-------------------------------------------------
Colonial Society in Indochina

Imperialism can be defined as a country’s policy of gaining new territories and establishing its domination over the political, economic, and social life of another territory or country. This policy was the main trend in global politics in the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. The countries principally engaged in such expansionism were the major European powers: France, Great Britain, Germany, Russia and Italy. In 1887, France took control of three Asian regions, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos to form what was known as Indochina. French Indochina was a multi-ethnic society, thanks to the variety of French annexed territories and the attempted unification of these peoples of such different cultures. Some were marked with the imprint of Chinese or Indian civilization and others by the perpetuation of an early Indochinese foundation. Although modern historiography insists on the ephemeral and artificial nature of French colonization, it can be seen that France’s desire to expand led to the union of occidental and Asian traditions that resulted in many ways in a cultural transformation in each of the regions of Indochina.
The number of French in Indochina evolved progressively in proportion to the expansion of its colonial territory, the growth of its political control, and the opening of economic activity. These French were concentrated in the two extremities of the Peninsula in urban areas such as Saigon and Hanoi. As soon as the conquest was consolidated, central areas started to evolve and these cities became the main arenas of colonial settlement. This migration of the French to the bigger cities of Indochina triggered an expansion of the urban world. The French government wished that the growth of population would ensure a control of the nationalistic tendencies of the indigenous. Although the wish of rapid demographic growth was not met, the expansion was big