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| Capital | Saigon (1887–1901), Hanoi (1902-1955) | ||||||
| Largest city | Saigon | ||||||
| Other cities | Hanoi, Haipong and Phnom Penh | ||||||
| Language official |
French (official) Vietnamese (lingua franca) | ||||||
| others | Khmer and Lao | ||||||
| Religion main |
Secular state | ||||||
| others | Mahayana Buddhism,, Taoism, Confucianism, Roman Catholic, Cao Dai and Hoa Hao. | ||||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Vietnamese (Kinh), Khmer and Lao | ||||||
| others | Montagnard (or Degar), Chinese, Thai and European | ||||||
| Demonym | Indochinese | ||||||
| Government | colonial federation (colonies and protectorates) | ||||||
| Area | 750.000 km² | ||||||
| Population | 21.599.582 (1935 est.) | ||||||
| Established | 1887 | ||||||
| Currency | French Indochinese piastre | ||||||
| Organizations | French Union | ||||||
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China; French: Indochine française; Vietnamese: Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, 東洋屬法, lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; Khmer: សហភាពឥណ្ឌូចិន), officially known as the Indochinese Union (French: Union indochinoise; Vietnamese: Liên bang Đông Dương, 聯邦東洋, lit. 'East Ocean Federation') and after 1947 as the Indochinese Federation (French: Fédération indochinoise; Vietnamese: Liên đoàn Đông Dương), was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia until its demise in 1954. It comprised Cambodia, Laos (from 1899), the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan (from 1898 until 1945), and the Vietnamese regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the centre, and Cochinchina in the south. The capital for most of its history (1902–45) was Hanoi; Saigon was the capital from 1887 to 1902 and again from 1945 to 1954.
The Second French Empire annexed Cochinchina and established a protectorate in Cambodia in 1862 and 1863 respectively. After the French Third Republic took over northern Vietnam through the Tonkin campaign, the various protectorates were consolidated into one union in 1887. Two more entities were incorporated into the union: the Laotian protectorate and the Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan. The French exploited the resources in the region during their rule, but also contributed to improvements of the health and education system in the region. Nevertheless, deep divides remained between the natives and the colonists, leading to sporadic rebellions by the former. After the Fall of France during World War II, the colony was administered by the Vichy government and was under Japanese occupation until March 1945, when the Japanese overthrew the colonial regime. After the Japanese surrender, the Viet Minh, a communist organization led by Hồ Chí Minh, declared Vietnamese independence, but France subsequently took back control of French Indochina. An all-out independence war, known as the First Indochina War, broke out in late 1946 between French and Viet Minh forces.
To counter the Viet Minh, the State of Indochina, led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, was proclaimed in 1949. French efforts to reoccupy Indochina were unsuccessful. Following French defeat in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the subsequent Geneva Accord of 1954, the French withdrew from Indochina, and the country was placed under the United Nations Authority in Indochina, which organized the 1955 Indochinese general elections and handed the victory to the Viet Minh (renamed the Worker's Party of Indochina or WPI). Following the election, the modern Federal Republic of Indochina was established in late 1955 by the WPI-led Constitutional Convention.
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