Annam

Annam (安南) is a geographical name derived from the Annam Protectorate established by the Tang dynasty at Hanoi, and it refers to the central region of present-day Vietnam.

Overview

Annam was a geographical name used by the Vietnamese dynasties, in connection with Chinese recognition of Vietnamese independence and the investiture of successive Vietnamese monarchs as kings of Annam (during the Han period, Annam Circuit Commissioner). The Vietnamese dynasties also used the name Annam as their state title in dealings with China and Japan.

Under French colonial rule, the protectorate that formed part of the Indochinese Union, namely the central Vietnamese region under the Nguyễn dynasty (hereafter the Nguyễn dynasty), was called Annam. However, this was a French designation, and in the administrative divisions of the Nguyễn-dynasty Vietnam it corresponded to Da Nang. The Nguyễn dynasty called its state Việt Nam (越南) and later Dai Nam (大南). Moreover, because the French colonial authorities were reluctant to use the term Vietnam (越南, Vietnam), which included Tonkin and Cochinchina, French-language academic works often referred to the whole of Vietnam as Annam.

In 1883, the Nguyễn government at Huế (Hue), under French military pressure, concluded the Treaty of 1883 (First Treaty of Huế, Harmand Treaty), which recognized Annam as a French protectorate. This treaty ceded Binh Thuan (Bình Thuận, 平順) in the south to the Cochinchina colony, incorporated the three northern provinces of Thanh Hoa (Thanh Hóa, 清華), Nghệ An (Nghệ An, 藝安), and Hà Tĩnh (Hà Tĩnh, 河靜) into Tonkin, and stipulated that the Annam region would be governed by the Nguyễn emperor except for customs and public works, that a French embassy would be established in the capital Huế, and that Tonkin would be placed under effective French administration as a protectorate.

In the following year, 1884, the Treaty of 1884 (Second Treaty of Huế, Patenôtre Treaty) added provisions under which the French governor-general, as representative of France, took overall control of Annam's diplomatic affairs and stationed a French garrison permanently in the imperial palace at Huế. This blatant French aggression against Vietnam provoked the intervention of the Qing dynasty, Vietnam's suzerain, and led to the outbreak of the Sino-French War (1884–1885). However, under the Treaty of Tientsin, the Qing dynasty ultimately renounced its suzerainty over Vietnam. Within Vietnam, however, loyalist movements (근왕운동) arose in various places and resistance against France unfolded. These ended in 1888, when Hàm Nghi (함의제), who had fled the royal palace at Huế and was leading the loyalist movement from the mountains, was captured by French forces.

Administration

Annam was initially under the jurisdiction of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but by a decree of 1887 it came under the jurisdiction of the Naval and Colonial Ministry and, at the same time, was placed under the newly established Governor-General of Indochina. Thus Annam became one member of the Indochinese Union; however, under the Nguyễn emperor at the Huế court, Vietnamese officials handled domestic administration, and civil service examinations continued to be held until around 1916. Gradually, however, graduates of mixed Vietnamese-French educational institutions came to be appointed to the civil service.