List of governors of Cochinchina
Cochinchina was a French colony from 1862/64 to 1949 and formed the southernmost part of French Indochina from 1887 .
The following list of the governors of Cochinchina gives all the heads of the colonial administration and representatives of France at the time. The seat of the governors was Saigon .
list
Note: The note "unclear" means that the information in the literature contradicts one another.
Military Governors of the Navy
The French navy conquered the southern part of Vietnam in 1858-62 in the Cochinchina campaign against the Nguyon dynasty . In June 1862, Emperor Tự diec had to recognize the cession of three provinces in the Treaty of Saigon , from which the colony of Cochinchina was organized in 1864. In 1867 the French also annexed the remaining three southern provinces, which was confirmed in a second treaty in 1874.
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| February 1859 - October 1859 | Charles Rigault de Genouilly | Commander of the Expeditionary Fleet; Conquest of Saigon, previously in Tourane since September 1858 |
| March 1859 - March 1860 | Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry | Representation for Genouilly, then interim |
| April 1860 - February 1861 | Théogène François Page | Commander of the expedition fleet, previously in Tourane since October 1859 |
| April 1860 - February 1861 | Joseph Hyacinthe Louis Jules d'Ariès | Representation for Page |
| February 1861 - November 1861 | Léonard Victor Charner | |
| November 1861 - October 1863 | Louis Adolphe Bonard | |
| October 1863 - April 1868 | Pierre-Paul de La Grandière | until the end of November 1863 initially on an interim basis |
| April 1865 - November 1865 | Pierre-Gustave Roze | Representation for La Grandière |
| April 1868 - December 1869 | Marie Gustave Hector Ohier | |
| December 1869 - January 1870 | Joseph Faron | interim |
| January 1870 - April 1871 | René de Cornulier | |
| April 1871 - March 1874 | Marie Jules Dupré | |
| March 1872 - December 1872 | Charles Joseph Basher d'Arbaud | Representation for Dupré |
| March 1874 - November 1874 | Jules François Émile Krantz | interim |
| December 1874 - October 1877 | Victor-Auguste Baron de Duperré | |
| February 1876 - July 1876 | Henri Bossant | Representation for Duperré |
| October 1877 - July 1879 | Louis Charles Lafont |
Civilian governors of the independent colony of Cochinchina
In 1879 the management of the colony was transferred to a civil administration. A colonial council was also created in 1880 .
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| July 1879 - November 1882 | Charles Le Myre de Vilers | |
| March 1881 - October 1881 | Arthur de Trentinian | Representation for De Vilers |
| November 1882 - July 1885 | Charles Thomson | |
| July 1885 - June 1886 | Charles Auguste Frédéric Bégin | |
| June 1886 - October 1887 | Ange Michel Filippini | |
| October 1887 - November 1887 | Marie Jacques Noël Pardon | interim |
| November 1887 | Jules Georges Piquet | interim |
Vice Governors ( lieutenants governor ) within French Indochina
In 1887, the protectorates Annam and Tonkin , which had been subject to shortly before , the protectorate of Cambodia, which had existed since the 1860s, and the colony of Cochinchina, became the Indochinoise Union . Indochina was administered by a governor general who initially also had his seat in Saigon. A lieutenant governor was responsible for the affairs of Cochinchina .
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| November 1887 - January 1888 | Ernest Constans | at the same time governor general of Indochina |
| January 1888 - August 1888 | Eugène Auguste Navelle | |
| Office abolished. Head of Local Authorities: Paul Louis Maxime Céloron de Blainville | ||
| May 1889 - August 1889 | Augustin Julien Fourès | interim |
| August 1889 - September 1892 | Henri Danel | |
| September 1892 - July 1895 | Augustin Julien Fourès | |
| March 1894 - September 1894 | Eugène Auguste Navelle | unclear, representation for Fourès |
| August 1895 - May 1897 | Alexandre Antoine Étienne Gustave Ducos | |
| March 1896 - November 1896 | Gustave Guillaume Sandret | Representation for Ducos |
| May 1897 - January 1898 | Ange Eugène Nicolai | interim |
| January 1898 - July 1901 | Édouard Picanon | |
| April 1899 - November 1900 | Ferdinand Georges Jules Bocquet | unclear, probably a substitute for Picanon |
| August 1901 - September 1901 | Louis Paul Luce | interim |
| September 1901 - September 1902 | Henri Félix de Lamothe | |
| October 1902 - March 1906 | François Pierre Rodier | |
| March 1906 - February 1907 | Olivier Charles Arthur de Lalande de Calan | Representation for Rodier |
| February 1907 - June 1907 | François Pierre Rodier | not clear |
| June 1907 - January 1909 | Louis Alphonse Bonhoure | |
| February 1908 - September 1908 | Ernest Outrey | unclear, representation for Bonhoure |
| January 1909 - June 1909 | Ernest Outrey | unclear, interim |
| June 1909 - December 1911 | Maurice Gourbeil | |
Governors within French Indochina
After the seat of the governor general had been relocated to Hanoi in 1902 , the head of Cochinchina received the title of full governor again from December 1911.
