Journal of Energy History

Revue d’histoire de l’énergie

AUTHOR French energy imperialism in

Armel Campagne
European University Vietnam and the conquest of
Institute
[email protected]
Tonkin (1873-1885)
POST DATE
Abstract
Cet article montre que la conquête française du Vietnam a été entreprise
24/08/2020
notamment dans l'optique de l’appropriation de ses ressources en charbon, et
ISSUE NUMBER
que l’impérialisme française était dans ce cas un « impérialisme énergétique ».
JEHRHE #3 Il défend ainsi l’idée qu’on peut analyser la conquête française du Tonkin et
SECTION de l’Annam (1873-1885) comme étant notamment le résultat d’une combinai-
Special issue son des impérialismes énergétiques de la Marine, de l’administration coloniale
THEME OF THE SPECIAL ISSUE cochinchinoise, des politiciens favorables à la colonisation et des hommes
Energy Imperialism? d’affaires. Au travers des archives militaires, diplomatiques et administratives et
Resources, power and d’une réinterprétation de l’historiographie existante, il explore la dynamique de
environment (19th-20th l’impérialisme énergétique français au Vietnam durant la phase de conquête.
Cent.)
KEYWORDS Acknowledgments
Imperialism, Coal, This article has benefited significantly from a workshop in November
Geopolitics 2018 of the Imperial History Working Group at the European University
DOI Institute (EUI) and from the language correction of James Pavitt
in progress and Sophia Ayada of the European University Institute.

“French colonial policy […] was inspired by […] the fact that a navy such
TO CITE THIS ARTICLE
as ours cannot do without safe harbors, defenses, supply centers on the
Armel Campagne, “French high seas […] The conditions of naval warfare have greatly changed […]. At
energy imperialism in present, as you know, a warship, however perfect its design, cannot carry
Vietnam and the conquest of more than two weeks' supply of coal; and a vessel without coal is a wreck
Tonkin (1873-1885)”, Journal on the high seas, abandoned to the first occupier. Hence the need to have
of Energy History/Revue places of supply, shelters, ports for defense and provisioning […]. And that is
d’Histoire de l’Énergie why we needed Tunisia; that is why we needed Saigon and Indochina; that
[Online], n°3, published 24 is why we need Madagascar […] and why we shall never leave them!”1
August 2020, URL:
energyhistory.eu/en/ Plan of the article
node/218 → Introduction
→ The “primitive accumulation” of French energo-imperialist intelligence on Tonkin
and Annam’s coal resources (1873-1876)
→ Franco-Chinese energo-imperial rivalries in Tonkin and Annam (1877-1881)
→ The climax of French energo-imperial interest for Tonkin and Annam’s coal
resources (1881-1882)
→ The conquest of Tonkin and the colonial appropriation of its coal resources
(1883-1885)
→ Conclusion

1 Jules Ferry, “Speech Before the French Chamber of Deputies, July 28, 1885,”
Discours et Opinions de Jules Ferry, Paris, Paul Robiquet, 1897.

ISSN 2649-3055
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as it sheds light on the economic and geo-polit-

INTRODUCTION
ical rivalries, notably about Tonkin and Annam’s
1 This article posits that the French conquest of coal resources, between France and China.
Tonkin (and Annam to a lesser extent) was under-
took notably to appropriate its coal resources for The concept of energy imperialism has been 3
the energy supply of the French Navy, and that mainly applied to cases of “oil imperialism”, from
French imperialism was in that case an “energy Persia to Saudi Arabia.5 However, “coal imperial-
imperialism”. “Energy imperialism”, here defined ism” was also an important historical phenom-
as a process of appropriation of energy resources enon from the second half of the 19th century,
by a foreign body through formal or informal col- with the general and progressive transition from
onization, is a distinct form of imperialism due sail to steam in several military and merchant
to its high geo-strategic and economic impor- navies, up to the transition to fuel of the main
tance, as shown by former Prime Minister Jules military navies from the beginning of the 20th
Ferry’s speech before the French Parliament in century.6 Indeed, the necessity for vessels to
July 1885. It was a significant aspect of the late be supplied in coal required the construction
French colonial empire, in Gabon as in Algeria,1 of coaling stations and bases on a global scale,
but the conquest of Tonkin and Annam has not as in the case of the British Navy in prepara-
been assessed in that light.2 tion of a potential conflict,7 or in the case of the
United States Navy in the Pacific at the end of
2 This article intends to make up for that gap in the 19th century.8 It also led, in order to secure
the existing literature, and to determine the role local coal sources for the British Navy, to the rise
of energy imperialist forces in the conquest of of a global British geological imperialism and to
Tonkin and Annam, casting a new light on the the conquest of coal islands such as Labuan, off
history of the French colonialization of Vietnam.3 the coast of Borneo.9
Although it has already been argued that “naval
imperialism” was the driving force behind the Just as the British empire was dependent on the 4
conquest of Vietnam, and that coal played an military strength of its Navy and its adequate
important role in that conquest,4 the role of supply in coal, French imperialism in South-East
energy imperialist forces in the conquest of Asia in the second half of the 19th century was
Tonkin and Annam has not been assessed sys- bound to the military might of the French Navy,
tematically. The case of the conquest of Tonkin
and Annam is particularly original and stimulating 5 Marian Kent, Moguls and Mandarins: Oil, Imperialism,
and the Middle East in British Foreign Policy, 1900-1940
(London: Frank Cass, 1993); Robert Vitalis, America’s
1 Roberto Cantoni, “Energo-Colonialism: The Role of Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier (London:
the Oil Industry in Gabon in the Trente Glorieuses” (pre- Verso, 2009); Guillemette Crouzet, Genèses du Moyen-
sented at the Doctoriales, Blois, 2015); Samir Saul, Intérêts Orient: le Golfe Persique à l’âge des impérialismes (vers
économiques français et décolonisation de l’Afrique du Nord 1800-vers 1914) (Ceyzérieu: Champ Vallon, 2015).
(Genève: Librairie Droz, 2016). 6 Volkan Ş. Ediger and John V. Bowlus, “A Farewell to King
2 Jeoung Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation Coal: Geopolitics, Energy Security, and the Transition to Oil,
humaine : les charbonnages dans le Vietnam colonial, 1874- 1898–1917”, The Historical Journal, 62.2 (2019), 427–49.
1945” (Doctoral Thesis, Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7, 7 Steven Gray, Steam Power and Sea Power: Coal, the
2018) focuses more on the French attempts to appropriate Royal Navy, and the British Empire, c. 1870-1914 (London:
Vietnam’s coal resources that on the role of energy impe- Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).
rialism in the broader colonization process, although it is 8 Peter A. Shulman, Coal & Empire: The Birth of Energy
the most valuable contribution to the literature on that Security in Industrial America (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
matter to that day. In my PhD research I try to fil that gap University Press, 2015).
more extensively. 9 Robert A. Stafford, Scientist of Empire: Sir Roderick
3 On the history of French colonialism in Vietnam, see Murchison, Scientific Exploration and Victorian Imperialism
e.g. Pierre Brocheux and Daniel Hémery, Indochina: An (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989); Andreas
Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954 (Berkeley: University of Malm, “Who Lit This Fire? Approaching the History of the
California Press, 2011). Fossil Economy”, Critical Historical Studies vol. 3, n° 2, 2016,
4 Ibid., 21 and 33; Jaehyun. 215-48.
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and thus to its coal supply as it had transitioned energy source necessary for further conquests.
from sail to steam since 1846–51.10 The French Coal was fueling French imperialism.
