FEDERATION OF INDOCHINA. — This term designates the complex of territories controlled by France in the Indochinese peninsula; before the last great war, these territories included the colony of Cochinchina and the four protectorates of Tonkin, Annam, Cambodia, and Laos. Before surrendering, the Japanese, who had occupied the country, proclaimed (July 1945) the independence of the unified State of Vietnam (comprising Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina), a claim later asserted by local communists against France after the Japanese surrender. After lengthy negotiations, which followed military operations conducted by the French with varying success, France recognized the independence first of Vietnam and then of the other two protectorates within the framework of the Federation of Indochina and the French Union. The five members of the Federation thus enjoy full administrative autonomy and are under the authority of a French High Commissioner who coordinates common services.
Summary:
I. Geography
II. Evangelization
III. Ecclesiastical Circumscriptions
IV. Legal Status of the Church
V. Art
VI. Educational System.I. GEOGRAPHY
The territory of the Federation of Indochina corresponds to the eastern part of the Indochinese peninsula; the landscape is highly varied. It is predominantly mountainous or hilly in the north, while in the central regions it extends into high plateaus deeply carved by rivers, and to the southwest it descends into the broad alluvial zone of the Mekong. The climate is, on the whole, tropical, with high temperatures even inland and abundant but irregular rainfall, though related to the monsoon regime. The acclimatization of Europeans is generally quite difficult, and becomes increasingly so as one moves southward.The population (27 million inhabitants; 37 per sq. km.), quadrupled since 1800, is very unevenly distributed, concentrated as it is along the coasts and in the deltas of the Song-koi (Red River) and the Mekong. There are few urban centers, though the capital Saigon (Cochinchina) today has about 700,000 inhabitants. Next in demographic importance are Cholon (480,000 inhabitants), Long Xuyen (148,000), also in Cochinchina, Hanoi (Tonkin, 140,000 inhabitants in 1945), Phnom Penh (Cambodia, 103,000 inhabitants in 1945), and Haiphong (Tonkin, 100,000 inhabitants). Among the diverse peoples inhabiting the country, the Annamites (16.7 million souls), Cambodians (2.9 million), and Thai (1.4 million) of Laos and Upper Tonkin stand out. There are over 600,000 Chinese and only 43,000 French.
| Divisions | Pop. (000) | Area (sq. km) | Density per sq. km | Capital and its population (000) |
|--------------|------------|---------------|--------------------|----------------------------------|
| Tonkin | 115,700 | 9,851 | 85.1 | |
| Annam | 149,800 | 7,184 | 47.9 | |
| Cochinchina* | 64,100 | 5,579 | 87 | |
| Vietnam | 329,600 | 22,614 | 68.6 | |
| Cambodia | 139,000 | 3,227 | 23.2 | |
| Laos | 236,800 | 1,189 | 5 | |
F.I. 705,400 27,040 38.3
* Including the Condor Islands: 175 sq. km. and 3,000 inhabitants.
The Federation of Indochina is a predominantly agricultural country, with tropical and equatorial crops. In normal times, rice and maize cultivation prevailed, contributing significantly to exports. Notable among industrial crops are rubber, cotton, tobacco, sugarcane, pepper, coffee, etc. The forests (over half the total area) provide valuable timber. Livestock farming is of minor importance, whereas fishing is a major resource. The subsoil yields mainly anthracite, iron, and zinc in Tonkin, lignite in Annam, and then tin, antimony, tungsten, gold, etc. Modern large-scale industry is still in its infancy, but its potential is vast in every sector.
The consequences of the war and the current unstable political situation have undermined the ongoing development of the local economy; communications and trade have also been significantly affected.