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| December 1911 - April 1916 | Maurice Gourbeil | |
| March 1912 - December 1912 | Leon Destenay | not clear |
| 1916 | Louis Félix Marie Édouard Rivet | unclear, interim |
| 1916/17 - November 1920 | Maurice Joseph Le Gallen | already in office in 1914 (unclear) |
| June 1918 - February 1920 | Georges Maspero | Representation for Le Gallen |
| November 1920 - February 1922 | Paul Achille Michel Quesnel | interim |
| February 1922-1926 | Maurice Cognacq | |
| May 1924 - December 1924 | Auguste Tholance | Representation for Cognacq |
| April 1926 - December 1926 | Aristide Eugène Le Fol | interim |
| December 1926 - January 1929 | Paul Blanchard de la Brosse | |
| January 1929 - March 1929 | Eutrope or Tholance | unclear, interim |
| March 1929-1934 | Jean Félix Krautheimer | |
| November 1931 - November 1932 | Eugene Henri Eutrope | Representation for Krautheimer |
| May 1934-1939 | Pierre André Michel Pagès | |
| March 1936 - October 1936 | Henri Georges Rivoal | Representation for Pagès |
| May 1939-1940 | René Veber | |
| November 1940 - 1942/43 | Henri Georges Rivoal | |
| March 1943 - March 1945 | Ernest Thimothée Hoeffel | overthrown by the Japanese |
End of the Second World War
In September 1940 the Japanese army occupied Indochina, but initially left the Vichy- loyal colonial administration in office. As a result of the liberation of France in 1944, the Japanese overthrew the French on March 9, 1945 and created a puppet state with the Empire of Vietnam . However, Cochinchina was not handed over to the Imperial Vietnamese government until August. In the same month, the Việt Minh took control as a result of the August Revolution .
Shortly before, the victorious powers had decided at the Potsdam Conference to divide Indochina into two zones of occupation. Cochinchina was completely in the British zone south of the 16th parallel. British-Indian troops then occupied the colony in September.
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| March 1945 - August 1945 | Minoda Fujio | Japan |
| August 1945 | Nguyễn Văn Sâm | Empire of Vietnam |
| August 1945 - September 1945 | Trần Văn Giàu | Việt Minh |
| September 1945 - January 1946 | Douglas Gracey | Indian Army |
Commissaires de la République and Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina
In August 1945 a representative of the provisional De Gaulle government landed in Vietnam by parachute. After the British withdrew, the French took control again in January 1946. Since the colonies had been promised autonomy (but not independence) at the Brazzaville Conference , the highest representatives of France now carried the title of Commissaire de la République . Since the outbreak of the Indochina War , all officials in personal union were also military commanders of the colony.
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| August 1945-1947 | Jean Cédile | Military Commander: Georges Nyo |
| May 1947 - August 1947 | Robert Dufour | interim |
| August 1947 - November 1949 | Pierre Boyer de Latour du Moulin | at the same time military commander |
| November 1949 - July 1951 | Charles Chanson | also military commander, was assassinated |
| August 1951 - September 1951 | Raoul Salan | interim |
| September 1951 - April 1953 | Paul Louis Bondis | at the same time military commander |
At the same time, a provisional Vietnamese civil government was created with the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina . Their presidents were:
| Term of office | Surname | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| June 1946 - November 1946 | Nguyễn Văn Thinh | committed suicide in office |
| November 1946 - December 1946 | Nguyễn Văn Xuân | |
| December 1946 - October 1947 | Lê Văn Hoạch | |
| October 1947 - May 1948 | Nguyễn Văn Xuân | second term, renaming of Cochinchina in South Vietnam |
In 1948 the "Autonomous Republic" became the provisional central government of Vietnam . This was once again in 1949 by the French, the state power transfer, making it the foundation of the State of Vietnam came. Cochinchina, which was now officially called South Vietnam ( Nam Việt or Nam Phần instead of Nam Kỳ ), was attached to this state and administered by a Vietnamese governor. Well-known governors were Trần Văn Hữu (1949/50) and Thái Lập Thành (1950/51).
With the end of the Indochina War and the partition of Vietnam as a result of the Indochina Conference , the area finally ceased to exist as an administrative unit.
literature
- Justin Corfield: Historical Dictionary of Ho Chi Minh City , Anthem Press, London 2014, pp. 342–346 (Appendix 1: French Officials , Appendix 2: Vietnamese Government )
Web links
- worldstatesmen.org: French-Cochinchina (accessed September 2017)