Annam (French protectorate)

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Protectorate of Annam Protectorat d'Annam (French) Xứ bảo hộ Trung Kỳ (Vietnamese) 處保護中圻 (Chữ Hán)
1883–1945 1945–1948 (1950)
Top: Protectorate flag Bottom: Civil flag Coat of arms
Motto: "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"
Anthem: "La Marseillaise" Mahayana Buddhism Confucianism Taoism Catholicism Folk religion Hinduism Islam
Demonym(s)	Annamite
Government	Absolute monarchy under colonial administration
Resident Superior
• 1886–1888	Charles Dillon
• 1947–1949	Henri Pierre Joseph Marie Lebris
Emperor
• 1884–1885	Hàm Nghi
• 1889–1907	Thành Thái
• 1916–1925	Khải Định
• 1925–1945	Bảo Đại
Legislature	None ( Abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty	25 August 1945
• Creation of the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam	1948
• Ratification of the Élysée Accords by the French, formally recognising the end of the protectorate over Vietnam[1]	1950
Currency	Vietnamese cash, French Indochinese piastre
Preceded by Succeeded by 1883: Empire of Đại Nam 1945: Democratic Republic of Vietnam 1945: Empire of Vietnam 1948: Provisional Central Government of Vietnam
Today part of	Vietnam

Annam (

Etymology and pre-colonial usage

Annam means "Pacified South" in

The name has also been applied to the Annamite Range (French: la Chaîne Annamitique), a 1,100 km (680 mi) mountain range with a height ranging up to 2,958 metres (9,705 ft) that divides Vietnam and Laos. The Vietnamese language or its central dialects were called "Annamese", as in the seminal dictionary Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum.

An Nam is usually considered offensively demeaning to Vietnamese people, and mostly used in a sarcastic manner.^{[citation needed]} Trung Kỳ (also spelled Trung Kì) is used instead in formal contexts. At least one dictionary has translated Annamiticum as Việt.

Establishment

Towards the end of the 18th century a rebellion overthrew the

Annam comprised a sinuous strip of territory measuring between 750 and 800 miles (1,300 km) in length, with an approximate area of 52,000 square miles (130,000 km²).

The country consisted chiefly of a range of

• the cultivation of rice, which grows mainly in the small deltas along the coast and in some districts gives two crops a year.
• fishing, fish salting and the preparation of fish sauce^[5]

Silk spinning and weaving were carried on in what the

The Resident Superior, stationed at Huế, was the representative of France and the virtual ruler of the country. He presided over a council (Conseil de Protectorat) composed of the chiefs of the French services in Annam, together with two members of the "comat"; this body deliberated on questions of taxation affecting the budget of Annam and on local public works. A native governor (Tong Doc or Tuan Phu), assisted by a native staff, administered each of the provinces into which the country was divided, and native officials of lower rank governed the areas into which these provinces were subdivided. The governors took their orders from the imperial government, but they were under the eye of French residents.[5]

Native officials were appointed by the court, but the Resident Superior had power to annul an appointment. The mandarinate or official class was recruited from all ranks of the people by competitive examination. In the province of Tourane (Da Nang), a French tribunal alone exercised jurisdiction, but it administered native law where natives were concerned. Outside this territory the native tribunals survived.^[5]

From 1 January 1898, the French directly took over the right to collect all taxes in the protectorate of Annam and to allocate salaries to the Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty and its mandarins.^[9] In a notice dated 24 August 1898, the Resident-Superior of Annam wrote: "From now on, in the Kingdom of Annam there are no longer two governments, but only one" (meaning that the French government completely took over the administration).^[9]

Education

During the French period the Confucian-oriented education system was slowly being replaced with a localised version of the French education system.^[10][11] Prior to French domination teachers were held in high regard in the Confucian system and as such one of the traditional values of the Vietnamese people is the promotion of learning and to have high respect for educators.^[10][11] In this old system teachers were deemed to be "Only lower than the King" (Emperor) according to a 2010 report by the World Bank.^[10][11] In order to become a teacher in Imperial Vietnam, the mandarins would request of those that applied to become teachers to already have both high grades in competitive Confucian-style exams as well as excellent prior learning achievements.^[10][11] The 2010 report by the World Bank also noted that historically in Vietnam teachers would often be invited to reside together with well-to-do villagers so they would be able to tutor the children of these wealthy families as well as other children that lived in the village.^[10][11]

Immediately after the establishment of the colony of French Cochinchina the French established schools to teach the Vietnamese French and the French Vietnamese in order to train interpreters for the army.^{[citation needed]} In Cochinchina the French immediately began replacing the Nguyễn government apparatus with the French government apparatus and education formed an important part of this process.^{[citation needed]} This education and training system that was established in French Cochinchina initially met the two basic goals that the French had set up in helping to train both interpreters and secretaries for the French military and colonial government, while organising a new form education for the indigenous population that popularised French words and romanised the local languages, the latter was done to gradually replace Chinese characters.^{[citation needed]} Despite their efforts French words weren't easily adopted and Chinese script persisted as these goals only found limited success in French Cochinchina.^{[citation needed]}

Following the establishment of two protectorates over the Nguyễn dynasty the French expanded the education system they had set up in Cochinchina to the rest of Vietnam.^{[citation needed]} The new French-based education system was created in the hopes of training indigenous people that could serve French interests in the colonial system.^[10][11] During the colonial period the French built elementary schools, primary schools, primary colleges, secondary schools, and three universities across Vietnam, all these places of education had the French language as the main language that was used for instruction.^[10][11]

Education during the French protectorate period started at the

In the year 1906, France enacted its first educational reform in French Indochina to expand their influence over the local populations.^[citation needed] These reforms were aimed at controlling the spiritual lives of the people and limit the influence of the Confucian mandarins.^{[citation needed]} The traditional mandarins were seen as a threat to French influence as they used Confucianism to promote Vietnamese nationalism.^{[citation needed]} The 1906 reforms implemented French at every level.^{[citation needed]} In the 1906 the basic subjects for boys were reading and writing, mathematics, history, geography, morality, and accounting, while the basic subjects for girls were reading and writing, mathematics, morality, hygiene, and housework.^{[citation needed]} Vocational education was also established to train the indigenous population to work for French capitalists as skilled labourers.^{[citation needed]}

Because only a small number of schools were constructed across Vietnam access to these schools was extremely limited and as much as 95% of the Vietnamese population would remain

In the year 1917 clear educational guidelines were established for French Indochina and at the primary school and elementary school level Vietnamese classes were given with instructions written in Chữ Quốc Ngữ to replace Chinese characters.^{[citation needed]} The Quốc Ngữ alphabet was used to turn Vietnamese into "a vehicle used to transport French ideology and interests in Indochina".^{[citation needed]}

While apologists for the French colonial regime would claim that French rule led to vast improvements to Vietnamese education system.^[13] The official statistics that were compiled and kept by the French authorities in Indochina cast doubt on such assertions.^[13]

In the year 1939 no more than 15% of all school-age children had received any amount of education while still 80% of the general Vietnamese populace remained illiterate.^[13] This was in contrast to pre-colonial times when the majority of the Vietnamese people were in possession of at least some degree of literacy.^[13]

See also

• List of administrators of the French protectorate of Annam
• List of French possessions and colonies
• Names of Vietnam

References