navy was not merely a military lobby pushing for
its own interests. Without a powerful navy, the However, Tonkin and Annam’s coals were not only 5
expansion of French commerce and geopolitical coveted by the French Navy, but also by various
influence would have been impossible, and so private investors with significant connections
therefore the acquisition of a status of global with pro-colonial politicians, and even by the
power.11 And to that great imperial design, the authorities of French Cochinchina.17 Therefore,
conquest of Tonkin and Annam and their coal this paper argues that the conquest of Tonkin
mines was crucial. It would allow in theory the and Annam can be analyzed as being notably the
French Navy not only to become more indepen- combined product of French naval, economic
dent from British coal infrastructure,12 but also and political energo-imperialisms: the Navy
to have its own source of coal supply.13 This sought to supply its vessels with good quality
led Brocheux and Hémery to argue that “the coal from independent sources; businessmen
acquisition of the [coal] mines of Hon Gai […] sought to appropriate and exploit coal to pro-
was a driving motivation for the conquest of duce profit; pro-colonial politicians sought to
Tonkin”.14 Similarly, Fichter argued that “the sei- supply their colonial enterprise with a steady
zure of the mines in Tonkin and Annam were and cheap supply in coal; and colonial adminis-
[…] inspired by a desire to have Asian mines trators sought to secure fiscal revenues for their
under French control” as they "seemed to prom- budget and coal supply for their colony.
ise carbon independence and [thus] constituted
one of France’s objective in the Sino-French War These energo-imperial actors, inextricably bound, 6
by which Tonkin was conquered”. Hence, both were more or less predominant depending on
underlined the crucial role of the French Navy’s the historical context, their strategies were
energy imperialism in the conquest of Tonkin and constantly in evolution in order to adapt to
Annam. In addition, this “coalonization” of Tonkin the historical conjecture, and their interests
and Annam was framed as a step towards the could converge as well as diverge partially. Thus,
conquest of southern China,15 notably its min- opposing the reductionist views of energy impe-
eral riches, and the affirmation of French naval rialism as a monolithic phenomenon with its
power in the Pacific.16 And indeed, coal was not impersonal and automatic dynamics, this arti-
only a motivation for military conquest, but also cle argues that energy imperialism is a complex,
what allowed energetically this conquest and an transforming and combined product of differ-
ent energo-imperial actors, with their respective
aims and strategies. The case of Vietnam par-
10 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Colonization, 21.
ticularly sheds lights on this non-monolithical
11 Ibid., 22. dimension of energy imperialism. It also illus-
12 On the dependency to British coal infrastruc- trates the “tensions of empire”,18 those between
tures of the French Navy, see James R. Fichter, “British political, naval and economic imperialists in
Infrastructure and French Empire: Anglo-French Steam
Interdependency in Asian Waters, c.1852–1870”, Britain and
a sector – energy – which is often assumed
the World, 5.2 (2012), 183–203 and James R. Fichter, “Imperial erroneously to be that of complete consensus
Interdependence on Indochina’s Maritime Periphery: France between public and private actors.19
and Coal in Ceylon, Singapore, and Hong Kong, 1859–1895”,
in British and French Colonialism in Africa, Asia and the
Middle East, ed. by James R. Fichter (Cham: Springer
International Publishing, 2019), 151–79. 17 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
13 Ibid. and Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Colonization, 33-34.
Ambiguous Colonization, 34. 18 Frederick Cooper and Ann Laura Stoler (eds.), Tensions
14 Ibid., 21. of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World (Berkeley:
15 Brocheux and Hémery, 67. University of California Press, 1997).
16 Patrice Morlat, Indochine années vingt : le balcon de 19 Gregory Nowell, Mercantile States and the World Oil
la France sur le Pacifique (Paris : Indes savantes, 2001). Cartel, 1900-1939 (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994).
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7 Overall, this article analyses energy imperial- in 1858–66 due to a convergence of commer-
ism as a specific, plural, situated, partly unsuc- cial, religious, naval and political imperialisms,
cessful and complex historical phenomenon, and was then ruled by the French navy until the
different in nature and in importance from 1880’s, “which was more important in Indochina
other imperialisms due to both its high eco- than in any other colony”.22 French imperial-
nomic and geo-strategic importance; plural, due ist projects in China and Indochina went hand
to the plurality of actors involved; situated, as in hand, as the economic penetration of the
French energy imperialism was very different in former was “the initial goal of the conquest of
Vietnam and in Algeria;20 partly unsuccessful, as Indochina”. 23 Further, Cochinchina was con-
the promised Eldorado was partly deceptive and quered during the Second Opium War (1856–
finally lost and as companies faced unsolvable 1860), and this conquest was made possible
workforce problems and labor resistance;21 and because of the military weakening of China,
complex, as the combination of energy imperi- Vietnam’s traditional “suzerain”.24 This connec-
alisms tends to shift constantly, especially in tion between French imperial projects in China
times of conquest and war. and Vietnam would continue well after the con-
quest of Tonkin, with the economic penetration
8 Within that framework, this article assesses the of Yunnan in 1895–1898.25 This informal coloniza-
history of French energy imperialism in Vietnam tion was notably driven by energo-imperial con-
from early French energo-imperial interests in siderations, with “projects of liaisons between
Tonkin and Annam’s coal resources to the estab- the Yunnan tin, copper, and iron mines and the
lishment of a French protectorate over Tonkin Tonkin coal mines” emerging from exploratory
and Annam. Through military, diplomatic and missions sponsored by the Comité des forges
administrative archives and a reinterpretation (French’s main patronal organization);26 the
of existing literature, it investigates the dynamics construction of a coaling station on the bay of
of French energy imperialism in Vietnam during Guangzhouwan;27 and various imperial projects
the conquest phase. aiming – in relation with the envisioned railway
line between Tonkin and Yunnan – to exploit coal
mines in Yunnan.28
THE “PRIMITIVE ACCUMULATION” OF FRENCH
ENERGO-IMPERIALIST INTELLIGENCE ON
The French Navy’s Mekong Expedition (1866– 10
TONKIN AND ANNAM’S COAL RESOURCES
1868), which aimed to find a path from French
(1873-1876)
Cochinchina to Yunnan, had already mentioned
9 French energo-imperialist intelligence about the existence of coal mines in the South of
Tonkin and Annam’s coal resources started
being collected first through naval and com-
mercial expeditions from China and Cochinchina
(southern Vietnam) in the 1860’s–1870’s.China 22 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
had been, since the First Opium War (1838– Colonization, 17–27.
23 Ibid., 67.
1842) lost against the British Navy, progressively 24 Ibid., 17-27. “Suzereignty” is, however, a partly mis-
commercially penetrated and politico-militarily leading term to describe Sino-Vietnamese pre-colonial
weakened, while French Cochinchina had been relations: on that issue, see e.g. Charles Fourniau, Vietnam:
conquered from the declining Annam Empire domination coloniale et résistance nationale, 1858-1914
(Paris : Indes savantes, 2002).
25 Robert Lee, France and the Exploitation of China, 1885-
20 André Nouschi, La France et le pétrole (Paris : Picard, 1901: A Study in Economic Imperialism (Hong Kong ; New
2000); Saul, Intérêts économiques français et décolonisation York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
de l'Afrique du Nord, 2016; Roberto Cantoni, Oil Exploration, 26 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Diplomacy, and Security in the Early Cold War: The Enemy Colonization, 67.
Underground (London: Routledge, 2017). 27 Id.