II. EVANGELIZATION
The first missionaries arrived in Indochina in the 16th century. Portuguese and Spanish Dominicans and Franciscans attempted to establish missions in Cambodia and Cochinchina. Continuous warfare, especially between Siam and Cambodia, however, prevented the missions from taking root. Only in 1615 did the Jesuits begin a lasting mission. Favored by Portuguese trade between Macao and the two Annamite kingdoms, Cochinchina and Tonkin, the Jesuits were able to establish themselves in Cochinchina in 1615 and in Tonkin in 1626. They succeeded in winning the favor of regents and mandarins and in planting Christianity despite sporadic expulsions and persecutions. A great merit belongs to Fr. Alessandro de Rhodes (1591–1660), founder and apostle of the Annamite Church, for organizing the mission through the institute of catechists: they preserved Christianity during the persecutions that followed the expulsion of missionaries from Cochinchina in 1645 and from Tonkin in 1663. It was also Fr. de Rhodes who urged the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide to appoint vicars apostolic for Indochina.The first such appointees, François Pallu (1626–84) and Pierre Lambert de la Motte (1626–79), nominated for Tonkin and Cochinchina in 1658, initially remained in Siam due to persecution. From there, the first missionaries of the Paris Foreign Missions Society penetrated in 1666. The name of Alessandro de Rhodes, who had been the first missionary in Cochinchina in 1645 and in Tonkin in 1663, was carried back to Rome in 1650, p. 326; Mission de la Cochinchine et du Tonkin, Paris 1858, p. 422; L. E. Louvet, La Cochinchine religieuse, 2 vols., ibid. 1885; A. Launay, Histoire de la Mission de Cochinchine 1658–1823. Documents historiques, 3 vols., ibid. 1925; id., Histoire de la Mission du Tonkin. Documents historiques, I, 1658–1717, ibid. 1927, p. 600; M. Gispert, Historia de las Misiones dominicanas en Tunhkin, Avila 1928, p. 756; H. Chapoulie, Aux origines d'une Eglise. Rome et les Missions de l'Indochine au XVIIe siècle, 2 vols., ibid. 1943–48; L. Huy, Attualità delle Missioni del Viet-Nam, in Ecclesia, 7 (1948), pp. 27–31. Giovanni Rommerskirchen
*INDOCINESE, FEDERATION — 1) State boundaries; 2) ecclesiastical circumscription boundaries; 3) railways.
KHEH, apostolic prefecture erected on 21 Dec. 1950 by division of the former apostolic vicariate of Laos (erected in 1899), entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society; THANH HOA, apostolic vicariate erected in 1932, entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society; VIENTIANE and LUANG PRABANG, apostolic prefectures erected in 1938 and entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; VINH, apostolic vicariate of southern Tonkin erected in 1846, under its current name since 1924, entrusted to the Paris Foreign Missions Society; VINH-LONG, apostolic vicariate erected in 1938, entrusted to the secular clergy. Giovanni Rommerskirchen
IV. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH IN THE FEDERATION OF INDOCHINA
This is currently regulated by decrees of 16 Jan. and 6 Dec. 1939, which recognize to the Church the freedoms of worship, teaching, and assistance.**Freedom of Worship.** — Article 2 of the Treaty of 5 June between France and Annam expressly stipulates: “Citizens of the two nations, France and Spain, may practice the Christian faith in the Kingdom of Annam, and subjects of this Kingdom, without distinction, who wish to embrace and follow the Christian religion may do so freely; but those who do not desire it shall not be forced to become Christians.”
**Freedom of Education.** — In Tonkin and Annam, freedom of education was clearly established by the Treaty of 1874 (between France and Annam): “Bishops, missionaries, and Annamite priests shall have the right to purchase and lease land, and to build churches and schools.” The right to build schools would seem rather theoretical if it were not accompanied by the right to teach in those same schools. In Cambodia, the Protectorate Treaty of 11 August 1863 (Art. 15) was even more explicit: “Catholic missionaries shall have the right to preach and teach. They may, with the authorization of the Cambodian government, build schools, etc.”
**Freedom of Assistance.** — That is, the right to establish medical and social welfare institutions. Such assistance, provided by the Catholic Church, is entirely free in Indochina. In Tonkin and Annam, the Treaty of 15 March 1874 alludes to welfare institutions and indirectly authorizes their establishment: “Bishops, missionaries, and Annamite priests shall have the right to found hospitals and orphanages.” Finally, the decree of 9 November 1923 and the ordinances of 10 December 1924 and 7 February 1925 (all issued by French authorities) organized the administrative supervision of private welfare institutions in Indochina, with the aim of ensuring good hygienic conditions and controlling the morality and loyalty of their leaders. But the Catholic Church did not confine itself to purely private charitable works. It also cared for the sick in civil hospitals in Hanoi, Saigon, and elsewhere. This state of affairs changed when France entered a period of general secularization. Nuns were replaced by lay personnel (decree-ordinance of 20 November 1904).
