French Colonialism and Vietnam

Unlike many other European countries that sought out the territory in Southeast Asia merely for increasing their power through trade, the French first began interactions with the region as early as the 17th century. Alexandre De Rhodes began an expedition to the Southeast Asia region with the desire to expand the Jesuit missionaries throughout the region to further their belief. For many years until the 18th century, the Jesuits expanded and created many missionaries throughout the region. The 18th century had brought an astronomical expansion in the trading markets throughout Europe and Asia as all the European superpowers began colonizing all of Southeast Asia to further their trading “empires.” The French would also begin to participate, not at the same level as countries such as the Netherlands or Great Britain, but more in moderation. At that time the French believed to confine their participation in Southeast Asia to religious advancement and moderate trading. It wasn’t until the 19th century until things would begin to take a turn and the French would become a major participant in Vietnam’s history.

As the missionaries began to expand across the region, the Nguyen Dynasty who was in control of Vietnam began to view them as a threat. The Vietnamese under the rule of the Nguyen Dynasty began to burn down the missionaries and murder anyone who was associated with them. In order to assist and protect the Paris Foreign Missions Society who was in charge of the religious advancement in the region, Napoleon III ordered French Admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly to attack Da Nang on 1858. This was the first of many assaults the French would perform all over Vietnam, the next being the largest as a joint strike with t...

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...ence of 1957 would support the cession of foreign involvement in Vietnam. However the French would not relinquish any territorial claims until the electoral conference in 1956. It was there that the French finally gave up its remaining control in Vietnam, however, the United States and South Vietnam rejected the decisions made between the two conferences and thus began a new chapter in Vietnam’s history with American involvement and further wartime.

Works Cited

11. Smitha, Frank E. "French Colonialism and Vietnam to the Massacres of 1908." French Colonialism and Vietnam to the Massacres of 1908. Macro History, 1998. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.

12. "Vietnam's French Colonization through Western Colonization of South-East Asia." Vietnam's French Colonization Through Western Colonization Of South East Asia Timeline. Lightstone, 4 June 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.