Essay On French Rule Of Indochina
Main Features of French Rule in Indochina
By 1893 France had colonised all of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and renamed it the French Indochinese Union. The French were oppressive and self-interested. They ran Indochina as a profit making venture and tried to ensure it paid for its own administration. Colonial governor Paul Doumer made the people pay for the cost of their own rule by increasing customs duties and direct taxes. He created official monopoly on salt, alcohol, and opium. Doumer concentrated on building railways and lighthouses while denying the people development and education. Before French rule 80 per cent of Vietnamese were literate in Chinese but by the end of 1940 only 20 per cent of boys were at school and a much smaller per cent of girls. …show more content…
They paid the people minimal wages and forced them to work in horrific conditions. Vietnamese land was turned over to the production of rice, rubber, opium, spices and other commodities to export for French profit. The French altered traditional land ownership and the Vietnamese peasants had to take out loans with the interest rate of up to 70 per cent to pay the rent of there land and homes. The French also introduced a currency system which was poorly understood and not trusted by the peasants who had always used bartering.
With the change in land ownership came a massive change in Indochinese social structure. This destroyed village life which was the main Indochinese social unit. The village was the centre of their religious, cultural and economic lives and was the most important administrative unit in Vietnam. This destruction of the social system along with land ownership changes resulted in a small elite group of Vietnamese land owners who collaborated with the French and left the 90% of the population of the peasants oppressed and in
By 1893 France had colonised all of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and renamed it the French Indochinese Union. The French were oppressive and self-interested. They ran Indochina as a profit making venture and tried to ensure it paid for its own administration. Colonial governor Paul Doumer made the people pay for the cost of their own rule by increasing customs duties and direct taxes. He created official monopoly on salt, alcohol, and opium. Doumer concentrated on building railways and lighthouses while denying the people development and education. Before French rule 80 per cent of Vietnamese were literate in Chinese but by the end of 1940 only 20 per cent of boys were at school and a much smaller per cent of girls. …show more content…
They paid the people minimal wages and forced them to work in horrific conditions. Vietnamese land was turned over to the production of rice, rubber, opium, spices and other commodities to export for French profit. The French altered traditional land ownership and the Vietnamese peasants had to take out loans with the interest rate of up to 70 per cent to pay the rent of there land and homes. The French also introduced a currency system which was poorly understood and not trusted by the peasants who had always used bartering.
With the change in land ownership came a massive change in Indochinese social structure. This destroyed village life which was the main Indochinese social unit. The village was the centre of their religious, cultural and economic lives and was the most important administrative unit in Vietnam. This destruction of the social system along with land ownership changes resulted in a small elite group of Vietnamese land owners who collaborated with the French and left the 90% of the population of the peasants oppressed and in