21 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, 28 Archives Nationales d’Outre-Mer [ANOM], fonds du
2018. Gouvernement général de l’Indochine [GGI], cote n°24706.
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Yunnan.29 Indeed, Yunnan was the object of an October 1873, Garnier decided a month later, and
imperial race with Great Britain,30 as it was seen after the failure to obtain satisfaction on these
as a commercial and mineral Eldorado at least points through negotiations with Vietnamese
since 1857.31 But it was first Dupuis, a French authorities, to conquer (with Dupuis’ assistance)
arms trafficker, following an indication made Hanoï and other strategic points in Tonkin, set-
by Francis Garnier (who Dupuis had probably ting out a precedent that would be important in
encountered) during the Mekong Expedition, the French decision to conquer Tonkin ten years
who publicized the existence of coal deposits later. Villemagne even estimates that “the con-
in Tonkin after his 1873 expedition along the Red quest of this territory [Tonkin] was initiated by a
River.32 merchant, Jean Dupuis, in a purely private initia-
tive”,37, echoing the Petit parisien who described
11 Indeed, during his 1873 expedition to explore the him as the “inventor of the Tonkin question”.38
Red River as a potential crossing point to Yunnan, However, Garnier’s killing in December 1873 in
Dupuis had encountered pirates who suppos- an encounter with the Black Flags (probably
edly also exploited several gold and coal mines.33 hired by Vietnamese mandarins),39 the limited
This expedition was required by the intensifica- number of French soldiers in Tonkin, the mount-
tion of his activity as an arms trafficker, which ing anti-Christian revolt and the opposition of
required the acceleration of his arms shipments the French government to send more troops ulti-
to his client the Chinese governor Ma Hulong in mately forced the French authorities to decide
Yunnan.34 Thanks to the support of the Minister on the evacuation from Tonkin in January 1874.40
of the Navy and the Colonies and Cochinchina’s The French pro-monarchist government decided
governor Marie-Jules Dupré, and despite aborted to put an end to the Garnier expedition due to
negotiations with Vietnamese authorities (and its hostility to extra-European conquests, its
their opposition to that project), Dupuis and priority given to continental affairs and its fear
his associate’s convoy of steam-ships full of of an open conflict with China.41
weapons arrived in Yunnan in January 1873 after
having taken the Red River path through Tonkin.35 However, this episode had two decisive out- 12
However, on its return to Hanoï in April 1873, comes: the signing of an unequal treaty of “pro-
its fleet was blocked by Vietnamese authori- tection” – although not establishing a formal
ties, and Cochinchina’s colonial governor seized protectorate – in March 1874 between France
this opportunity to order Garnier to “liberate” and the Vietnamese authorities, which included
Dupuis’ fleet – and, more importantly, impose a the acceptance of French consulates (article 13)
French presence in Tonkin and Franco-Chinese and of a diplomatic representation in the capital
commerce on the Red River, which according city of the Annam Empire (Hue) – a French lega-
to Dupuis would have included mineral prod- tion, with a chargé d’affaires at its head – (article
ucts from Yunnan.36 Having arrived in Hanoï in 20), and the confiscation of Dupuis’ shipment
by the Vietnamese authorities, which resulted
29 Francis Garnier, Voyage d’exploration en Indochine, in his financial ruin.42
(Paris: Hachette, 1873) 567, 619 and 632.
30 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Colonization, 28.
31 Jean-François Klein, “Une histoire impériale con- 37 Id.
nectée ? Hải Phòng : jalon d’une stratégie lyonnaise en Asie 38 “Monsieur Dupuis reparaît”, Le Petit parisien, lundi 21
orientale (1881-1886)”, Moussons, 13–14, 2009, 55–93. décembre 1885, 1-2.
32 Ibid., 32. 39 On the Black Flags, see Bradley Camp Davis, Imperial
33 Hippolite Gautier, Les Français au Tonkin (1787-1886), Bandits: Outlaws and Rebels in the China-Vietnam
(Paris: Challamel, 1887), 101. Borderlands, Critical Dialogues in Southeast Asian Studies
34 Claire Villemagne, “Du Tonkin des pionniers à la mise (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017).
en valeur de l’Indochine. Le symbole de « l’affaire Dupuis » 40 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
(1872-1912)”, Outre-mers vol. 99, n° 376, 2012, 157-77. Colonization, 29.
35 Id. 41 Ibid., 29.
36 Id. 42 Id.
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13 The acceptance of French consulates had short- intelligence in the Tonkinese case. However,
term consequences, as it would allow French this disparity was mainly due to the difference
agents to gather more intelligence on Vietnamese between coal and other hydrocarbons, as the
coal deposits, of which only little was known.43 Algerian coal was also spotted through empiri-
Indeed, as early as 1875, the French Consul in cal research.48
Haiphong, conducted an evaluation of a coal
sample that had been given to him by some The Vietnamese coal deposits also aroused inter- 14
Vietnamese. Although the results were deceptive, est at a higher level right after the 1874 Treaty,
the Consul thought it was due to the fact that as the incumbent of the newly created position
the sample had been collected on the surface, of chargé d’affaires in Hué mentioned to the
and hence asked the General Governor of Hai General Governor in August 1875 his intention –
Duong and Quang Yen to dig a small gallery in with his approval – to obtain the authorization
order to evaluate deep coal deposits, which he of the Annam Empire, in poor financial condi-
believed to be potentially better.44 From February tion, to prospect coal mining sites and to con-
to May 1876, an agent of the Consul, Espitalier, cede them to the prospectors in case those sites
eventually undertook a series of coal prospecting were deemed valuable for both them and the
in Hongai (20th century major coal producing site Annam Empire.49 The French consul in Haiphong
in Vietnam), Quang Yen (the largest coal reserve also envisioned that the mineral resources of
in contemporary Vietnam) and Dong Trieu (20th Tonkin could be exploited profitably, but only if
century second major coal producing site in the local administration was under French con-
Vietnam), and found everywhere coal depos- trol, whether due to its leasing to French agents,
its at the surface.45 Hence, the French authori- through the establishment of a protectorate over
ties started searching for coal in Tonkin as soon Tonkin or following its military conquest.50 The
as their consulates had been established, and consul specified later that it was necessary to
within a few months they had spotted the major ensure the suitability of this coal for the engines
Vietnamese coal deposits. In contrast with the of steamboats, hence showing that these pros-
case of Algerian oil and gas, which discovery was pects were undertook to secure the coal supply
only possible through an enormous techno-sci- of the French Navy, who had been put in diffi-
entific apparatus,46 in Vietnam geologists did culty during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 due
not discover coal deposits but rather corrected, to the British policy of refusing to supply bellig-
deepened, centralized and completed what had erent steamboats.51 But according to the consul,
been mainly empirical research of local imperial the Vietnamese authorities in Tonkin were doing
agents.47 The very technological “primitive accu- everything to deter French searches despite their
mulation” of energo-imperial intelligence in the apparent goodwill.52 Hence, as early as 1876, the
Algerian case contrasted with the very empiri- “sincere fiction”53 of a coal Eldorado from Yunnan
cal “primitive accumulation” of energo-imperial to Hongay that could supply the French Navy

43 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance 48 ANOM, Gouverneur Général de l’Algérie, Série “Mines et
nationale, 288. pétrole” [5N], côte n°57, Rapport de l’Ingénieur des T.E du
44 ANOM, Amiraux, côte n°13122, lettre du Consul de Service des Mines, “Houillère de Kenadsa (Sud-Oranais)”, 3
France à Haïphong au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 12 juillet 1922, 1-2.
octobre 1875. 49 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
45 ANOM, GGI, côte n°13134, lettre du Consul de France à 2018, 40.
Haïphong au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 9 mai 1876. 50 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
46 Cantoni, Oil Exploration, Diplomacy, and Security in the 2018, 38.
Early Cold War. 51 Fichter, “Imperial Interdependence on Indochina’s
47 Archives nationales des mondes du travail [ANMT], Maritime Periphery”, 159–63.
fonds de la Compagnie financière de Suez – Banque de l’In- 52 ANOM, GGI, côte n°13134, lettre du Consul de France à
dochine [CS-BI], côte n°2011 030 5922, Extrait du mémoire Haïphong au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 9 mai 1876.
de D. Lucas, “Le Bassin Houiller de Hongay”, mémoire de 53 Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice (Stanford:
géographie, mai 1949, 6-7. Stanford University Press, 2008), 112.
