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63-1410: The origin of Southern Vietnam ( Basse-Cochinchine in French, or Lower Cochinchina ) was the Kingdom of Funan (from 1st century CE until 6th century CE) and Khmer Empire (from 8th century CE to 17th century). Southern Vietnam was conquered by the Nguyễn force in the 17th and 18th centuries from the Khmer kingdom. The main ethnicities in Southern Vietnam are Kinh , Khmer and Chinese . Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Bình Dương Bình Phước Đồng Nai Ho Chi Minh City Tây Ninh An Giang Bến Tre Bạc Liêu Cà Mau Cần Thơ Đồng Tháp Hậu Giang Kiên Giang Long An Sóc Trăng Tiền Giang Trà Vinh Vĩnh Long ^† Municipality (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương) Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China ( / ˌ k oʊ tʃ ɪ n ˈ tʃ aɪ n ə / , UK also / ˌ k ɒ tʃ -/ ; Vietnamese : Đàng Trong (17th–18th centuries), Việt Nam (1802–1831), Đại Nam (1831–1862), Nam Kỳ (1862–1945) ; Khmer : កូសាំងស៊ីន , romanized :  Kosăngsin ; French : Cochinchine ; Chinese : 交趾支那 ; pinyin : Jiāozhǐ zhīnà )

126-531: A general uprising on September 23 . In the course of what became known as the Southern Resistance War (Nam Bộ kháng chiến) the Viet Minh defeated rival resistance forces but, by the end of 1945, had been pushed out of Saigon and major urban centres into the countryside. After 1945, the status of Cochinchina was a subject of discord between France and Ho Chi Minh 's Viet Minh . In 1946,

189-827: A colonial enterprise that had been in existence for 80 years." In August 1945, as they faced defeat, the Japanese belatedly created a puppet state, incorporating Cochinchina in the Empire of Vietnam under the nominal authority of the Bảo Đại . On 2 September 1945, in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and his new Front for the Independence of Vietnam, the Viet Minh , proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam . Already on 24 August

252-649: A consequence of the delivered report, he declared war against the Mạc dynasty . The nominal ruler of the Mạc died at the very time that the Chinese armies passed the frontiers of the kingdom in 1537, and his father, Mạc Đăng Dung (the real power in any case), hurried to submit to the Imperial will, and declared himself to be a vassal of China. The Chinese declared that both the Lê dynasty and

315-692: 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 1949, 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

378-572: A day). In the Mekong Delta fighting continued until the end of the year. After a brief cross-border confrontation with French forces in September 1940, Japanese forces occupied Tonkin. On 9 December 1940, an agreement was reached with the Vichy government whereby French sovereignty over its army and administrative affairs was confirmed, while Japanese forces were free to fight the war against

441-587: A problem because of its ill-defined legal status. The reunification was opposed by the French colonists, who were still influential in the Cochinchinese council, and by Southern Vietnamese autonomists: they delayed the process of reunification by arguing that Cochinchina was still legally a colony – as its new status as a Republic had never been ratified by the French National Assembly – and that any territorial change therefore required

504-617: A tenacious member of the Nguyễn noble family who fought for 25 years against the Tây Sơn and ultimately conquered the entire country in 1802. He ruled all of Vietnam under the name Gia Long. His son Minh Mạng reigned from 14 February 1820 until 20 January 1841 what was known to the British as Cochin China and to the Americans as hyphenated Cochin-China. In hopes of negotiating commercial treaties,

567-466: A trading community at Saigon , then called Prey Nakor, with the consent of the king of Cambodia, Chey Chettha II . Over the next 50 years, Vietnamese control slowly expanded in this area but only gradually as the Nguyễn were fighting a protracted civil war with the Trịnh lords in the north. With the end of the war with the Trịnh, the Nguyễn were able to devote more effort (and military force) to conquest of

630-621: A widespread insurrection . Fighting in the Mekong Delta continued until the end of the year. Cochinchina was occupied by Japan during World War II (1941–45). After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, the Communist-front Viet Minh had declared a provisional government (a Southern Administrative Committee) in Saigon. In Saigon, the violence of a French restoration assisted by British and surrendered Japanese troops, triggered

