Sedang
| Kingdom of Sedang Royaume des Sedangs |
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| Official language | Mon-Khmer and French | ||||||
| Capital | Kon Gung | ||||||
| Form of government | monarchy | ||||||
| Head of state | King Marie I. | ||||||
| Residents | 25,000 | ||||||
| Existence period | 1888-1890 | ||||||
| currency | Math and Mouk | ||||||
The Kingdom of Sedang ( French Royaume des Sedangs ; vietn. Vương quốc Sedang; occasionally also called Kingdom of Sedang ) was a short-lived state that was established at the end of the 19th century by the French adventurer Charles-Marie David de Mayréna in a remote part of what is now Vietnam Founded.
history
Mayréna, a former French administrator with a shady past, who had left his home for alleged embezzlement, owned a plantation in French Indochina in 1888 . When the King of Siam made claims to territories in the vicinity of French territories, Mayréna persuaded the concerned governor of the French colony to entrust him with the management of an expedition inland in order to conclude protectorate agreements with the local tribal leaders .
Contrary to his original assignment, Mayréna convinced the tribal leaders of the "Sedang" (correct spelling Xơ đăng ) after his arrival in the mountainous hinterland of Annam (today Kon Tum province ) that they were not vassals of the Emperor of Annam , but had the right to their own state . Mayréna was elected king by the tribal leaders and established his residence in Kon Gung (also known as Pelei Agna ). On June 3, 1888, he took the name and title Marie the First, King of the Sedang . The state comprised the area of the Bahnar , Rengao and Sedang tribes with 44 villages.
After Mayréna had resided in Kon Gung for a few months, he returned to Saigon . He offered the French governor to place his kingdom under the protectorate of France if he was granted a trade monopoly in return. Since the French government did not give him a positive answer, he first traveled to Hong Kong and started negotiations with the British . There, too, there was little interest, so he traveled to Paris to negotiate further with the French government, pointing out that the German Reich was also interested in his kingdom. He was expelled from the country and moved to Belgium , where in 1889 an investor named Somsy guaranteed him money and weapons in exchange for mining rights in Sedang. Mayréna's return to Sedang was prevented by the French navy , which blocked Vietnamese ports and had his weapons confiscated as a counter-gang in Singapore .
During his travels through Southeast Asia and Europe, Mayréna bestowed dozens of titles of nobility , medals and awards on his supporters.
The kingdom of Sedang fell with the death of its regent. King Marie the First, who converted to Islam and married several local women, died under circumstances that could not be clarified (various reports cite poisoning, a snakebite or a duel as the cause) on November 11, 1890 on Tioman off the Malay Peninsula .
Postage stamps
Mayréna opened a postal service in Sedang on July 9, 1888 and designed a series of stamps consisting of seven values, which are still available in stores today as evidence of the founding of the state. This series was printed in two editions from different plates . The first series was probably made in Southeast Asia in 1888 and can be recognized by a hyphen between the value and the currency. The second series originated in Europe in 1889 and was sold in large quantities to dealers and collectors through middlemen in Paris and Ostend . Letters that could prove a postal use of these stamps are not known.
literature
- Gerald Cannon Hickey: Kingdom in the Morning Mist. Mayréna in the Highlands of Vietnam. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1988, 221 S, ISBN 0-8122-8106-3
- Wolfgang Baldus: The postage stamps of the Kingdom of Sedang. In: History and background of unusual stamps. Volume 4, 56 pp., Munich, 2005.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ullrich Häger: Large Lexicon of Philately . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh, 1973, p. 477. ISBN 3-570-03229-9
Web links
- The Imperial Collection Page with stamps and a brief history, accessed January 31, 2011
- Outline of the history of Sedang with illustrations (French), accessed on March 2, 2017
- Article on Mayréna in the Encyclopædia Britannica , accessed February 1, 2011