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had started to spread in the French colonial administrators,61 Dupuis spread the sincere fic-
administration, and the Vietnamese authorities tion of the “Tonkin-Mines” in various geographic
were (rightly) seen as the main obstacle to the societies – which functioned as imperial think-
French potential appropriation of coal depos- tanks –, in writings aimed at a large audience
its.54 However, this opposition was mainly moti- and in conversations with pro-colonial politi-
vated by a defense of their interests, as they cians.
asked without success patterns of mining con-
cessions to the French authorities,55 and as they
FRANCO-CHINESE ENERGO-IMPERIAL
even envisioned to send to France young literate
RIVALRIES IN TONKIN AND ANNAM (1877-1881)
Vietnamese to receive an engineering (“génie”)
training – a project that eventually aborted.56 The arrival into power in 1877–79 of the pro- 16
colonial “Opportunist Republicans” led by Ferry
15 Meanwhile, due to his financial situation, Dupuis and Gambetta put an end to the 1867–1878
started a lengthy political and juridical fight to “pause” of French colonial expansionism in
obtain financial compensation from the French Vietnam.62 This era was marked by the rise of the
government, which he accused of being respon- “colonial idea” in France (and elsewhere), without
sible for his ruin. He was helped in that task which the conquest of Tonkin was unconceivable.
by pro-colonial politicians, Eugène Etienne Colonization started to be perceived by a growing
(the future leader of the parti colonial) and the informal “colonial party” – with Gambetta and
Gambetta clan, who used this “affaire Dupuis” Ferry at its head – as the best way to restore the
as a pro-colonial Trojan horse.57 With this polit- power and prestige of France after the trauma of
ical support, Dupuis became a notorious and 1870-71, that of the French defeat against Prussia,
self-proclaimed expert of Tonkin and its mineral the Paris Commune, the loss of Alsace-Moselle
resources, publishing his propaganda articles in and the decline of French continental power. It
several journals, writing books and multiplying was also assumed to be the only way to soften
his interventions in influential places.58 Logically, social conflicts, the agrarian, industrial and com-
he was accused by the anti-colonial opinion of mercial crisis of 1873-1897 and the declining
influencing the government to conquer Tonkin social status of the traditional elites and middle
for his own interests:59 and truly, as he was one classes through the opening of new protected
of the main “founders” of “Tonkin” as a power- markets.63 Finally, the conquest of new territo-
ful colonial myth.60 Altogether with other actors ries would provide, according to the liberal econ-
such as former missionaries and former colonial omist Paul Leroy-Beaulieu and his followers,64
new opportunities for capital investments, in
an era of stagnating profits and falling industrial
54 Philippe Deviliers, Français et Annamites, partenaires
prices due to sharp market competition.65 Hence,
ou ennemis ? 1856-1902, Paris, Denoël, 1998. colonization appeared as the best solution to
55 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, France’s political, social and economic crisis,
2018, 40. and Tonkin with its alleged enormous mineral
56 ANOM, Amiraux, côte n°12916, Lettre du chef du bureau
des relations extérieures et du commerce du royaume du
Vietnam au chargé d’affaires de la légation française à 61 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
Hué, 10 octobre 1880; ANOM, Amiraux, côte n° 12916, Lettre 2018, 62–63.
du chargé d’affaires de la légation française à Hué au 62 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 31 octobre 1880. Colonization, 27.
57 Villemagne, “Du Tonkin des pionniers à la mise en 63 Ibid., 33-42.
valeur de l’Indochine”. 64 Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, De la colonisation chez les peuples
58 Id. modernes, (2nd éd. revue, corrigée et augmentée), (Paris:
59 Id.; “Informations”, L’Intransigeant, 27 décembre 1882 Guillaumin, 1882) 528-543.
et Henri Rochefort, “La Chine et son magot”, L’Intransigeant, 65 Xavier Lafrance, The Making of Capitalism in France:
20 juin 1883. Class Structures, Economic Development, the State and the
60 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Formation of the French Working Class, 1750-1914 (Boston:
Colonization, 32. Brill, 2019), 228–41.
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resources and its proximity to southern China coal extraction methods.74 It was prefaced by
was a choice morsel in that regard.66 However, the pro-modernization General Governor of Hai
China’s restored power opposed France’s grow- Duaong and Quang Yen, who had authorized
ing imperial pretentions over Tonkin, leading to and even encouraged Espitalier to prospect coal
mounting tensions eventually culminating in the regions in 1876 for these reasons,75 in addition
Sino-French war of 1883-85.67 to the Court’s desperate need for new sources
of revenue.76 This Governor had even declared
17 These tensions were also about Tonkin and to the French consul that the Annam Court was
Annam’s coal resources. Indeed, in 1880, the disposed to grant concessions,77 although the
chargé d’affaires in Hué sought to oppose the chargé d’affaires in Hue doubted that this was
concession of a coal mine in Annam to a Chinese the case for French nationals.78 Indeed, in the
national.68 Chinese entrepreneurs, due to their years 1876-1878, a first coal mine was conceded
more advanced technology, were granted at to a Chinese national, although several demands,
that time most of Vietnamese mines against a notably by French nationals, were rejected.79 The
fixed annual payment to the Royal Treasure.69 Vietnamese authorities may have found it more
Chinese expertise and interest in coal mining is profitable and in line with traditional practices
to be traced-back more specifically to China’s to grant concessions to Chinese nationals than
coal-intensive modernization since the 1860’s.70 to French ones, in addition to resisting French
This modernization had also been envisioned by colonial penetration.
Vietnamese reformer Nguyễn Trường Tộ at that
time, but although coal mines were reported in In face of this attempt by a Chinese entrepreneur 18
1868 following Emperor Tự Đức’s orders, coal pro- to take over a Vietnamese coal mine, the chargé
duction remained limited,71 with coals only used d’affaires proposed to persuade the Vietnamese
for local and artisanal needs, notably to pro- government to undertake an evaluation of their
duce lime (in the case of the Dong Trieu coals)72 coal mines by a French engineer and then to
or to treat zinc.73 However, coal aroused new divide them equally to Vietnamese and French
interest in 1877, as the Court made published a capital.80 The latter proposition might have just
Chinese book dictated by an English on modern been a diplomatic maneuver to outwit Chinese
energo-imperial pretentions. Eventually, in the
impossibility for the Governor of Cochinchina
66 Ibid., 33-42.
67 On this issue, see e.g. Lloyd E Eastman, Throne to send an engineer, the chargé d’affaires was
and Mandarins: China’s Search for a Policy during the encouraged to concentrate its efforts on block-
Sino-French Controversy, 1880-1885 (Cambridge: Harvard ing the concession to the Chinese entrepreneur,
University Press, 1967). and hence sent a letter to the emperor warn-
68 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du chargé d’af-
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général
ing him about the downsides of granting the
de la Cochinchine, 9 avril 1880.