693-506: Is a historical exonym for part of Vietnam , depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam . Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer to the region south of the Gianh River . In the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was divided between the Trịnh lords to the north and the Nguyễn lords to the south. The two domains bordered each other on

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756-629: The First Indochina War and temporary partition of Vietnam agreed at Geneva , with French and American patronage Cochinchina was merged in 1955 with Annam south of the 17th parallel to form the Republic of Vietnam, " South Vietnam ", under the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem . [REDACTED] Media related to Cochinchina at Wikimedia Commons French Cochinchina " Chinh phụ ngâm khúc " (1946-1949) French Cochinchina (sometimes spelled Cochin-China ; French : Cochinchine française ; Vietnamese : Xứ thuộc địa Nam Kỳ , chữ Hán : 處屬地南圻 )

819-471: The Governor-General of French Indochina . As French Cochinchina was a directly ruled colony the French colonial apparatus operated at every level of government including at the provincial, district, and communal levels. Each Cochinchinese province was headed by French official with the title of "Chủ tỉnh" (主省) or "Tỉnh trưởng" (省長), these French officials had similar roles and responsibilities as

882-694: The Hitler-Stalin Pact of 23 August 1939, the local Communists were ordered by Moscow to return to direct confrontation with the French. Under the slogan "Land to the Tillers, Freedom for the workers and independence for Vietnam", in November 1940 the Party in Cochinchina instigated a widespread insurrection . The revolt did not penetrate Saigon (an attempted uprising in the city was quelled in

945-716: The Red River Delta in Tonkin and the coastal lowlands of Annam ". These migrants, despite Sûreté efforts at political screening, brought south the influence of the Communist Party of Nguyen Ai Quoc ( Ho Chi Minh ), and of other underground nationalist parties (the Tan Viet and Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng —VNQDD). At the same time, the local peasantry were driven into debt servitude, and into plantation labour, by land and poll taxes . By 1930, 80% of riceland

1008-752: The Son River . The northern section was called Tonkin by Europeans, and the southern part, Đàng Trong , was called Cochinchina by most Europeans and Quinam by the Dutch . Jean-Louis Taberd , in his 1838 map, called Tonkin as "Cocincina exterior" ( Đàng Ngoài ) and "Cochin China" as "Cocincina interior" ( Đàng Trong ). In this classic 1838 map, the Gianh River is north of "Lũy Sầy" (an incorrect pronunciation and spelling of "Lũy Thầy" ) demarcating "Cocincina exterior" (or "Outer Annam") from "Cocincina interior" (or "Inner Annam"). A small river immediately north of "Lũy Sầy", drawn but not annotated,

1071-559: The war between 1831 and 1834 , but were forced to relinquish these conquests in the war between 1841 and 1845 . For a series of complex reasons, the Second French Empire of Napoleon III , with the help of Spanish troops arriving from the Spanish East Indies , attacked Đà Nẵng (Tourane) of Nguyen Dynasty Vietnam in September 1858. Unable to occupy Đà Nẵng, the alliance moved to Lower Cochinchina in

1134-423: The 6 March Ho–Sainteny agreement , a local territorial assembly proclaimed an "Autonomous Republic". War between France and the Viet Minh followed (1946–54). Nguyễn Văn Thinh , the first head of its government, died in an apparent suicide in November of the same year. He was succeeded by Lê Văn Hoạch , a member of the caodaist sect. In 1947, Nguyễn Văn Xuân replaced Lê and renamed the "Provisional Government of

1197-752: The Allies from Indochinese soil. A large scale movement of troops did not occur until after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in late June 1941. With the Soviets tied down, the high command concluded that a " strike south " would solve the problems posed for Japan by the American-led oil embargo. To prepare for an invasion of the oil-rich Dutch East Indies , some 140,000 Japanese troops occupied southern French Indochina on 28 July 1941. French troops and

1260-662: The Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" as the "Provisional Government of Southern Vietnam", suggesting that his aim was to reunite the whole country. The next year, the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam was proclaimed with the merger of Annam and Tonkin : Xuân became its Prime minister and left office in Cochichina, where he was replaced by Trần Văn Hữu . Xuân and the French had agreed to reunite Vietnam, but Cochinchina posed

