Treaty of Saigon
The Treaty of Saigon was signed on June 2, 1862 between the French Empire and the Nguyễn dynasty ruling Vietnam . It came about under military pressure from France and allowed France to set up a colony in Cochinchina and to intervene in the domestic policy of the Vietnamese state.
background
In the summer of 1857, the French Emperor Napoleon III appointed. a commission with the aim of formulating an Indochina policy. The commission recommended a military expedition with the aim of permanent land grabbing in Indochina. The colony was intended to serve three purposes: First, as a naval base for the French navy , it would strengthen the position of the French colonial power, which had so far remained without possessions in East Asia. Second, France could make a profit in Indochina by exploiting tropical raw materials and selling French products. Third, the establishment of a colony should advance the mission that has already started .
The Vietnamese state under Tự Đức was meanwhile marked by internal unrest. The central government in Huế had to contend with several revolts of alleged heirs to the throne of the Lê dynasty , who sometimes traded with European protection. The public execution of a Spanish missionary in Nam Dinh, south of Hanoi , was the occasion for the start of the expedition . The first expedition under Charles Rigault de Genouilly was able to secure a bridgehead at Da Nang and Saigon with Spanish support , but was unable to take the capital Hue due to a lack of personnel. A second expedition led by Léonard Victor Charner , who returned from China, destroyed the forts at Saigon that the Vietnamese had built. The newly appointed governor Louis Adolphe Bonard succeeded in annexing Bien Hoa and Vinh Long in 1861 and 1862 respectively. Because of its distance from the Hue power center and its rich agricultural resources, Saigon was chosen by the French as the base for the establishment of a colony.
Conclusion of contract
Under the impression of constant military defeat, Tu Duc agreed on negotiations. These were conducted between Bonard and Phan Thanh Gian . The Nguyen Dynasty ceded the three southern provinces of Dinh Tuong, Gia Dinh and Bien Hoa to France. French ships also gained the right to navigate the entire navigable Mekong and several ports were opened to French trade. The treaty also put an end to the anti-Christian policy of the Vietnamese state as well as the payment of around 20 million gold francs by the Nguyen state to France.
consequences
The conclusion of the treaty meant a serious domestic political defeat for the Nguyen dynasty and heightened the existing doubts about the legitimacy of the government. This was expressed in several uprisings in Tonkin in 1864 , where the government was seen by traditional Confucian scholars as the door opener to Western influence. The conclusion of the contract burdened the Franco-Spanish relationship for years. Spain also received a cash payment, but the Spanish government had promised itself territorial gain in the sense of a colony.