69 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, 74 Ibid., 40–41.
2018, 33. 75 Ibid., 41.
70 Shellen Xiao Wu, Empires of Coal: Fueling China’s Entry 76 Thế Anh Nguyễn, Monarchie et Fait Colonial Au Viêt-
into the Modern World Order, 1860-1920 (Stanford: Stanford Nam, 1875-1925: Le Crépuscule d’un Ordre Traditionnel,
University Press, 2015). Collection Recherches Asiatiques (Paris: Editions l’Harmat-
71 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, tan, 1992), pp. 21–25.
2018, 34; Mark W. McLeod, “Nguyen Truong To: A Catholic 77 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
Reformer at Emperor Tu-Duc’s Court”, Journal of Southeast 2018, 41.
Asian Studies, 25.2 (1994), 313–30 <https://doi.org/10.1017/ 78 ANOM, Amiraux, côte 12785, Lettre du chargé d’af-
S0022463400013527&gt; Sinh Vinh, “Nguyen-Truong-To and faires de la légation française à Hué au Gouverneur de la
the Quest for Modernization in Vietnam”, Japan Review 11, Cochinchine, 20 janvier 1876.
1999, 55–74. 79 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
72 ANOM, GGI, côte n°13134, lettre du Consul de France à 2018, 42.
Haïphong au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 9 mai 1876. 80 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du chargé d’af-
73 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général
2018, 33. de la Cochinchine, 9 avril 1880.
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concession to a foreigner, resulting in the sus- Vietnamese authorities by the 1874 treaty,88 while
pension of the concession procedure.81 However, also having several liaison officers in Huê.89 This
the Nong Son mine in Annam was finally con- competition revivified the French interest for the
ceded to a Chinese entrepreneur in March 1881, Hongay coals, as May 1881, the French Consul
despite fierce French opposition, although the in Haiphong deemed them as valuable as the
loss was not so dire as the French Navy had best English ones, and after testing them on a
tested its coals on its vessels and had found French war vessel, declared that they were read-
them low-grade.82 This substandard quality of ily usable for the supply of French war vessels.90
Nong Son coals did not impede a strong reaction This resulted in the decision of the Governor of
to this decision from the French authorities, as Cochinchina to grant 2 000 francs to the Consul
it jeopardized both French interests and imperial in order to extract coal in Hongay.91 With that
prestige. However, the mine was still conceded money, digs were undertaken in Hongay from
at the time of the French conquest.83 November to December 1881, confirming the
French Navy’s interest in the Tonkinese coal as
19 Just two months before this setback, the chargé the commanding officer even evoked a possible
d’affaires had also urged the Governor ro oppose large-scale exploitation due to the accessibility
the impending concession to a Chinese entre- of the site to large tonnage boats,92 a fact that
preneur of the promising Hongai coal basin, had also been stressed by the chargé d’affaires
despite similar demands by European mer- a few months before.93
chants in Haïphong. 84 Indeed, the Hongay
deposit had been coveted from 1878 by the China In reaction to the potential concession of the 20
Merchants’ Steam Navigation Company.85 This Hongay deposit to Chinese interests, the chargé
company, founded in 1872 by the Qing official Li d’affaires had advocated the establishment of a
Hongzhang, who was also an important spon- protectorate in order to attract French capitals
sor of the only Chinese “modern” coal mine,86 to Tonkin.94 The strong opposition to this con-
was one of the first modern Chinese corpora- cession and to any concession to non-French
tion.87 It was established in Haïphong shortly nationals soon became widespread amongst
after the opening of the commerce imposed on diplomats and Navy officers, who depicted these
concessions as tools of foreign penetration and
as potential obstacles to future French impe-
rial designs in Vietnam.95 Indeed, at that time,
81 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af-
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général 88 Julia T. Martinez, “The Chinese Traders in French
de la Cochinchine, 13 janvier 1881. Indochina: Partners or Rivals?”, in Asia Reconstructed:
82 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, Proceedings of the 16th Biennial Conference of the ASAA
2018, 45. On the Kaining mines, see Tim Wright, Coal mining Canberra: Asian Studies Association of Australia (University
in China's economy and society, 1895-1937 (Cambridge: of Wollongong, 2006).
Cambridge University Press, 1984) and Elsworth C. Carlson, 89 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance
The Kaiping mines, 1877-1912 (Cambridge: Harvard University nationale, 321.
Press, 1971). 90 Jaehyun, 38-39
83 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, 91 Ibid., 39.
2018, 42. 92 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, lettre du capitaine de frégate
84 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af- Escudier au commandant de la Marine à Saïgon, 24 novem-
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général bre 1881.
de la Cochinchine, 13 janvier 1881. 93 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af-
85 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général
Colonization, 21; Fourniau, Vietnam: domination coloniale de la Cochinchine, 13 janvier 1881.
et résistance nationale, 321. 94 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af-
86 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général
2018, 61. de la Cochinchine, 13 janvier 1881.
87 Chi-Kong Lai, “Li Hung-Chang and Modern Enterprise 95 ANOM, Indochine – Ancien fonds [Indo AF], T41(1),
The China Merchants” Company, 1872-1885’, Chinese Studies Lettre du capitaine de frégate Escudier au commandant
in History vol. 25, n° 1, 1991, 19-51. de la Marine à Saïgon, 13 mai 1881; ANOM, Amiraux, 13220,
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the first Ferry government (1880-1881) was con- as two ”imperial engineers”100 eventually arrived
sidering annexing Tonkin, and hence opposed in Vietnam in November 1881.
any concession of Vietnamese coal mines to a
non-French national.96 For the first time, coal
THE CLIMAX OF FRENCH ENERGO-IMPERIAL
resources in Vietnam aroused interest at the
INTEREST FOR TONKIN AND ANNAM’S COAL
governmental level, showing that French ener-
RESOURCES (1881-1882)
go-imperial interest for Tonkin and Annam’s
coal resources had reached a new level, just as The two mine engineers, Fuchs and Saladin, 22
French appetites for Tonkin more broadly. carried out their prospecting campaign from
November 1881 to February 1882, despite the
21 Following that governmental decision, the chargé hostility of the Vietnamese authorities who had
d’affaires finally declared to the Huê govern- only been informed belatedly. They visited the
ment, despite the lack of any legal base, that Nong Son colliery and tested its coals on a war
the French government would not consider valid vessel, before heading to Tonkin and survey-
any mine concession that had not been anteri- ing the Hongay coal basin, where Saladin was
orly approved by it.97 Under the French pressure, able to collect underground coals to have them
the Vietnamese Court was forced to announce tested in Paris at their return, in addition to his
that it would not grant any other concession in mapping of the basin.101 In their report, Fuchs
the near future, but required French technical and Saladin claimed that the chemical anal-
assistance in exchange.98 This forced the chargé yses and test in factory of the Hongay coals
d’affaires to request the Governor to make sure indicated their quality and suitability for vari-
that the French government, to give credibility ous industrial purposes, and hence their ability
to its declaration, would promptly send mine to compete successfully with other coals on
engineers to study mining regions, evaluate their the regional markets.102 Fuchs and Saladin envi-
value and facilitate their future exploitation. sioned a large-scale extraction to be launched
Otherwise, the Vietnamese government would with several millions of francs, motivated by the
pretext that lack of assistance to concede these estimation of 5 million tons of coal reserve, the
mines to Chinese companies, in order to earn at profusion of commercial outlets in South-East
least minimal revenues from their concession, Asia, Hongay’s proximity to the sea – in contrast
concessions that the French government could with the Nong Son mine – and the abundance
not legally impede.99 The French mine engineers and cheapness of the workforce.103 However,
would then have two main functions: to gather as Hongay was also conveted by Chinese trad-
more energo-imperial intelligence and, on the ing firms, 104 and as Vietnamese authorities
pretext of “assistance”, exclude Chinese com- were deemed to be inherently hostile to any
panies from coal concessions. This must have large-scale industry, the report argued for the
decided the French Government to take action, necessity of a French protectorate on Tonkin to
develop its industrial production.105 This report,
which downplayed the difficulties of a large-
Lettre du Consul de France à Haiphong au Gouveneur de
la Cochinchine, 14 mai 1881.
scale extraction of coal in Tonkin, notably in
96 ANOM, Indo AF, T41(1), Télégramme du Ministre de la
Marine et des Colonies au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 100 Davis, 81.
