Cochinchina

Cochinchina was the southernmost part of Vietnam under French rule from 1862 to 1954. It comprised the Mekong Delta and southern Vietnam, with Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as its administrative capital. The name Cochinchina derives from European mapping of the region and contrasted with the central and northern parts of Vietnam (Annam/Tonkin).

French conquest began in 1858–1862, culminating in the Treaty of Saigon (1862) in which the Nguyen dynasty ceded several southern provinces—Gia Định, Biên Hòa, and Định Tường—to France. The territory was organized as the Cochinchina colony, the base of French administration in southern Indochina. It later expanded to include additional areas and became the economic heart of the colony, with Saigon as commercial hub and port.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Cochinchina built infrastructure such as roads, ports, and colonial administration; the economy relied on rice cultivation, rubber, and cash crops; European settlers and Vietnamese elites contributed to urban growth and education, though the colony remained under strict French control.

After World War II, the Viet Minh movement challenged French authority. Following the First Indochina War, the 1954 Geneva Conference ended the French colonial era in Vietnam. Cochinchina's territories formed the southern portion of the newly created State of Vietnam and later the Republic of Vietnam; the old colonial designation gradually disappeared from official usage.

Today, Cochinchina is mainly referenced in historical contexts, denoting the southern region of Vietnam under French colonial administration; its legacy is visible in Saigon's urban layout, colonial architecture, and the lasting Vietnamese and Chinese communities and cultural landscapes.