French Imperialism: The French In Indochina

The French in Indochina

Creation
Before French colonization, Indochina was broken up into three independent, separate countries in Asia. They were known as the Khmer Empire (Cambodia), the Laotian Kingdom (Laos), and Vietnam. The Vietnamese were ruled by emperors from neighboring China for hundreds of years before the French took over. The emperors had nominal rule however. One of the old social facts of pre-Indochina included the emperors collecting revenue. But the taxes were extremely modest. According to an old Vietnamese saying, “the edicts of the emperor stop at the edge of the village.” (Ladenburg, p.1) The Vietnamese overthrew their Chinese emperors and became independent because of another social fact—their tradition
Pre-Indochina was looked at by the French as “under-developed,” so they claimed that they would introduce modern political ideas, social reforms, industrial methods, new technologies, and anything else pre-Indochina was lacking. The French also helped further the Vietnamese’s education. They taught the Vietnamese math, science, engineering, and of course their language, French. The smartest students were able to go to colleges in Indochina or the university in France, if they were able to afford it.
Pre-Indochina did really need all of these things, and without European intervention, these places would’ve remained backwards, uncivilized, and impoverished. (Llewellyn, alpha history) Though the French helped them gain these human social needs, they had ulterior motives. “The real motive for French colonialism was profit and economic exploitation. French imperialism was driven by the demand for resources, raw materials and cheap labor. The development of colonized nations was scarcely considered, except where it might benefit French interests.” (Llewellyn, alpha
Before the French, the emperors from China did not allow rice to be sold outside of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This all changed when the French had the idea of exporting rice to become even wealthier. The French took over the land of those who failed to pay their taxes and used that land to harvest the rice. They hired the farmers, most likely against their own will, that lived on that land to plant and harvest the rice. The increase in rice production caused Vietnam to become the third largest rice exporting country in the world. Rubber plantations also became big in Vietnam because of the French. The French’s famous Michelin tire company bought up thousands of acres of land in Vietnam and the company is still in production to this day, making millions. But, without the Vietnamese’s rubber, the French would’ve never gained this