27 juin 1881. 101 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
97 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af- 2018, 51–52.
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général 102 ANOM, GGI, côte n°11899, Rapport de 1882 de
de la Cochinchine, 18 juillet 1881. Fuchs-Saladin.
98 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af- 103 ANOM, GGI, côte n°11899, Rapport de 1882 de
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général Fuchs-Saladin.
de la Cochinchine, 28 août 1881. 104 ANOM, GGI, côte n°11899, Rapport de 1882 de
99 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12921, télégramme du chargé d’af- Fuchs-Saladin.
faires de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général 105 ANOM, GGI, côte n°11899, Rapport de 1882 de
de la Cochinchine, 28 août 1881. Fuchs-Saladin.
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terms of climatic conditions and recruitment nationals the Quang Yen coal deposit, close to
of workforce, offered a scientific and economic Haiphong, pretexting the presence of “pirates”113
foundation to French energo-imperial appetites, notably in the zone of Hongay to refuse any
and was widely publicized in the upper-class other demand.114 The Court accused the French
press, notably in Le Temps, the reference journal authorities of having send the mine engineers
of the Third Republic’s elites.106 Fuchs also pro- without prior notification, perhaps seeing them
moted the instauration of a French protectorate as energo-imperial spies. Finally, they reaffirmed
over Tonkin to allow for the exploitation of its their sovereignty over Tonkinese coal deposits,
mineral resources before the influential French informing the French colonial authorities that
Geographic Society.107 From the end of 1881 to concessions would be granted only to the best
the beginning of 1883, there was a growing impa- bidders and if there was no risk for the “under-
tience to seize Tonkin in both economic, political, ground dragon” who supposedly lived under
scientific, journalistic and naval circles, mate- Vietnam.115
rialized in Gambetta’s plan in November 1881 to
completely occupy militarily Tonkin,108 followed Faced with that mounting Vietnamese resistance, 24
a month later by an intervention plan of Le Myre the chargé d’affaires claimed that as it would
de Vilers urging the French government to seize be easy for the Vietnamese government to turn
Tonkin.109 This limited intervention plan implied against French demands for the best bidding
was finally adopted by the Freycinet government, condition, the only solution was a demonstration
with the sending of a military detachment com- of military might, as the presence of two military
manded by Rivière to Hanoi on the 26 of March steam-boats off the Annam coast would force
1882.110 Rivière was ordered to use force only in the Vietnamese authorities to cede to French
case of absolute necessity, but alike Garnier in demands.116 The Governor of Cochinchina shared
1873, he took the initiative of seizing the Hanoi this view, drawing the attention of the French
citadel on the 25th of April 1882.111 government on this issue in February 1882 and
urging it to solve it without delay.117
23 In reaction to these growing French imperial
pretentions, reiterated through a demand in Admiral Jauréguiberry, the personification of 25
December 1881 of exclusive concession to French naval imperialism as the Minister of the Navy
nationals of several mining zones by the chargé and the Colonies in 1879–80 and 1882–83, who
d’affaires in Hué,112 the Annam Court responded had proposed in 1879 the first plan for a com-
that it was only willing to concede to French plete occupation of Tonkin,118 was also getting
eager. On the 31st of March 1882, he informed
the Governor of Cochinchina that the exclusive
106 “Dernières nouvelles”, Le Temps, 9 novembre 1881, 4;
“Dernières nouvelles”, Le Temps, 5 mars 1882, 4; “Académie
concession of coal mines to French nation-
des sciences (10 juillet)”, Le Temps, 12 juillet 1882, 2; “Courrier als by the Annam Empire was a top priority
de l’Indochine”, Le Temps, 15 août 1882, 2; “Dernières
dépêches Havas”, Le Temps, 21 décembre 1882, 1; “Société 113 Julie D’Andurain and Jonathan Krause, “Pirates, Slavers,
de géographie (2 mars)”, Le Temps, 6 mars 1883, 3; “Société Brigands and Gangs: The French Terminology of Anticolonial
de géographie (2 mars)”, Le Temps, 6 mars 1883, 3-4. Rebellion, 1880–1920”, French History, 31.4 (2017), 495–511.
107 Journal officiel de la République française. Lois et 114 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, Lettre du chargé d’affaires
décrets, 5 mars 1883, 1170-1171. de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général de la
108 Ibid., 33. Cochinchine, 10 février 1882.
109 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, 115 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, Lettre du chargé d’affaires
2018, 58. de la légation française à Huê au Gouverneur général de la
110 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Cochinchine, 10 février 1882.
Colonization, 42. 116 Id.
111 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”, 117 ANOM, Amiraux, côte n°12712, Lettre du Gouverneur de
2018, 58. la Cochinchine au Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, 10
112 ANOM, Amiraux, côte n°12712 Lettre du chargé d’af- février 1882.
faires de la légation française à Hué au Gouverneur de la 118 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Cochinchine, 25 décembre 1881. Colonization, 34.
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to increase French influence in Tonkin.119 The Gambetta, who led sequentially the French gov-
Minister advocated an exclusive appropriation of ernment from 1879 to 1885.125 By the end of 1882,
those mines. He urged the Governor to study the French energo-imperial aims were not only to
means to obtain it through the Annam Empire be found amongst French local imperial agents,
and to define the preconditions to grant con- but had spread to all the scales of the French
cessions to French investors, as if the French State, prompting it to take military action.
