COCHIN-CHINA, the six southern provinces of the empire of Annam annexed by France (1862-67), bounded west by the Gulf of Siam, north-west and north by Cambodia, east by Annam and south-east by the China Sea; the land frontiers are mostly artificial; the area is 22,000 sq. miles. The population (i 93 i) was
mostly Annamese, but including some 200,000 Cam bodians or Khmer.
It is mainly alluvial plain, the delta of Mekong and Don-Nai, area about 17,20o sq. miles. The soil is mainly river alluvium, which in the quaternary period has covered and filled in the gulfs
of the archaean and palaeozoic continental massif (granites,
schists, etc.). Volcanic rocks are
rare save for the basalts of
Hoa (north of Saigon) and
chytes south-west of the delta.
But laterites of volcanic origin,
red earths easy to cultivate, are
common, as are argillo-silicious
grey earths.
The arc of the Annamese Cor dillera ends at Cap St. Jacques and extends over the provinces of Tay-Ninh, Bien-Hoa and Baria, without anywhere reaching a height of 2,90o feet. The Igo m. of low marshy coast from Cap St. Jacques to Cap de la Table has some open bays and the projec tion of the point of Ca-Mau. The only port is Saigon, 31 m. from the sea. Waterways are abundant, and from June to October floods of the Mekong (q.v.) cover the country, save for dykes and vil lages and the Plaine des Joncs in the north, and part of the Ca-Mau peninsula. Rivers include the Don-Nai, flowing west and then south from the Annamese moun tains to the sea, west of Cap St. Jacques, the Saigon, flowing north-west to south-east and joining the Don-Nai, and the two Vaicos, joining the Don-Nai near its mouth. The deltas of all these rivers are joined to that of the Mekong and to the sea by many canals (Arroyos), both natural and artificial. To them the country owes its scheme of communications and the general dis tribution of fertilizing floodwaters, and the port of Saigon (q.v.) has become the export centre for Cochin-China, Cambodia and Laos. Canals from Chau-Doc to Ha-Tien, and from Long-Xuyen to Rach-Gia join the Mekong to the gulf of Siam.
The climate depends upon the monsoon, the south-west mon soon, blowing from May to October, brings at times as much as 6.35 metres of rain (2.35 metres at Soctrang). The dry north east monsoon blows from November to April. There are no typhoons. The temperature averages 79° in January, 84.4° in April and 8 r . 5 ° for the year. The rich forests shelter tiger, leopard, tiger cat, icheneumon, wild boar, deer, buffalo, rhi noceros and elephant, as well as many species of monkeys and rats. Some species of parrakeet, the Mandarin blackbird, and the woodcock are found in the rest of Indo-China. Aquatic birds abound in the delta, venomous reptiles abound and the Mekong has crocodiles.
The cultivation of rice is so widespread that 150,00o tons of seed are used every year, and the harvest averages 1,2oo kg. per hectare (say, 1,o72 lb. per acre) ; the principal industrial establishments are those which deal with rice at Saigon and Cholon. Cultivation of Hevea rubber is spreading on the "red earths," and a silk farm has been founded at Tan Chan. The coco-nut palm is found everywhere and serves many purposes. Pepper is grown in the districts of Ha-Tien and Bien Hoa; sugar cane, coffee, cotton, tobacco, etc., are also produced. The buffalo (Bps Bubalus) is very generally used in the work of rice cultivation. The rice preparing establishments are run by Chinese ; other activities include silk-weaving, sugar-making, extraction of lime, extraction of salt from sea water, fishing and the preparation of Nuoc-Mam (fish sauce).
Of exports, rice is the chief, followed by fish (dry or salted), pepper, copra, sesamum, castor oil, earth-nuts and cotton. Im ports include textiles, machinery, wines, tea, etc. The largest ves sels can reach the ports of Saigon and My-Tho, and they are linked by rail. The roadsteads of Rach-Gia, Ca-Mau and Ha-Tien can accommodate only small vessels.
A lieutenant-governor ad ministers Cochin-China under the governor-general of Indo-China. He has a conseil colonial of 16 members, six of whom are French citizens elected by the French, six natives elected by the natives, the other four being members of the chamber of commerce of Saigon and the conseil prive. The conseil colonial, besides its advisory functions, discusses and votes the budget, determines the taxes, controls tariffs, and administers colonial domains. The Conseil prive is a deliberative body under the presidency of the lieutenant-governor, composed of colonial officials, together with two native members. Decrees of Feb. 1926 offer natives, with equal qualifications, free access to all ports in the French admin istration. The colony is divided into four circumscriptions (Saigon, My-Tho, Vinh-Long, Bassac), at the head of each of which is an inspector of native affairs. These are subdivided into 20 provinces, each under an administrator of native affairs, by whose side is the native provincial council, and occupied with discussion of ways and means and of public works. The provinces are divided into cantons, subdivided into communes. The com mune forms the basis of the native social system. Its assembly of notables or municipal council forms a sort of oligarchy, the members of which themselves elect individuals from among the more prominent inhabitants to fill vacancies. The notables elect the provincial councillors in the proportion, usually, of one to every canton, and their delegates elect the chief of the canton, who voices the wishes of the natives to the Government. Local administration, e.g., supervision of markets, policing, land-transfer, etc., are carried on by a mayor and two assistants, to whom the municipal council delegates its powers. The same body draws up the list of males liable to poll-tax and of lands liable to land-tax, the chief sources of revenue. There are French tribunals of first instance in nine chief towns of the colony, and four of these have criminal courts. These administer justice in accordance both with French law and, in the case of natives, with Annamese law, which has been codified for the purpose. Saigon has two chambers of the court of appeal of French Indo-China and a tribunal of commerce. Primary instruction is given in some 600 schools. Cochin-China is represented in the French chamber by a deputy. The capital is Saigon (q.v.) ; of the other towns, Cholon (q.v.), My-Tho, Vinh-Long and Chau-Doc are important.
In 1927 tax receipts were 11,371,080 piastres, or about 2.92 piastres per head of the population.
The Khmer kingdom (see CAMBODIA), at its zenith from the 9th to the 12th centuries, included a large part of Cochin-China, the coastal portion and, perhaps, the eastern region being under the empire of Champa, which broke up during the I 5th century. This eastern region was occupied in the 17th century by the Annamese, who in the 18th century absorbed the western provinces. From this period the history of Cochin-China follows that of Annam (q.v.) till 1867, when it was entirely occupied by the French and became a French colony. In 1887 it was united with Cambodia, Annam and Tongking to form the Indo-Chinese Union. (See INDOCHINA, FRENCH.)