1323-458: The British in 1822 sent East India Company agent John Crawfurd , and the Americans in 1833 sent diplomatist Edmund Roberts , who returned in 1836. Neither envoy was fully cognizant of conditions within the country, and neither succeeded. Gia Long's successors (see the Nguyễn dynasty for details) repelled the Siamese from Cambodia and even annexed Phnom Penh and surrounding territory in

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1386-600: The Cambodians. During the late 18th century emerged the Tây Sơn Rebellion , coming out from the Nguyễn domain. In 1774, the Trịnh army captured the capital Phú Xuân of the Nguyễn realm, whose leaders then had to flee to Lower Cochinchina. The three brothers of Tây Sơn, former peasants, however, soon succeeded in conquering first the lands of the Nguyễn and then the lands of the Trịnh, briefly unifying Vietnam. Final unification of Vietnam came under Nguyễn Phúc Ánh ,

1449-744: The Chinese Jiāozhǐ , in Cantonese Kawci , pronounced Giao Chỉ in Vietnam. They appended the "China" specifier to disting uish the area from the city and the princely state of Cochin in India, their first headquarters in the Malabar Coast . As a result of a civil war that started in 1520, the Emperor of China sent a commission to study the political status of Annam in 1536. As

1512-636: The Communist Party, in the spirit of Franco-Soviet accord , had felt obliged to support. Brévié set the election results aside and wrote to Colonial Minister Georges Mandel : "the Trotskyists under the leadership of Ta Thu Thau, want to take advantage of a possible war in order to win total liberation." The Stalinists, on the other hand, are "following the position of the Communist Party in France" and "will thus be loyal if war breaks out." With

1575-565: The French authorities detained more than 12,000 political prisoners, of whom 88 were guillotined, and almost 7000 sentenced to prison or to hard labour in penal colonies. In 1936 the formation in France of the Popular Front government led by Leon Blum was accompanied by promises of colonial reform. In Cochinchina the new governor-general of Indochina Jules Brévié , sought to defuse the tense and expectant political situation by amnestying political prisoners, and by easing restrictions on

1638-710: The French colonial period and so Vietnamese, especially nationalists, prefer the term Nam Phần to refer to Southern Vietnam . In 1858, under the pretext of protecting the work of French Catholic missionaries, which the imperial Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty increasingly regarded as a political threat, French Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly , with the assistance of Spanish forces from the Philippines, attacked Tourane (present day Da Nang ) in Annam. Early in 1859 he followed this up with an attack on Saigon, but as in Tourane

1701-477: The French proclaimed Cochinchina an "autonomous republic", which was one of the causes of the First Indochina War . In 1948, Cochinchina was renamed as the Provisional Government of Southern Vietnam . It was merged the next year with the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam , and the State of Vietnam , with former emperor Bảo Đại as head of state, was then officially established. After

1764-416: The Mekong Delta fell under French control. In 1871 all the territories ceded to the French in southern Vietnam were incorporated as colony of Cochinchina, with Admiral Dupré as its first governor. As a result, the name "Cochinchina" came to refer exclusively to the southern third of Vietnam. (In Catholic ecclesiastical contexts Cochinchina still related to the older meaning of Đàng Trong until 1924 when

1827-520: The Mạc had a right to part of the lands and so they recognised the Lê rule in the southern part of Vietnam while at the same time recognising the Mạc rule in the northern part, which was called Tunquin (i.e. Tonkin). This was to be a feudatory state of China under the government of the Mạc. However, this arrangement did not last long. In 1592, Trịnh Tùng , leading the Royal (Trịnh) army, conquered nearly all of

1890-409: The Mạc territory and moved the Lê kings back to the original capital of Hanoi . The Mạc only held on to a tiny part of north Vietnam until 1667, when Trịnh Tạc conquered the last Mạc lands. In 1600 after returning from Tonkin, lord Nguyễn Hoàng built his own government in the two southern provinces of Thuận Hóa and Quảng Nam, today in central Vietnam. In 1623, lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên established

