Towards the late 1880s, the French colonized Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia for a duration of more than six decades. Because Indochina consisted of profitable possessions as well as islands in the Caribbean and the Pacific, it further attracted the French’s desire to take over these lands. This was because they had the potential to flourish with what they thought was ‘their help.’ The French created a ‘civilizing mission’ or a mission statement that entailed that they were responsible to help these undeveloped regions in both Africa and Asia because they wanted achieve their goal of bringing about new inventions and political ideas. Also, they thought that without their help, these lands would turn into an uncivilized environment. Although the French claimed that this was their ‘civilizing mission,’ their real motive was to gain income and economic exploitation. The driving force behind French colonization was the demand for resources, need for more land, and cheap labor.
Soon after French colonization commenced, Vietnam began to lose freedoms such as their natural rights while the French gained profit from all of the labor the Vietnamese were forced to perform. This labor sometimes entailed of working on either rice or rubber plantations governed by farmers that performed these tedious, tiring jobs.
The annual growth rate in the graph below goes up and down at several moments in time, showing that it was not necessarily steady. Also, this means that the economy was not always running smoothly. On the other hand, all three components: labor, industry and construction, and agriculture grew at a steady rate, showing that French colonization benefited the amount of income they gained yearly while the Vietnamese did all of the work that allowed the French to have this income.
Soon after French colonization commenced, Vietnam began to lose freedoms such as their natural rights while the French gained profit from all of the labor the Vietnamese were forced to perform. This labor sometimes entailed of working on either rice or rubber plantations governed by farmers that performed these tedious, tiring jobs.
The annual growth rate in the graph below goes up and down at several moments in time, showing that it was not necessarily steady. Also, this means that the economy was not always running smoothly. On the other hand, all three components: labor, industry and construction, and agriculture grew at a steady rate, showing that French colonization benefited the amount of income they gained yearly while the Vietnamese did all of the work that allowed the French to have this income.