State had already established a protectorate
over Tonkinese and Annamese coal deposits.120 However, French growing (energo)imperial- 26
Moreover, in July 1882, three months after the ist impatience and its conquest project faced
conquest of Hanoi, the Minister ordered the China’s increasing military pressure in Tonkin and
Governor to send twenty barrels of Tonkinese threat of war in the case of a general occupation
coals to Toulon, the main military base of the of Tonkin. This situation resulted in the Bourée
French navy, displaying the growing interest of convention of December 1882, which divided
French naval imperialists towards these coals.121 Tonkin into two spheres of influence: the French
These coals were compared by the Governor in the South of the Red River, including Hanoï,
to those of Pennsylvania, the main source of and the Chinese in the North.126 Rivière criticized
anthracite for the United States Navy, urging the Bourée convention for attributing the north-
their prompt appropriation to supply the French ern part of Tonkin, which he called the “Tonkin-
navy in South-East Asia and avoid their seizure mines”, to China, depriving France of its mining
by foreign powers.122 Finally, in September 1882, resources at the alleged benefit of Chinese,
“as France ha[d] an overriding interest to seize English and German interests.127 Similarly, the
the coal mines”, the Governor asserted that, in chargé d’affaires warned vigorously the Governor
case of Vietnamese refusal to grant coal mines against an alleged attempt of China’s Merchants
concessions to France, he would “be forced to Company, through its liaison officers in Hue, to
act directly as a Governor”, implying the recourse be granted a concession over the Hongay basin
to a military action.123 At the same time, Dupuis and as a consequence to put an end to French
and Millot established the Société d’études et energo-imperial aims in that region.128 Finally,
d’exploitation du Tonkin, which aimed to invest Dupuis, Milot and a top French businessman in
French and Hong-Kong capitals in the Tonkinese Vietnam, Victor Roque, suspected that this con-
coalfields.124 This demonstrated the growing vention, negotiated by Bourée with Li Hongzhang,
importance of economic energo-imperial inter- the main shareholder of the China’s Merchants
ests, especially as Dupuis and his associate Company, intended to deprive France of the
Millot had close links with Freycinet, Ferry and Hongay coal basin and to satisfy alleged British
energo-imperial interests in Tonkin.129 Victor
119 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du Ministre de
Roque had strong reasons to oppose to the
la Marine et des Colonies au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, Bourée Convention as his company, the Steamer
31 mars 1882. Shipping Company of Cochinchina (“Messageries
120 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du Ministre de à Vapeur de Cochinchine”), was in competition
la Marine et des Colonies au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine,
31 mars 1882.
121 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du Ministre de 125 Ibid., 33-42.
la Marine et des Colonies au Gouverneur de la Cochinchine, 126 Lloyd E. Eastman, Throne and Mandarins: China’s
7 juillet 1882. Search for a Policy during the Sino-French Controversy, 1880-
122 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du Gouverneur 1885 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967), 60.
de la Cochinchine au Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, 127 Henri Rivière, “Lettre au chargé d’affaires de la léga-
16 juillet 1882. tion française à Huê du 15 janvier 1883”, in André Masson,
123 ANOM, GGI, côte n°12712, télégramme du Gouverneur Correspondance politique du Commandant Rivière au Tonkin
de la Cochinchine au Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies, (Avril 1882-Mai 1883), (Paris: Société de géographie 1933), 175.
septembre 1882. 128 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
124 Andrieux, “Mines et pépites”, Le Matin, 8 octobre 1884; 2018, 59.
“Mines et pépites”, L’intransigeant, 10 octobre 1884; Brocheux 129 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance
and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 33. nationale, 322.
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with the China’s Merchants Company and Admiral Meyer, commander of the French Naval
needed in particular to supply its steam-boats Division in China, that the Bourée convention
with coal.130 This merchant naval and economic gave the Hongay coal basin to China, urged the
energo-imperialist also advocated the conquest Governor to intervene in Tonkin to prevent an
of Tonkin, to which he was materially interested alleged potential British seizure of Hongay and
and committed as he supplied Rivière’s military rushed to Hanoi on the 8th of March.134 There,
detachment in Hanoi.131 he pressed Rivière to take action to impede
the alleged imminent concession of the Hongay
basin to China’s Merchant Company and its ret-
THE CONQUEST OF TONKIN AND THE
rocession to British interests.135 The next day, a
COLONIAL APPROPRIATION OF ITS COAL
French contingent marched on Hongay, success-
RESOURCES (1883-1885)
fully conquered the 12th, seizing au passage the
27 The Ferry government, probably pressured by buildings and stocks of the China’s Merchants
the business world (notably Dupuis, Millot and Company in Haïphong.136 The contingent estab-
Roque) and the French navy, rejected outright lished there a military post which dominated
the Bourée Convention on the 5th of March 1883. the Halong Bay, a “small Gilbraltar‘ as Rivière
The fact that the Bourée convention granted to coined it.137
China the whole coal mining region, the “Tonkin-
mines”, might have be a major incentive for such Rivière’s death in battle on May 19th resulted in 29
refusal. Eleven days later, the government opted a series of parliamentary debates. Dupuis had
for the total conquest of Tonkin. distributed to the deputies maps of Tonkin’s
supposed mineral resources,138 including coal
28 However, an energo-imperial military initiative at located near the Dong Trieu coalfields in the
a local level had already been taken in between. Quang Yen region.139 These maps, despite having
On the 9th of March 1883, Rivière decided to con- been ridiculed by anticolonialist MP George Périn
quer the Hongay coal basin, despite the risks with his comparison to Voltaire’s Eldorado,140
posed by such division of already meagre mili- might have contributed decisively to the parlia-
tary forces.132 Following months of inaction, this mentary vote of the 26 May 1883, where depu-
operation was the result of a coalition of ener- ties unanimously attributed significant credits
go-imperialist forces who had urged Rivière to (5,5 millions of francs) for a military expedition
occupy Hongay to attenuate the effects of the
Bourrée convention. In reaction to this con-
vention, the chargé d’affaires in Huê had sug-
gested to Rivière to act promptly in order to Commandant Rivière au Tonkin (Avril 1882-Mai 1883), (Paris:
Société de géographie 1933), 187.
avoid the concession of Hongay deposit to the 134 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance
Merchant’s Company, and ultimately its retro- nationale, 320-22.
cession to an English company.133 On the other 135 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
hand, Victor Roque, after having been warned by 2018, 61.
136 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance
nationale, 320-22
130 Id. 137 Henri Rivière, “Lettre au chargé d’affaires de la léga-
131 Gilles De Gantès, “Le particularisme des milieux d’af- tion française à Huê du 14 mars 1883”, in André Masson,
faires cochinchinois (1860-1910) : comment intégrer un Correspondance politique du Commandant Rivière au Tonkin
comptoir asiatique à un empire colonial protégé”, in Hubert (Avril 1882-Mai 1883), (Paris: Société de géographie 1933), 192.
Bonin, Catherine Hodeir et Jean-François Klein, L’esprit 138 “Monsieur Dupuis reparaît”, Le Petit parisien, lundi 21
économique impérial, 1830-1970: groupes de pression & décembre 1885, 1-2.
réseaux du patronat colonial en France & dans l’empire 139 “Le Tong-Kin et le bassin du Fleuve Rouge d’après
(Paris: Publications de la SFHOM, 2008). les documents de J. Dupuis”, Supplément au journal Le
132 Fourniau, Vietnam : domination coloniale et résistance Monde, samedi 9 juin 1883, 3 (https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
nationale, 321. bpt6k6783970s/f3.item).
133 Pierre-Paul Rheinart des Essarts, “Lettre du 9 février 140 Edouard Durranc, “La Chambre”, La Justice, jeudi 17
1883”, in André Masson, Correspondance politique du mai 1883, 1.
