Six Provinces of Southern Vietnam

The Six Provinces of Southern Vietnam (Vietnamese: Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³ LÃ¡Â»Â¥c tÃ¡Â»Ânh, Ã¥ÂÂÃ¥ÂÂ»Ã¥ÂÂÃ§ÂÂ or just LÃ¡Â»Â¥c tÃ¡Â»Ânh, Ã¥ÂÂÃ§ÂÂ) is a historical name for the region of Southern Vietnam, which is referred to in French as Basse-Cochinchine (Lower Cochinchina, or HÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ ÃÂÃÂ ng Trong). The region was politically defined and established after the inauguration of the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân dynasty in 1802, and called by this name from 1832, when Emperor Minh MÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ng introduced administrative reforms.

The six provinces into which Emperor Minh MÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ng divided Southern Vietnam in 1832 are:

Phan YÃÂªn, later changed name to Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh (provincial capital: SÃÂ i GÃÂ²n)
BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a (provincial capital: BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a)
ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng (provincial capital: MÃ¡Â»Â¹ Tho)
VÃÂ©nh Long (provincial capital: VÃÂ©nh Long)
An Giang (provincial capital: ChÃÂ¢u ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âc)
HÃÂ TiÃÂªn (provincial capital: HÃÂ TiÃÂªn)

These provinces are often subdivided into two groups: the three eastern provinces of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh, ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng, and BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a; and the three western provinces of VÃÂ©nh Long, An Giang, and HÃÂ TiÃÂªn.

The French occupied three eastern provinces in 1862 during the Cochinchina campaign and eventually annexed all six provinces in 1867, establishing the colony of French Cochinchina. In October 1887, Cochinchina was integrated into French Indochina, which lasted until March 1945.

History

The Mekong Delta region (the location of the Six Provinces) was gradually annexed by Vietnam from the Khmer Empire starting in the mid 17th century to the early 19th century, through their Nam tiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n territorial expansion campaign. In 1832, Emperor Minh MÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ng divided Southern Vietnam into the six provinces Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³ LÃ¡Â»Â¥c tÃ¡Â»Ânh.

According to the ÃÂÃ¡ÂºÂ¡i Nam nhÃ¡ÂºÂ¥t thÃ¡Â»Âng chÃÂ (NguyÃ¡Â»Ân dynasty national atlas) of the QuÃ¡Â»Âc sÃ¡Â»Â quÃÂ¡n (official NguyÃ¡Â»Ân-era compilation of Vietnamese history, geography and people from 1821 to 1945), in 1698 the lord NguyÃ¡Â»Ân PhÃÂºc Chu established the prefecture (phÃ¡Â»Â§) of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh. In 1802, emperor Gia Long turned Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh prefecture into a township, and in 1808, he renamed Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh prefecture into a governorate containing the five townships of Phan YÃÂªn, BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a (or ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âng Nai), ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng, VÃÂ©nh Thanh (or VÃÂ©nh Long), and HÃÂ TiÃÂªn. In 1832, emperor Minh MÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ng renamed Phan YÃÂªn Citadel into Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh Citadel, and the 5 townships were turned into the six provinces of Phan YÃÂªn, BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a, ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng, VÃÂ©nh Long, HÃÂ TiÃÂªn, and the newly established An Giang. Thus, the Six Provinces was created in 1832; and in 1834 the Six Provinces were collectively called Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³ ("Southern Region", which would eventually be known in the West as Cochinchina). Phan YÃÂªn province was renamed to Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh province in 1835.