1953-738: The South. On 17 February 1859, they captured Saigon . Later on, the French defeated the Nguyễn army at the Battle of Ky Hoa in 1861. The Vietnamese government was forced to cede the three southern Vietnamese provinces of Biên Hòa , Gia Định and Định Tường to France in the June 1862 Treaty of Saigon . In 1867, French Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese to surrender three additional provinces, Châu Đốc , Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long . With these three additions all of southern Vietnam and

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2016-459: The Viet Minh had declared a provisional government (a Southern Administrative Committee) in Saigon. When, for the declared purpose of disarming the Japanese, the Viet-Minh accommodated the landing and strategic positioning of their wartime "democratic allies", the British, rival political groups turned out in force including the syncretic Hoa Hao and Cao Dai sects. On 7 and 8 September 1945, in

2079-429: The approval of the French parliament. Xuân issued a by-law reuniting Cochinchina with the rest of Vietnam, but it was overruled by the Cochinchinese council. Cochinchina remained separated from the rest of Vietnam for over a year, while former Emperor Bảo Đại – whom the French wanted to bring back to power as a political alternative to Ho Chi Minh – refused to return to Vietnam and take office as head of state until

2142-530: The civil administration were allowed to remain, albeit under Japanese supervision. While the Japanese government's policy of “maintaining peace” in Indochina limited interactions between the Japanese and Vietnamese, the contradiction of mutual coexistence between France, as the “missionary of civilisation,” and Japan, as the “liberator of Asia” from Western colonialism, could not be concealed. The tensions contributed to nationalist, anti-colonial feeling. Drawing on

2205-590: The colony became a confederal member of the Union of French Indochina . Unlike the protectorates of Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (northern Vietnam), Cochinchina was ruled directly by the French, both de jure and de facto , and was represented by a deputy in the National Assembly in Paris. Within Indochina, Cochinchina was the territory with the greatest European presence. At its height, in 1940, it

2268-765: The country was fully reunited. On 14 March 1949, the French National Assembly voted a law permitting the creation of a Territorial Assembly of Cochinchina. This new Cochinchinese parliament was elected on 10 April 1949, with the Vietnamese representatives then becoming a majority. On 23 April, the Territorial Assembly approved the merger of the Provisional Government of Southern Vietnam with the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam. The decision

2331-481: The course of what became known as the Southern Resistance War (Nam Bộ kháng chiến) the Viet Minh defeated rival resistance forces, executing their leading cadres, but, by the end of 1945, had been pushed out of Saigon and major urban centres into the countryside. On 1 June 1946, while the Viet Minh leadership was in France for negotiations, at the initiative of High Commissioner d'Argenlieu and in violation of

2394-460: The delta city of Cần Thơ the committee had to rely on the Jeunesse d'Avant-Garde/Thanh Niên Tiền Phong ( Vanguard Youth ), who had contributed to civil defence and policing under Japanese. They fired upon crowds demanding arms against the French. In Saigon, the violence of a French restoration assisted by British and surrendered Japanese troops, triggered a general uprising on 23 September. In

2457-451: The early periods of French rule in Cochinchina both French laws and Nguyễn dynasty laws applied and offenders of both faced trial in French courts. Initially French people were tried using French laws and Vietnamese people (then known as "Annamese people") were tried using the Nguyễn dynasty's laws alongside a new set of provisions that the French had introduced for their colonial subjects. The French courts applied their rulings based on

2520-645: The emperor Lê Thánh Tông , at the expense of Champa . The next two hundred years was a time of territorial consolidation and civil war with only gradual expansion southwards. In 1516, Portuguese traders sailing from Malacca landed in Da Nang , Đại Việt, and established a presence there. They named the area "Cochin-China", borrowing the first part from the Malay Kuchi , Kochi , Kuci , or Koci (unrelated to Indian or Japanese cities of Kochi ), which referred to all of Vietnam , and which in turn derived from

2583-404: The equivalent French "Công sứ" (公使) had in the provinces of the Nguyễn dynasty. The provinces of French Cochinchina was further divided into districts known as "Tong" headed by a "Chanh tong", which were further divided into communes known as "xã" (社), which were headed by a "Huong ca". Both the district and commune chiefs were salaried employees of the French colonial administration. During

