Mrs. Meckes
World Civilization
February 24, 2014
The French first became interested in Vietnam to
convert the people to Catholicism, the religion of
France.
The French called the countries of Vietnam, Laos,
and Cambodia Indochina and this area was a
colony of France from the late 1800’s to 1954.
It took over 350 years for the French to gradually take
control of Indochina.
Before the French came to Indochina, Cambodia and
Laos had been independent countries while Vietnam only
became independent after it overthrew Chinese rule.
Napoleon ordered the French military to invade southern
Vietnam when the Church leadership and capitalists wanted
a bigger share of the overseas market.
The French controlled all the important government positions
and tried to force their culture on the people there also.
Rice, coffee, tea, and rubber were raw materials that French
merchants wanted from this area, and the French government
wanted the strategic presence in Southeast Asia.
Positive effects of French Indochina and
imperialism:
• Economic progress benefitted the French
• A small wealthy class of Vietnamese also benefitted
economically.
• Irrigation works primarily in the Mekong delta helped
increase land for growing rice
• Improvements in medical care, transportation,
communications, and education.
Negative effects of French Indochina and
imperialism:
• Most native people didn’t benefit economically from French
imperialism
• Rice consumption decreased and was not substituted
• Exploitation of the peasantry
• Absence of civil liberties for the native peoples
• Lack of Vietnamese participation in government
1. What countries are French Indochina?
2. What reasons did the French want to control
Indochina?
3. What were the positive effects of French imperialism
in Indochina?
4. What were the negative effects of French imperialism in
Indochina?
5. When did the French leave Indochina?
Sources:
Modern World History
www.digitalhistory.uh.edu
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628349/Vietnam/52739/Effects-of-Frenchcolonial-rule