French In Vietnam

French in Vietnam

SOCIAL IMPACTS

The French brought some good things to Vietnam, like schools. They set up primary schools and even a university in Hanoi in 1902 where students could learn in both French and Viet. A few students from Vietnam even got scholarships to study in France. But, these educational benefits were mostly in cities, and the countryside, where most people lived, didn’t see much change. The education also pushed French culture as being superior. In cities, the French changed the look of places by tearing down old temples and buildings.

POLITICAL IMPACTS

The way the French ruled Vietnam was pretty disorganized and harsh compared to the British. France didn’t have a clear plan for Vietnam; they just wanted to keep control for economic reasons. They appointed different governors to run things, and these officials had a lot of power, often leading to corruption and unfair treatment.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Economics was the main reason France was in Vietnam. They changed Vietnam’s economy to benefit themselves, making Vietnamese work for low wages and taking over large areas of land for plantations. This meant many Vietnamese worked not for themselves but for the French. The French also introduced heavy taxes on almost everything, making life harder for the Vietnamese.

Dutch Colonial Era

From 1680 to 1800, the Dutch East India Company was in charge in Indonesia, making huge profits from spices. They forced local communities into producing spices and food, often treating them poorly and punishing them harshly if they didn’t meet quotas. Some Indonesian groups fought against the Dutch, especially on the island of Java, but the Dutch kept tight control.

Despite making a lot of money in Europe, the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt in 1800 because they spent too much on military and infrastructure. After a brief period of uncertainty, the Dutch government took over in 1816 and introduced a system requiring villages to devote land or labor to government farms, aiming to make Indonesia profitable through the production of cash crops.

Though the Dutch government became wealthy from trade, the focus on cash crops like spices, sugar, and coffee led to famine and disease in Indonesia because not enough food was grown to feed everyone. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Dutch did work on improving infrastructure like ports, roads, and water systems, which brought some benefits to the local people and helped Indonesia’s economy grow after independence.