COCHINCHINA
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MARCEL BERNANOISE1
French Indochina or the Indochinese Union consists of five countries: Tonkin, Annam [An Nam], Cochinchina, Cambodia, and Laos.
Cochinchina, a French colony – while the other countries of the Union are protectorates- forms the southern tip of our possession of Extreme Asia, covering 56,965 km2 of the 720,000 km2 of the total area of Indochina, with 3,800,000 inhabitants, out of the 19 million of its total population.
Cochinchina, bounded to the north by Cambodia and Annam, and to the east and west by the sea, is formed by the southern basin and delta of the Mekong River, a vast alluvial plain dominated on one side by the last foothills of Cambodia marking the Ha Tien [Hà Tiên] Hill (Nui Sam, 215m) and the island of Phu Quoc [Phú Quốc], and on the other by the southern tip of the Annamite chain which ends at Nui Ba Den [Núi Bà Đen], or Tay Ninh [Tây Ninh] Mountain (966m), to the mountain of Ba Ria [Bà Rịa] (850m) and to the islets of Cape St. Jacques.
The Mekong [Mê Kông] (4,200 km) is not obstructed but flows freely, a real arm of the sea, fertilized by a constant influx of silt in a country that floods annually, while it prolongs its delta indefinitely through the lands caught in its waves as the sea drives it toward the shore.
The main characteristic of the climate is that it is subject to the monsoon pattern, determining two very clear seasons: the rainy season from April to November and the dry season from December to March. Despite these monsoons, the climate is the same: the temperature ranges from 25 to 30 from one end of the year to the next.
The geographical location of Cochinchina – an intersection of numerous roads leading to the reconciliation of different peoples – its past of invasions coming from all sides and successive occupations – explain the interbreeding of the races and variety of its population.
However, the Annamite is still the predominant race (87,5%) (…). Then, during internal struggles, France appeared, in 1788, to establish the Nguyen [Nguyễn] dynasty with Emperor Gia Long [Gia Long]. In order to avenge the murder of two Spanish missionaries, and to curtail Thu Duc [Thủ Đức], a mixed Franco-Spanish fleet had to seize Tourans on one hand, and Saigon on the other (18 February 1859).
Subsequently, France affixed the eastern provinces (Gia Dinh, Bien Hoa, My Tho, [Gia Định, Biên Hoà, Mỹ Tho] 1862) to the western provinces (Vinh Long, Chau Doc, Ha Tien, [Vĩnh Long, Châu Đốc, Hà Tiên] 1863).
Administrative Organization
The first governors of Cochin-China were admirals who laid the foundations of an administrative system retaining, under the superintendence of the inspectors of indigenous affairs, the indigenous notables with their rank and hierarchy: phu [phủ], huyen [huyện], Chief and Deputy Head of Canton, and village notables. In 1879 the civil governors replaced the admirals, first under the title of lieutenant governor, then under the name of the governor of Cochin-China.
This governor is placed under the high authority of Governor – General of Indochina, a representative of the French Republic.
The government of Cochinchina, as well as the departments of major public services, are in Saigon [Sài Gòn], the capital of Cochinchina. The villages, which are the basis of the administrative organization, are directed by the notables who manage the municipal budget.
The villages grouped in a canton are administered by a Chief and the Deputy Head of Canton. The cantons are arranged to form a province, having at its head an administrator, a provincial chief, and a representative of the governor of Cochinchina. Some important cantons are organized into administrative districts run by Doc Phu [Đốc Phủ], Quan Phu [Quận Phủ], Quan Huyen [Quận Huyện], or even French civil servants. The administrative districts are attached to a province. Public services are represented in various provinces: post, public works, customs, forest service, education, medical assistance, and the Treasure.
The Economy of Cochinchina
From the information provided by the statistics, one number is enough to situate the economic and financial power of Cochinchina in relation to that of the other countries of the Union: Cochinchina represents 75% of total Indochinese special trade.
The richness of Cochinchina is due to the soil, which is easy to work, with prodigious fertility and superior yield, although only permitting one annual harvest (while Tonkin and Northern Annam have two crops per year).