**Recognition of Legal Personality for Missions and the Regime of Church Property.** — The decree of 16 January 1939 enshrined the concept of the mission for the purposes of legal recognition of ecclesiastical circumscription: apostolic vicariates and apostolic prefectures, considered as legal entities independent of the religious orders that direct them. Thus, property is registered in the name of the mission, which is duly endowed with civil personality. Article 1 of the same decree of 16 January 1939 stipulates the creation of administrative councils, intended to represent the missions in civil acts: “Religious missions may establish administrative councils, which may acquire, possess, and retain or alienate, in the name and on behalf of the mission represented, all movable and immovable property, all movable and immovable rights, and any other interests. They shall have full powers to administer and dispose of property belonging to the mission. They may appear in court and defend themselves.”
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**V. ART.** — In the evolution of Indochinese art, two principal currents may be distinguished: the Indian and the Chinese. The former is prevalent in the south, especially in Cambodia, where a flourishing original art developed, justly reevaluated as that of the Khmer civilization, to which belong the splendid monuments of Angkor (12th century). The earlier art had left its finest expressions in the temples of Sambon Prei Kuck.
The Chinese current, prevalent in the north, is especially evident in the art of Tonkin, Annam, and Siam. Of particular importance is that of Siam, where a distinct art asserts itself only in the 13th century; the art of Annam appears more colorful and inclined toward decorative styles. French occupation undoubtedly marked the beginning of a period of decline in Indochinese art, to which a recent attempt at revival has been made with the establishment of the School of Arts in Hanoi by Victor Tardieu.
**Christian Art.** — One of the most important contributors to the Christianization of indigenous art in the last century was Fr. Luca Tran (b. in Thanh-Hoa province, between Tonkin and Annam, in 1825; d. in 1899 at Phat-Diem). A hydraulic engineer and architect, he became particularly well known for his work in the Phat-Diem area, at the mouth of the Red River, where he carried out drainage and irrigation works and built churches and chapels. In these, drawing on the richest expressions of local art and the work of indigenous artists, he created works that are at once expressions of tradition and of the new Christian faith. The cathedral of Phat-Diem, which he built (1878-95), is a felicitous transformation of the pagoda, preceded by a large atrium like the ancient Christian basilicas; the five richly carved portals, the thirteen columns of sixteen meters in height and one meter in diameter, carved from a single trunk of *lim* wood, the rich red-lacquered high altar, and the five graceful chapels, constitute the finest solutions to the problem of missionary art. Also inspired by local art is the parish church of Thakhek in Laos, though its plan was due to the French architect Tournon.
In painting, Celso Le-Van-De, who belongs to the artistic current influenced by China, was born on 28 August 1906 in Mocay in Cochinchina. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Hanoi, he also spent three years in Paris, indulging for a time in Western tastes. But his purest expressions reveal a sensitive taste for the line that is entirely Asian and spontaneous.
Decorative art has also produced embroidery, lacquerwork, and inlays of exquisite taste. It has not hesitated, with a spirit of understanding, “to incorporate into the patrimony of indigenous Christian art those elements that no longer have superstitious meaning and that are traditional formulas with merely ornamental flavor or that can be interpreted in a Christian sense” (Costantini).
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**VI. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.** — School instruction is provided: 1) in schools for the French, 2) in schools for the indigenous population, 3) in Catholic missionary schools.
The schools for the French include 33 elementary schools, 6 higher elementary schools, and 3 lycées in Hanoi, Saigon, and Dalat. Indigenous people are admitted only to the lycée in Saigon and Dalat. The schools for the indigenous population include 7,141 elementary schools, 19 higher elementary schools, 4 middle schools, and 5 vocational schools. The Catholic missionary schools include 5,454 catechism and prayer schools, 1,877 elementary schools, 29 lower middle schools, 7 upper middle schools, 23 normal schools, and 65 vocational schools. Professionals are trained at the University of Indochina in Hanoi, founded in 1917. Particular esteem is held by the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Hanoi, which operates under the patronage of the Institut de France. The education of the Catholic clergy is provided in 6 novitiates, 16 minor seminaries, and 9 major seminaries. There are 18 schools for catechumens.