Impact of French Imperialism in Indochina

French Impact on the government

So how did french colonial rule impact on indochina?

In the cities of indochina, the french took all the high government positions, while in smaller towns and villages, the natives who were loyal to the french and took orders from them, collected taxes, supervised the repair and construction of roads and enforced french laws. the natives however were paid less than the lowest paid french official.

The colonised people had little rights and were forced to follow french rules and regulations.

the french were proud of the way they spread their civilisation to indochina, however not all the inhabitants were happy with this imperialist reign and resistance to french rule continued during the entire colonial period.

The natives of indochina challenged french rule from the beginning. in vietnam, guerilla fighters fought to prevent the annexation of their land and the loss of their heritage.

Peasants, landowners and scholars protested against work patterns and land ownership, as well as attempted to preserve vietnamese national identity.

France responded to these protests with violence and attempted to abolish radical thoughts. this encouraged the growth of indochinese nationalism and opposition to french rule, as well as the emergence of communism in vietnam in the 1920s. in 1930, the indochinese communist party was formed under ho chi mihn and by 1945, the communist party had gained power within vietnam, in an attempt to fuel nationalism and eventually free and unify the nation.

Government official vien bay and General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, commander of French troops in Indochina, with Bao Dai, the former emperor of Vietnam.

Clockwise: Paul Doumer, Women harvesting opium, economy centred around the quarries

French impact on economics

Ho chi Minh

when they settled indochina, the french spent more money governing and expanding the region. in 1897, the french sent paul doumer, a prominent politican to govern the region. he placed heavy taxes on the peoplr, including a tax on opium, wine and the salt trade. if the vietnamese could not pay their taxes lost their houses, land and often became day labourers. The french also began the exportating of rice, as well as expanding the production of rice on lands they had taken over. as a result, vietnam became the 3rd largest rice exporter in the world. vietnam also became well known for its rubber plantations, where many peasants who had lost their houses and land would work in often horrific conditions where they suffered from dysentry, malaria and malnutrition. this also happened in coal mines which were opened by the frendh.

France controlled all of indochina's imports and exports, which provided significant quantities of coal, corn, rice, rubber, silk, tin and zinc, which were essential in establishing frances' overland trade with china.

A street in hanoi

impact of the french on everyday life

The french modernised the countries indochina, particularly vietnam, by building railroads which connected the major cities. the french also imported trucks and cars, paved the streets and built roads and bridges. in the larger towns and cities, the french brought electricity, as well as created pblic parks, wide streets and moern buildings, Vietname began to resemble paris. the french also installed their own legal and education systems into indochina

French influence can be seen in the architecture of the hanoi cathedral which was modelled after the cathedral of notre dame

impact of the French on Culture and religion

The french took great pride in their own culture. They believed that one of main reason for colonial expansion was to spread their civilisation to "inferior" native people. For the indochinese, this meant turning them into frenchmen. this included teaching the indochinese to speak french, converting the inhabitants to catholicism and teaching french history, literarture and law in schools. the indochinese were also taught maths, science and engineering in special private schools which were attended by 20% of the male population, so that they were well equipped to attend french universities in indochina or universities in france.

IMPACT OF THIS SETTLEMENT

Impact of French Imperialism in Indochina

the french benefitted greatly from this colonisation, they were able to strength their power, wealth and influence. the indochinese were deprived of these same benefits and suffered social, political and economic injustices

Background

by the end of wwii, France, although it had lost some of its dominance, was still a world power with a large empire. This included territories not just in Europe, but also in Africa, South America and Asia. In Asia, three countries formed the province of French Indochina- these were Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.