French Indochina – a brief historical outline
Indochina, or Indochine as it was known to the French, comprised the colony of Cochin-china and the four protectorates, Annam, Cambodia, Laos and Tonkin. (A Chinese territory, Guangzhouwan or Kwangchowan, which had been leased to the French by the Chinese government in 1900, was also administered under the umbrella of French Indochina or the Indochinese Union.) Cochin-china corresponds to the far south of what is today Vietnam, that is to say, the region of Saigon and the Mekong Delta. Tonkin represents northern Vietnam; Hanoi, the Red River Delta and mountainous north (sometimes known as the Tonkinese Alps) up to the Chinese border, with the remaining long, narrow strip in the centre forming Annam with the old imperial capital of Hue as its administrative centre. (The Annamite Mountains is the name of the long north-south range which separates coastal Vietnam from landlocked Laos to the west.)
The term protectorate generally refers to a smaller country which is protected militarily by a larger, more powerful one. In theory, the smaller state retains power over its own domestic policies, unlike a colony, although there would generally be benefits in return for the protector, such as access to raw materials, manpower and taxes, for example. The system is clearly just a large-scale protection racket, although in the case of French Indochina, there was some historical justification for its application. When the French arrived in the region in the mid-19th century, control of both Laos and Cambodia was largely split down the middle between the Siamese and the Vietnamese of Annam and Tonkin. In return, large areas of Tonkin, as well as northern Laos, were still under the control of imperial China or the powerful Black Flag bandits.
The scenic mountains of the far north – the Tonkinese Alps – were once the home to the infamous Black Flag bandits Justification with regards to Annam, which doesn’t appear to have faced such immediate external threats, is less obvious, while the far south, Cochin-china, was, at that time, yet to be fully absorbed by the Vietnamese, and its mixed population included significant minorities of Khmers, Chams and Chinese.
The French were successful in removing both the Vietnamese and Siamese from their respective zones of control in Laos and Cambodia, as well as forcing Chinese forces back over the northern border into China. The opium trafficking Black Flag ‘cartel’ was eventually brought under control thanks to, what was at the time, the French military’s modern weaponry.
Cambodia and Laos received independence from France in 1953 – both relatively peaceful transitions – while the three Vietnamese territories were granted independence a year later, in 1954, after several years of armed struggle and tens of thousands of deaths which culminated in the catastrophic French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu. The battle, fought out in a remote valley in far northwestern Vietnam, saw the cream of the French army defeated by Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh forces under the direction of General Giap. The nationalist, Vietminh, movement had been founded in 1941 during the period of the French Vichy Government, to oppose the consequent Japanese occupation of Vietnam and as such was supported and funded by the Allied powers. (An earlier incarnation had been established in China in 1936.) Ho Chi Minh’s assumption was that if they aided the Allies against Japan, then after the war, the French would look more favourably upon Vietnamese independence. (A process that would be directly mirrored several decades later, in Afghanistan, with early US support for the anti-Soviet Mujahedin and subsequent conflict with Taliban.)
An old French tank remains on the battlefield of Dien Bien Phu While we wouldn’t in any way seek to justify or minimise the effects of nearly one hundred years of French rule, we would point out some important factors to bear in mind: A. Cambodia and Laos were already largely de facto colonies of Siam and Vietnam; B. Large swathes of northern Laos and Tonkin were in a state of perpetual conflict and C. If the French protectorates hadn’t been established, it is far from certain that Cambodia or Laos would exist today as separate entities.
French Heritage today
The effects of nearly a century of foreign rule on a national mindset or general mentality are undoubtedly significant, albeit way too complex for our post, so we’ll limit ourselves to the more prosaic, visible aspects of French heritage, which are, after all, those that are immediately obvious to the casual visitor.
The Hanoi opera house French-period Architecture in Indochina
Hanoi, in particular, has a substantial stock of French-period architecture, including the magnificent opera house and the former governor’s residence, now the presidential palace. Saigon has its famous French post office, situated opposite Notre Dame Cathedral, although it lacks the overall number of period structures of Hanoi, while Phnom Penh is home to a small French Quarter. (Phnom Penh’s own, Neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in 1975, along with every other church in the country.)