The cultivation of rice prevails over all others: fifteen provinces out of twenty-two have no other resources. (Cochinchina supplies 8/10 of the exports of rice from French Indochina, which amounts to almost two million tons).
Other crops in these low areas are those of maize, soybeans, potatoes, sugarcane, groundnuts, coconut (producing coconut oil), whose remunerative crops are increasing every year in the provinces of Gia Dinh [Gia Định] and My Tho [Mỹ Tho]. The eastern provinces, which are higher and wooded, with red or gray lands favorable to the cultivation of hevea, a rubber tree whose production exceeds 3,000 tons per year.
In these highlands, close to the forest plantations (bamboos in Thu Dau Mot [Thủ Đầu Một] and Tay Ninh [Tây Ninh], and the great forest in Bien Hoa [Biên Hoà]), there are interesting crops such as the coffee tree and the lacquer tree.
Excellent cultivators, active, patient and industrious, the Annamites generally practice the cultivation of land according to the millennial tradition. It is the buffalo, which is par excellence and over the whole extent of the country, the plowing animal of the rice field.
But the French administration wanted to make the natives benefit from the rational and modern methods of scientific research by creating agricultural schools, a rice selection laboratory in Saigon, experimentation fields and seed gardens (Can Tho [Cần Thơ], Soc Trang [Sóc Trăng], and Ong Yem).
The cultivation is spreading day by day: the tractors are used for plowing, as well as for drying.
The main industry of Cochinchina is the rice mill which uses mechanical dehulling of the paddy grain to obtain the rice. Large rice mills operate at Cho Lon [Chợ Lớn], a Chinese town about 6 km away of Saigon [Sài Gòn]. But nowadays other rice mills, somewhat significant, are established all over Cochinchina.
Other industries include manufactured rubber from copra oil mills, sugar mills, brick mills, sawmills, dyers, and weavers. An admirable road and river network serve Cochinchina to its most remote provinces.
The roads covered by innumerable cars, ox carts, horse-drawn carriages, two-wheel carriages, push-pulls, a progression of pedestrians, generally bearing loads, are classified as colonial roads, provincial roads, and communal roads. Colonial roads of general interest are the most important: N.1 or Mandarin road from the border of Siam to the Nam Quan [Nam Quan] Border Gate (Battambang to Dong Dang [Đồng Đăng]); road N. 15 from Saigon to Cape St. Jacques; road N. 16, from Saigon [Sài Gòn] to Ca Mau [Cà Mau].
BAN TU THU
12 /2019
NOTE:
1: Marcel Georges Bernanoise (1884-1952) – Painter, was born in Valenciennes – the northernmost region of France. Summary of life and career:
+ 1905-1920: Working in Indochina and in charge of mission to the Governor of Indochina;
+ 1910: Teacher at Far East School of France;
+ 1913: Studying indigenous arts and publishing a number of scholarly articles;
+ 1920: He returned to France and organized art exhibitions in Nancy (1928), Paris (1929) – landscape paintings about Lorraine, Pyrenees, Paris, Midi, Villefranche-sur-mer, Saint-Tropez, Ytalia, as well as some souvenirs from the Far East;
+ 1922: Publishing books on Decorative Arts in Tonkin, Indochina;
+ 1925: Won a grand prize at the Colonial Exhibition in Marseille, and collaborated with the architect of Pavillon de l’Indochine to create a set of interior items;
+ 1952: Dies at age 68 and leaves a large number of paintings and photographs;
+ 2017: His painting workshop was successfully launched by his descendants.
◊ Source: LA COCHINCHINE – Marcel Bernanoise – Hong Duc [Hồng Đức] Publishers, Hanoi, 2018.
◊ Bold and italicized Vietnamese words are enclosed inside quotation marks – set by Ban Tu Thu.
SEE MORE:
◊ CHOLON – La Cochinchine – Part 1
◊ CHOLON – La Cochinchine – Part 2
◊ SAIGON – La Cochinchine
◊ BIEN HOA – La Cochinchine
◊ THU DAU MOT – La Cochinchine