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2646-559: The increased rubber demand after the First World War , the European plantations recruited, as indentured labour, workers from "the overcrowded villages of the Red River Delta in Tonkin and the coastal lowlands of Annam ". These migrants brought south the influence of the Communist Party of Nguyen Ai Quoc ( Ho Chi Minh ), and of other underground nationalist parties (the Tan Viet and Việt Nam Quốc Dân Đảng – VNQDD). At

2709-417: The left, however, was split by the lengthening shadow of the Moscow Trials and by growing protest over the failure of the Communist-supported Popular Front to deliver constitutional reform. Colonial Minister Marius Moutet , a Socialist commented that he had sought "a wide consultation with all elements of the popular [will]," but with "Trotskyist-Communists intervening in the villages to menace and intimidate

2772-434: The local Coadaist sect, the Japanese began to encourage nationalist groups in Cohinchina from 1943. Following the liberation of Paris in 1944, Japan increasingly suspected that the French authorities would assist Allied operations. In March 1945, a Japanese coup d'état in French Indochina took the Europeans into custody and imposed their direct authority. The coup had, in the words of diplomat Jean Sainteny , "wrecked

2835-410: The new export crop. These developments contributed to the 1916 Cochinchina uprising . Insurgents attempted to storm Saigon central prison, and maintained a prolonged resistance in the Mekong Delta. 51 were hanged. As they expanded in response to the increased rubber demand after the First World War , the European plantations recruited, as indentured labour, workers from "the overcrowded villages of

2898-409: The peasant part of the population, taking all authority from the public officials," the necessary "formula" had not been found. In April 1939 Cochinchina Council elections Tạ Thu Thâu led a "Workers' and Peasants' Slate" into victory over both the moderate Constitutionalists and the Communists' Democratic Front. Key to their success was popular opposition to the war taxes ("national defence levy") that

2961-409: The press, political parties, and trade unions. Saigon witnessed further unrest culminating in the summer of 1937 in general dock and transport strikes. In April of that year the Communist Party and their Trotskyist left opposition ran a common slate for the municipal elections with both their respective leaders Nguyễn Văn Tạo and Tạ Thu Thâu winning seats. The exceptional anti-colonial unity of

3024-516: The provinces of Biên Hòa , Gia Định and Định Tường along with the islands of Poulo Condore. In 1867, French Admiral Pierre de la Grandière forced the Vietnamese to surrender three additional provinces, Châu Đốc , Hà Tiên and Vĩnh Long . With these three additions all of southern Vietnam and the Mekong Delta fell under French control. In 1871 all the territories ceded to the French in southern Vietnam were incorporated as colony of Cochinchina, with Admiral Dupré as its first governor. In 1887,

3087-435: The region's farm ownership and rice productions. The French began rubber production in Cochinchina in 1907 seeking a share of the monopoly profits that the British were earning from their plantations in Malaya . Investment from metropolitan France was encouraged by large land grants allowing for rubber cultivation on an industrial scale. Virgin rainforests in eastern Cochinchina, the highly fertile 'red lands', were cleared for

3150-447: The same time, the local peasantry were driven into debt servitude, and into plantation labour, by land and poll taxes . Such conditions contributed to the 1916 Cochinchina uprising , and to widespread agrarian and labor unrest in 1930-32. In 1936 the formation in France of the Popular Front government led by Leon Blum was accompanied by promises of colonial reform. Failure to deliver, helped generate further unrest culminating in

3213-410: The south. First, the remaining Champa territories were taken; next, the areas around the Mekong river were placed under Vietnamese control. At least three wars were fought between the Nguyễn lords and the Cambodian kings in the period 1715 to 1770 with the Vietnamese gaining more territory with each war. The wars all involved the much more powerful Siamese kings who fought on behalf of their vassals,

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3276-435: The summer of 1937 in general dock and transport strikes. The left anti-colonial forces split between the Moscow-oriented Communist Party and their Trotskyist left opposition and, following the French declaration of war against Germany in September 1939 was suppressed. Under the slogan "Land to the Tillers, Freedom for the workers and independence for Vietnam", in November 1940 the Communist Party in Cochinchina instigated

