^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Indochina (Cochinchina)

Indochina
Cochinchina
Annam, French Protectorate

See also:

Indochina

by Jaume Ollé

In the 1st through 5th centuries, most of southeast Asia was dominated by Funan, which included most of present Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and the Mekong delta region of Vietnam. Funan was supplanted around the 6th century by Chenla. Annam was a small coastal strip in north Vietnam and southern China, and south of it Champa controlled a coastal strip in central Vietnam.

Pressure from China pushed Annam southwards, and in turn Annam pushed Champa south to roughly modern central South Vietnam. Around the 12th century the Khmers emerged as a great empire controlling all the lower Mekong, leaving Sukhothai as a small version of modern Siam and Laos. The Khmer Empire collapsed after Siam seized Angkor in 1431.

The Khmers (Cambodia) thereafter found themselves pinched between their more powerful neighbours Siam and Annam. In the late 18th and early 19th century, much of Cambodia was partitioned between Siam and Annam. In 1844 what was left of Cambodia became a protectorate of Siam.

Around the 15th-16th century the Kingdom of Luang Prabang emerged along the upper and middle Mekong River. Vientiane and the middle Mekong broke away in 1707. Both Luang Prabang and Vientiane came under Siamese suzerainty in 1778. During most of its existence, Laos (Luang Prabang and Vientiane) remained disputed between Siam and Annam. Laos did not re-emerge as a distinct and separate entity until the French declared a protectorate over this disputed region in 1893.

Annam expanded further southward into Champa in the 16th-17th centuries, and into the Mekong Delta in the 18th century. Annam (with capital at Hue) seized Saigon in 1776. I'm not sure when, but north Annam and the Mekong delta region became separate entities as Tongking and Cochinchina respectively. Annam reunited the whole region (equivalent to modern Vietnam) with the creation of the Vietnamese Empire in 1802, but Cochin, Annam, and Tongking remained separate administrative regions.

France annexed Cochin in 1862 and 1867, with their capital at Saigon. Cambodia became a French protectorate in 1863, and Siam gave up its claims to the area in 1867. The French then made protectorates of Annam and Tongking in 1884, and united the whole lot into the Union Indochinoise in 1887 (with the capital still at Saigon). Laos joined this union when it became a French protectorate in 1893. After a confrontation with France, Siam ceded large chunks of its territory which France patched on to northern Cambodia and Laos in 1907.
T.F. Mills, 19 October 1997

Until the Khmer Cochin region (greater Mekong delta) was annexed by Annam (in 1698 and 1731), Annam was actually known as Cochin to Europeans. Cochin was a Portuguese corruption of "Ko-chen", whose meaning is unknown. -China was tacked on to Cochin to distinguish it from Cochin in India.

"Indochina" as a name was proposed for the region in the early 19th century by Scottish poet and orientalist John Leyden, because it lay between India and China -- and perhaps because it had in its early history been dominated by those superpowers.

Here are some more notes on the formation of the region:

Tonkin (dong kinh = eastern capital) was the original Annamese state (capital at Hanoi) in 939, and remained subject to China until independence in 1428. Annam (an nam = peace of the south) was dynastically divided into Tonkin, Annam and Cochin in the 16th century and reunited in 1802.
Funan and Champa were Indian states. Champa was founded in 192 and largely annexed by Annam in 1472.
After WWII Cochinchina was briefly re-formed as a French Overseas Territory (1946-49) before joining Vietnam. "Viet" was the name of an old Chinese principality. (So, South Vietnam was "south Viet south", but that wasn't actually its official name.)

T.F. Mills, 20 October 1997

The Vietnamese people were originally in the Red River delta of what is now Vietnam. During the period of 111 B.C. and 928 A.D. the Vietnamese people were ruled by the Chinese who had named the area An Nam or Annam, meaning peaceful south. Independence was regained after a long period of struggle during which tactics were developed that would be repeated in succeeding centuries. In 939 Ngo Quyen became the first king of an independent Vietnam, which he ruled from Co Loa. His dynasty was overthrown in 968 to be replaced by Dinh Tien Hoang, who renamed the country Dai Co Viet (Great Viet), although the Chinese recognized it as a state within the Chinese empire (Giao Chi prefecture). When Dinh died, Le Hoan seized the throne and finally expelled the Chinese. He was succeeded by Ly Thai To, who move the capital to Dai La (Hanoi) and founded the Ly dynasty, and the country's name was changed again in 1054 to Dai Viet.

During the Ly dynasty the Vietnamese people began to migrate south into what is now Central Vietnam, an area controlled by the Cham.

