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French Cochinchina

Colony of Cochinchina
Cochinchine française (French)
Xứ thuộc địa Nam Kỳ (Vietnamese)
1862–1949
Motto: Liberté, égalité, fraternité
"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem: "La Marseillaise"

"Chinh phụ ngâm khúc" (1946–1949)

Localised version of the Great Seal of France:[1]
Cochinchina in 1920
Cochinchina in 1920
StatusColony of France (1862–1949)
Constituent territory of French Indochina (1887–1949)
CapitalSaigon (1862–1931)
Saigon–Cholon (1931–1949)[a]
Common languagesFrench
Vietnamese
Khmer
Chinese
Religion
Buddhism
Confucianism
Taoism
Catholicism
Animism
Caodaism
Hòa Hảo
Islam
Demonym(s)Cochinchinese
GovernmentColonial administration (1858–1946)
Autonomous Republic (1946–1949)
Governor 
• 1858–1859
Charles Rigault de Genouilly
• 1947–1949
Pierre Boyer De LaTour du Moulin
President of Government 
• 1946
Nguyen Van Thinh
• 1947–1948
Nguyễn Văn Xuân
• 1948-1949
Trần Văn Hữu
Historical eraNew Imperialism
17 February 1859
5 June 1862
• Part of French Indochina
17 October 1887
28 July 1941
2 September 1945
• Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina
1 June 1946
• Merged to Vietnam
4 June 1949
Population
• 1920
3,800,000[2]
CurrencyVietnamese văn (1862–1945)
Cochinchina piastre (1878–1885)
French Indochinese piastre (1885–1949)
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Empire of Đại Nam
State of Vietnam
Today part ofVietnam

French Cochinchina (sometimes spelled Cochin-China; French: Cochinchine française; Vietnamese: Xứ thuộc địa Nam Kỳ, chữ Hán: 處屬地南圻) was a colony of French Indochina from 1862 to 1949, encompassing what is now Southern Vietnam. The French operated a plantation economy whose primary strategic product was rubber.

After the end of the Japanese occupation (1941–1945) and the expulsion from Saigon of the Communist-led, nationalist Viet Minh in 1946, the territory was reorganized as the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina by the French, a controversial decision that helped trigger the First Indochina War. In a further move to deny the claims of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam declared in Hanoi by the Viet Minh in June 1949, after the Elysee Accords in March, Cochinchina was formally united with Annam and Tonkin in the State of Vietnam within the French Union.

Nam Kỳ originated from the reign of Minh Mạng of the Nguyễn dynasty, but became a name associated with the French colonial period and so Vietnamese, especially nationalists, prefer the term Nam Phần to refer to Southern Vietnam.

  1. ^ Lecompte, Jean – Monnaies et jetons de l'Indochine Française. (Principality of Monaco, 2013) Quote: "Les légendes sont bien sûr modifiées. A gauche, les attributs de l'agriculture et des beaux-arts sont remplacés par des épis de riz et à droite figure une ancre symbolisant le ministère de la Marine et des Colonies. Hélas, Albert-Désiré Barre décède le 29 décembre 1878 et c'est alors son frère aîné Auguste-Jean Barre qui lui succède et mène à terme le projet. Les premières frappes sortent en 1879." (in French)
  2. ^ Kiernan, Ben (2019). Việt Nam: a history from earliest time to the present. Oxford University Press. p. 330. ISBN 978-0-190-05379-6.


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