After the French colonial invaders, led by vice-admiral Charles Rigault de Genouilly attacked and captured the three eastern provinces of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh, ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng, and BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a in 1862, and invaded the remaining western provinces of VÃÂ©nh Long, An Giang, HÃÂ TiÃÂªn in 1867, the French Empire abolished the administrative divisions created by the NguyÃ¡Â»Ân dynasty. At first, the French used dÃÂ©partements instead of prefectures, and arrondissements in place of districts (huyÃ¡Â»Ân). By 1868, the former Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³ LÃ¡Â»Â¥c tÃ¡Â»Ânh had over 20 arrondissements (districts). Cochinchina was ruled by a French government-appointed governor in Saigon, and each county had a SecrÃÂ©taire dÃ¢ÂÂArrondissement (en: "County Secretary", vi: "thÃÂ° kÃÂ½ ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âa hÃ¡ÂºÂ¡t" or "bang biÃ¡Â»Ân"). BÃ¡ÂºÂ¡c LiÃÂªu county was created in 1882. On 16 January 1899, the counties were changed into provinces per a French government decree, each with a provincial premier (fr: "chef de la province", vi: "chÃ¡Â»Â§ tÃ¡Â»Ânh") who is head of provincial government.

French division into 21 smaller provinces, discontinuation of the Six Provinces

The French government divided the original six provinces into 21 smaller ones. Following the 1899 decrees, starting 01/01/1900 Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³ would be divided into the following 21 provinces:

Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh province was divided into the 5 provinces of: Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh, ChÃ¡Â»Â£ LÃ¡Â»Ân, TÃÂ¢n An, TÃÂ¢y Ninh, and GÃÂ² CÃÂ´ng.
BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a province was divided into the 4 provinces of: BiÃÂªn HÃÂ²a, BÃÂ RÃ¡Â»Âa, ThÃ¡Â»Â§ DÃ¡ÂºÂ§u MÃ¡Â»Ât, and Cap Saint-Jacques (later VÃÂ©ng TÃÂ u province). Cap Saint Jacques was created on 30/04/1929 and dissolved 01/01/1935; in 1947 the province was re-established under the name VÃÂ©ng TÃÂ u until 1952 when it was dissolved again.
ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ°Ã¡Â»Âng province became MÃ¡Â»Â¹ Tho province.
VÃÂ©nh Long province was divided into the 3 provinces of: VÃÂ©nh Long, BÃ¡ÂºÂ¿n Tre, and TrÃÂ Vinh.
An Giang province was divided into the 5 provinces of: ChÃÂ¢u ÃÂÃ¡Â»Âc, Long XuyÃÂªn, Sa ÃÂÃÂ©c, SÃÂ³c TrÃÂng, and CÃ¡ÂºÂ§n ThÃÂ¡.
HÃÂ TiÃÂªn province was divided into the 3 provinces of: HÃÂ TiÃÂªn, RÃ¡ÂºÂ¡ch GiÃÂ¡, BÃ¡ÂºÂ¡c LiÃÂªu.
On 11/05/1944 TÃÂ¢n BÃÂ¬nh province was created, carved out of Gia ÃÂÃ¡Â»Ânh province.

The reason for this division into 21 provinces was because the French Empire intended to erase the name "LÃ¡Â»Â¥c tÃ¡Â»Ânh" from the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people and language, and cut any feelings of attachment and Vietnamese nationalism with this region to avert potential local revolution or rebellion. However, in 1908 the newspaper LÃ¡Â»Â¥c TÃ¡Â»Ânh TÃÂ¢n VÃÂn ("Six Provinces News") whose editor was Gilbert TrÃ¡ÂºÂ§n ChÃÂ¡nh ChiÃ¡ÂºÂ¿u, still commonly used the names "LÃ¡Â»Â¥c TÃ¡Â»Ânh" and "LÃ¡Â»Â¥c ChÃÂ¢u". The French Empire called Southern Vietnam (Nam KÃ¡Â»Â³) Cochinchine, Northern Vietnam (BÃ¡ÂºÂ¯c KÃ¡Â»Â³) Tonkin and Central Vietnam (Trung KÃ¡Â»Â³) Annam. Cochinchina itself was an exonym.

Administrative divisions

Sources for entire table:

References

External links

http://namkyluctinh.org, an online resource about the culture and history of the Six Provinces.