The Ly dynasty was replaced in 1225 by the Tran dynasty, which successfully repelled three Mongol invasions and took Champa in 1312. Although Champa would reemerge in 1326, it would finally be defeated by the Vietnamese in 1471 and the Chams would retreat into Khmer. In 1407, the Chinese, under petitions from landowners threatened by land reforms under the Tran dynasty, retook Vietnam and held it until 1428, when the Le Loi defeated the Chinese army and established the Le dynasty which would rule until 1788.

The Le dynasty itself would grow weak and in 1527 the Mac family seized the throne, resulting in the Nguyen family doing the same in the south, which resulted in a partition of the country until 1802. Each family (and the Trinh family which followed) claimed the title of chua, or lord (or prince), ruling on behalf of the king. During this period, the Nguyen family conquered the Mekong region inhabited by the Khmer. Following a rebellion whereby the country was divided into three parts ruled by the three Nguyen brothers who had successfully defeated the Trinh family. The Le emperor fled to China and while the Chinese recognized him as King of Amman, they were defeated by Quang Trung (Nguyen Hue) who proclaimed himself emperor. In 1802, a period of unrest that began with the death of Quang (d. 1792) resulted in the reunification of Vietnam under the Nguyen dynasty.

In 1834, the Nguyen dynasty attempted to take Cambodia with the result that Cambodia was administered as a protectorate of both Vietnam and Siam. After the death of Viceroy Le Van Duyet in 1832, the emperor began a program of suppressing Christianity, which over time would lead to the French becoming involved in the region following even stricter sanctions under later emperors. In 1858, the French took Tourane (Da Nang) and and Gia Dinh (Saigon) in 1959. In 1861 provinces surrounding Saigon were captured and in the Treaty of Saigon (1862), Emperor Tu Duc ceded the provinces surrounding Saigon to the French, the region being renamed Cochinchina. Tu Duc's attempt to crush a Christian rebellion in Bac Bo (Tonkin) led to French getting further involved in storming Hanoi and the formal annexation of Cochinchina in 1874. In 1882, the French were forced to withdraw from Tonkin, but in 1883 they took Hue and a Treaty of Protectorate was signed establishing a protectorate over the northern and central regions of Vietnam, which the French would name Tonkin and Annam. It should be noted that the name of Annam appears not to have been well received by the Vietnamese as it was a reminder of the 1,000 years of Chinese occupation. (which is one of the reasons for such a long and convoluted history, especially as some material is hinted at or minimally addressed at FOTW, but brings into focus what is said there).
Phil Nelson, 1 September 2003

Cochinchina

by Jorge Candeias

The Cochinchinese flag that shown is a late XIXth century flag. As you know, the Indochinese Union was made of 5 entities: 1 colony (Cochinchina) and 4 protectorates (Tonkin, Annam and Paracel Islands, Cambodia, Laos). Is this flag the official flag of the Colony of Cochinchina? Do you have any info about its status? and last question: as there are known flags for Cochinchina, Annam, Cambodia and Laos, there must have been one for Tonkin. Does anyone know something about a Tonkinese flag during French rule?
Pierre Gay, 13 December 1998

The Cochinchina flag was in fact an ensign. Seems that was an older ensign of the Anam Emperors: yellow (as China) with serrated ribbon. The serrated ribbon seems to be wrong interpreted from far observation or descriptions, and converted in many triangles (they are reported somewhat as grey-blue, green, maroon, and black; and now in blue). But after the establishment of the protectorate the ensign was little (or never) used in Cochinchina, and disappeared also in Anam before c. 1885. Afterwards, there was no flag for Cochinchina colony (like no flag for French colonies). Tonkin was a vice-kingdom of Anam. Perhaps the viceroy used his own standard but that is not know for me. I believe that no specific flag for Tonkin was never reported.
Jaume Ollé, 13 December 1998

Cochinchina originally appears to have referred to the area between India and China, not to a specific location. A flag similar to the Cochinchina flag (it appears to have a dragon in the center) is depicted in B-W picture engraving on a University of Richmond website dealing with Vietnam in particular about the Trung sisters who led a rebellion against the Chinese between 39-40 AD. However given the fact that the script on the image is the current script and not the Chinese-style script, it is unlikely to verify the flag would have been used during the Trung rebellion, rather a depiction using a more modern symbol - and the Trung sisters would be used as inspiration in the battles for independence against the French and the fight against the Americans. Unfortunately no date is given for the origin of the picture.
Phil Nelson, 1 September 2003

Annam, French Protectorate

by Jaume Ollé

The Empire of Anam was under French protection since 1886. I've seen an old state flag, that was yellow with two "eastern" (chinese or annamite) write-characters in black. After 1886 the yellow flag included the french tricolor in the canton. The national flag was three horizontal strips yellow, red, and yellow (Proportion 1:2:1).
Jaume Ollé - 23 September 1997 Fahnen / Flaggen