At this point, it should be pointed out that, at its peak – in the interwar years – the total population of French colonists in Indochina was estimated at a maximum of 39,000. An approximate 1937 figure for French civilians in Laos comes to less than 1,000 across the entire country, while military outposts, such as the Legion-style forts – which can still be seen today in Muang Sing and Huay Xai – were generally defended by West African auxiliaries. (The latter site has recently been restored and opened to the public.) We can’t find accurate figures for Cambodia, although, while home to more significant numbers than Laos, the vast majority of those 39,000 resided in Vietnam. The French colonial presence in Indochina was then both relatively short-lived and, frankly, somewhat half-hearted. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the region was generally poor and tax potential certainly limited as were resources. Vietnam provided some coal and, later on, rubber and cement, but neither Cambodia nor Laos were of much financial benefit to the French, hence the limited footprint. Even Hanoi’s offerings pale into insignificance compared to the huge stock of impressive Victorian and Edwardian buildings in, for instance, Calcutta, Yangon or Singapore or even George Town and Kuala Lumpur.
In Laos, a limited quantity of colonial period architecture survives in Luang Prabang and the Mekong ports of Savannakhet and Thakaek. Outside of scattered vestiges in Phnom Penh, the best stock of French-period buildings in Cambodia are to be found in Battambang and Kampot.
Nicely restored French-period buildings in Battambang French Language in Indochina
To the probable dismay of our cousins across the Channel, few young people in Cambodia, Laos or Vietnam today speak French or are interested in learning it. English and Cantonese are far more useful and far more widely taught. These days, only very few, mainly older, people speak French in any of the three countries. The creation of a privileged, local Francophone class was encouraged in Vietnam during the colonial period – not least to provide competent administrators to run the country. The French also favoured Vietnamese civil servants to administer Cambodia. (In Laos, nobody really bothered.) This probably explains the linguistic hangover whereby many government buildings and documents in all three countries are still often also written in French as well as the respective local language.
Despite colonists being few and far between a large number of French loan words do appear in both Khmer and Vietnamese. (Laos tends to borrow new terms from Thai.) These are often nouns representing everyday objects that were previously unknown in that culture. The list in Vietnamese is long but a few examples would be the famous banh mi sandwiches (from pain de mie – bread), ga (gare – station), so-co-la, (chocolat), ca phe (cafe – coffee). Ditto Khmer with examples being pang (pain – bread), raub (robe – dress), pom (pomme – apple) and karot (carrote – carrot). (There are numerous additional examples.)
The change in written Vietnamese from an earlier Chinese-style script to a Latin alphabet was also a French idea, although they clearly didn’t think it was worth the effort for Lao or Khmer.
Dong Hoi railway station – Ga Dong Hoi Religion
A surprise to many visitors to Vietnam is the proliferation of Catholic churches. Precise estimates vary, although an approximate total of some 7 million appears to be the general consensus, representing around 7 to 7.5% of the population. While many Christians moved to the south after independence, churches can still be seen the length of the country. Missionaries have been active across the region for a long time, particularly targeting former animist minority ethnic groups in remoter areas, although Thailand, without any colonial presence, lists a mere 1 to 1.5% of its population as Christian. (Mainly hill-tribe groups of the far north.)
The curious Cao Dai religion of the Mekong Delta, which combines elements of Hinduism, Buddhism and Catholicism, also clearly owes something to the French.
Laos with its large, formerly animist, hill-tribe minorities, follows the same lines as Thailand, while the few churches you will come across today in Cambodia principally serve the ethnic Vietnamese population.
This unusual floating Catholic church mainly serves the Vietnamese community in Battambang’s Prek Toal Village Cuisine
On a more prosaic level, albeit nonetheless interesting, is the legacy that French eating and drinking had on the peoples of Indochina. Indeed, some of today’s best-known Vietnamese street food emerged during the colonial period. Baguette sandwiches, banh mi, is an obvious one, and today French-style bread is ubiquitous right across the former Indochina region. Even the famous noodle soup, pho, derives from this time. Before the French arrival, beef wasn’t widely consumed, with cattle seen as work animals rather than a food source, although the colonists’ liking for beef resulted in a lot of beef scraps and off-cuts, which the locals thought would go well in their traditional noodle soup dishes. Cambodia’s hugely popular beef lok lak (also seen in Vietnam) and its classic beef stew, kor ko, are similar deals.
Khmer-style ko kor – beef stew with baguette Coffee was, of course, also introduced to the region by the French, who are responsible for present-day Vietnam’s near obsession with the caffeinated beverage. The country today is one of the World’s largest coffee producers, while extensive plantations exist in Laos’s Boloven Plateau and in eastern Cambodia, but this was certainly not the case when the French arrived in the late 19th century.
Miscellaneous
We could include further French influences and legacies, such as Cambodia and Vietnam’s railway networks, or the popularity of petanque, but to limit our post’s length and avoid a ‘what did the Romans do for us’ scenario, we’ll leave it there for now.
