
        • Victims in Zhejiang’s Testimonies
        • After the War
      • Rice and Revolution - Guide >
        • The French Colonial Period
        • Anti-Colonial Resistance
        • The Rise of the Communist Movement
        • Imperial Japan’s Entry into Indochina
        • The Portents of Famine
        • The Famine (1944-45)
        • Legacy of the 1944-45 Vietnam Famine
      • Clash of Empires - Guide >
        • Japan’s Imperialist Origins
        • Japan’s Competition against the West: Nanshin-ron and Hokushin-ron
        • Japanese Imperialism Through the Lens of French Indochina
        • The U.S.-Japan Relations and the Pearl Harbor Attack
    • Lesson Plans >
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      • Ethics in Science
      • Writing the Narrative of a Pinay Fighter
      • Privilege Journal
      • Environmental Injustices
      • Female Guerrillas
      • Hunter's ROTC
      • Scientific Advancements
      • Seeking Justice: A Humanities Lesson Plan
      • The Hukbalahap
      • Trading Immunity
      • Bataan Death March
      • Biochemical Warfare Development
Contribute