3339-405: The three Apostolic Vicariates of Northern, Eastern, and Western Cochinchina were renamed to Apostolic Vicariates of Huế , Qui Nhơn , and Saïgon). In 1887, the colony became a confederal member of the Union of French Indochina . Unlike the protectorates of Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (northern Vietnam), Cochinchina was ruled directly by the French, both de jure and de facto , and

3402-481: The two different legal systems. After their consolidation of power the Nguyễn's laws were completely abolished in French Cochinchina and only French laws applied to everyone in the colony. On 6 January 1903, the Governor-General of French Indochina Jean Baptiste Paul Beau issued a decree that stated that offences for both French and indigenous laws would go to French courts and that offenders would only be tried against French Cochinchina's penal code. During this period

3465-434: Was a colony of French Indochina , encompassing the whole region of Lower Cochinchina or Southern Vietnam from 1862 to 1946. The French operated a plantation economy whose primary strategic product was rubber. After the end of Japanese occupation (1941–45) and the expulsion from Saigon of Communist -led nationalist Viet Minh in 1946, the territory was established by the French as the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina ,

3528-448: Was a constituent territory of French Indochina from 1887 until early 1945. So during the French colonial period, the label Cochinchina moved further south, and came to refer exclusively to the southernmost part of Vietnam. Beside the French colony of Cochinchina, the two other parts of Vietnam at the time were the French protectorates of Annam (Central Vietnam) and Tonkin (Northern Vietnam). South Vietnam (also called Nam Việt )

3591-412: Was estimated at 16,550 people, the vast majority living in Saigon. The French authorities dispossessed Vietnamese landowners and peasants to ensure European control of the expansion of rice and rubber production. By 1930, the French controlled more than a quarter of Cochinchina's farmlands. However, French-Vietnamese landlords remained intrinsically dominant in the Mekong Delta, which controlled most of

3654-486: Was in turn approved by the French National Assembly on 20 May, and the merger was effective on 4 June. The State of Vietnam was then proclaimed, with Bảo Đại as head of state. Following the French colonial invasion, Vietnamese mandarins withdrew from Cochinchina, forcing the French to adopt a policy of direct rule. The highest office in the government of French Cochinchina was the Governor of Cochinchina (統督南圻, Thống đốc Nam Kỳ ), who after 1887 reported directly to

3717-450: Was likely the Son River , a tributary to the Gianh River . Lower Cochinchina ( Basse-Cochinchine ), whose principal city is Saigon , is the newest territory of the Vietnamese people in the movement of Nam tiến (Southward expansion). This region was also the first part of Vietnam to be colonized by the French. Inaugurated as the French Cochinchina in 1862, this colonial administrative unit reached its full extent from 1867 and

3780-463: Was owned by 25% of landowners, and 57% of the rural population were landless peasants working on large estates. This combination led to widespread and recurring unrest and to strikes. Of these the most significant, leading to armed confrontations, was the refusal of work by labourers Phu Rieng Do , a sprawling 5,500 hectares Michelin rubber plantation in 1930. In response to rural unrest and to growing labour militancy in Saigon, between 1930 and 1932

3843-486: Was reorganized from the State of Vietnam after the Geneva Conference in 1954 by combining Lower Cochinchina with the southern part of Annam, the former protectorate. The conquest of the south of present-day Vietnam was a long process of territorial acquisition by the Vietnamese. It is called Nam tiến (Chinese characters: 南 進 , English meaning "South[ern] Advance") by Vietnamese historians. Vietnam (then known as Đại Việt ) greatly expanded its territory in 1470 under

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3906-426: Was represented by a deputy in the National Assembly in Paris. Within Indochina, Cochinchina was the territory with the greatest European presence. At its height, in 1940, it was estimated at 16,550 people, the vast majority living in Saigon. The French authorities dispossessed Vietnamese landowners and peasants to ensure European control of the expansion of rice and rubber production. As they expanded in response to

3969-439: Was unable to seize territory outside of the defensive perimeter of the city. The Vietnamese Siege of Saigon was not lifted until 1861 when additional French forces were able to advance across the Mekong Delta . The Vietnamese conceded in 1862 and signed the Treaty of Saigon . This ensured the free practice of the Catholic religion; opened the Mekong Delta (and three ports in the north, in Tonkin ) to trade; and ceded to France

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