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to secure the French protectorate in Tonkin.141 Tonkin’s mineral resources. Hence, the elabora-
Indeed, during the parliamentary debate, a sen- tion of a mining regime started right after the
ator argued that Tonkinese coals would be pre- signature of the 1884 treaty, with the creation of
cious resources for the French military and a commission in September 1884 and the draft-
commercial navies, while the MP of Cochinchina ing of a mining convention by December 1884.147
wrote in its parliamentary report that the coal The draft convention, sent in December 1884 to
deposits next to the Tonkin gulf would allow for the resident general of France in Hue, dismissed
the rise of the French merchant navy in that all existing concessions apart from that of Nong
region.142 Son, specified that mining activities in Annam
and Tonkin were to be subject to French-made
30 More generally, the widespread sincere fiction regulations, and granted the protectorate the
of Tonkin (and Yunnan) as a mineral and com- revenues of all mining taxes in Tonkin.148 The
mercial Eldorado,143 in addition to a more gen- Vietnamese government, which retained only the
eral pro-imperialist propensity towards the tax revenues of the Annam mines, was eventually
conquest of Tonkin amongst French politicians, forced by the French general resident to sign the
and significant pressures from the French navy, mining convention in February 1885, despite its
the Government of Cochinchina and French initial opposition to it.149 The mineral resources
merchants and colonists,144 definitely played of Tonkin were hereafter legally under French
a role in this vote. As Brocheux and Hémery control.
argue, although the conquest of Tonkin cannot
be attributed “to the actions of a small lobby Meanwhile, China had been determined not to 32
and speculators aided by a handful of officers evacuate militarily Tonkin before a definitive dip-
and priests”, the pressure of this lobby “should lomatic resolution of the conflict. Consequently,
not be underestimated either, especially that of a new phase of the conflict had started in June
Dupuis and Millot”.145 1884, and after a French ultimatum in July 1884
and China’s refusal to pay a 250 million francs
31 Due to French military pressure, the Annam indemnity, two coal-mining harbors of Formosa
Empire was compelled to accept a French pro- (Taiwan) had been seized by the French Navy in
tectorate in Tonkin on the 25th of August 1883. January 1885.150
The French military successes against China in
northern Vietnam then forced its government in Nonetheless, the Sino-Vietnamese counter-of- 33
May 1884 to recognize the French protectorate fensive in Tonkin, the diplomatic pressure from
in Tonkin, to pull off its army from Tonkin, and Great Britain and a political crisis in France even-
to open southern China to French commerce.146 tually forced the French government to renounce
The French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin its indemnity claim and its military conquests
was hence enforced on the 6th of June 1884. As in China. The French government obtained, in
it was a protectorate and not an annexation, exchange, the Chinese recognition of its pro-
the French authorities needed to launch coal tectorate over Tonkin, as well as the evacuation
production a treaty with the Annam Empire of Chinese troops, the commercial opening of
that would have granted them full control over Yunnan to French interests and the construction
of a railway line from Tonkin to Yunnan. With the
141 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous March 1885 Sino-French agreement on Tonkin,
Colonization, 44.
the protectorate over Tonkin eventually came
142 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
2018, 64.
143 Villemagne, “Du Tonkin des pionniers à la mise en 147 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
valeur de l’Indochine”. 2018, 67–68.
144 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous 148 Ibid.,68.
Colonization, 33-34. 149 Ibid., 69.
145 Ibid., 33. 150 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
146 Ibid., 44-45. Colonization, 45-46.
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into existence, although Tonkin was not “paci- workers to be recruited and put at work effec-
fied” until the 1890’s,151 delaying the exploitation tively. However, the establishment of a French
of the Dong Trieu coalfields until the 1900’s.152 protectorate over Tonkin was a decisive step
Indeed, Victor Roque was granted these coal- in that process: by 1888, the Société française
fields in 1890,153 but he was captured by “pirates” des charbonnages du Tonkin was founded by
during his visit there,154 putting an end to his Bavier-Chauffour with 4 million of capitals,
dreams of commercializing Dong-Trieu coals as mainly Hong-Kongese;158 in 1889, under special
he seemed to have returned to France just after military protection,159 it had started extracting
having been liberated. Similarly, the Hongay coal coal in Hongay while facing its first strike;160 and
basin was not pacified until 1895.155 in 1906, it had already a profit rate of 60 % (85
% in 1913).161 This triumph of big business ener-
34 Overall, the conjunction of naval (stemming from go-imperial interests, first in Hongay and then
the Minister of the Navy and the Colonies and its in Dong-Trieu from the 1920’s (although not in
local agents), political (that of Cochinchina’s gov- Kebao in the 1890’s), led to the rise of coal pro-
ernor, of the chargé d’affaires and of pro-colonial duction in Vietnam up to 250 000 tons in 1901,
politicians), and economic (of Dupuis, Millot and 500 00 tons in 1910, 1 million in 1923 and 2 mil-
Roque) energo-imperialist interests led, amongst lion in 1928, its highest point in Vietnam’s colo-
other causes, to the conquest of Tonkin and nial history.162
of its coal resources. The bottom-up collection
of energo-imperial intelligence on Tonkin and Meanwhile, the energo-imperial interests of the 36
Annam’s coal resources from the 1870’s resulted Navy and the colonial administration had also
in an ever increasing interest of all these imperi- been satisfied. The compromise with Bavier-
alist actors for them, and a subsequent pressure Chauffour established in 1888 secured for the
on politicians to conquer Tonkin. Of course, the Navy a steady and cheap supply in coal and for
conquest of Tonkin cannot be attributed only the colonial budget a regular source of revenue,
to these energo-imperial interests, as religious, while leaving to private French capitals the task
agricultural, commercial, financial and political to create productive and profitable businesses
interests were also at stake,156 but it had a per- which would contribute to the pacification of
manent and important role in that complex and Tonkin and the growth of the colonial econo-
non-teleological process. my.163 Dupuis was granted the Kebao island on
conditions that were also favorable to the
colonial administration.164 Hence, far from being
CONCLUSION

35 The conquest of Tonkin and the establishment 158 “La fusion des sociétés charbonnières du Tonkin”,
L’Echo des mines et de la métallurgie, 24 novembre 1895.
of a protectorate over it were not the only con- 159 Centre des archives nationales du Vietnam n°1,
ditions to launch a profitable and productive Fonds de la Résidence supérieure au Tonkin, côte n° 37737,
extraction of its coal resources. The mining “Demande formulée par le Directeur de la Société Française
regime had to be drafted,157 concessions to be des Charbonnages du Tonkin en vue d’obtenir l’occupation
de certains postes à Quang Yen par la garde civile ou par
attributed, coal regions to be pacified, capitals les troupes militaires”, 1889-1892
to be lifted massively and invested profitably and 160 Centre des archives nationales du Vietnam n°1, Fonds
de la Résidence supérieure au Tonkin, côte n° 69910, “Grève
des ouvriers éclatés à la mine de Ha Tou (Quang Yen)”, 1889
151 Ibid., 46-47. 161 Pierre Brocheux, Une histoire économique du Viet Nam,
152 Ibid., 53. 1850-2007 : la palanche et le camion (Paris : Indes savantes,
153 Courrier d’Haïphong, 5 janvier 1890. 2009), 101.
154 “Tonkin”, Les Tablettes coloniales, 23 février 1890. 162 Association des mines du Tonkin, L’industrie minérale
155 ANOM, fonds de la Résidence Supérieure du Tonkin – en Indochine en 1933, Hanoï, Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient, 60.
Ancien Fonds [RST-AF], côte n° 27655; Jaeyung, “Exploitation 163 Emile Sarran, Etudes sur le bassin houiller du Tonkin
minière et exploitation humaine”, 2018, 114. (Paris: Challamel, 1888).
156 Ibid., 17-39. 164 ANOM, Indo AF, côte n°A60(5), Acte de concession de
157 Ibid., 2. terrains domaniaux, 4 avril 1888.
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a puppet regime of big business energo-imperi- markets,167 in concert with the imperial politics
alism, as shown by its four year of tough nego- of limited industrialization in Vietnam.168 Indeed,
tiations with Bavier-Chauffour, 165 the French the dominant share of its coal production was
colonial administration, in constant coordina- exported, apart during the early 1920’s and the
tion with the French government, managed to Indochinese war.169 As in addition, Vietnam’s
shape an energo-imperial scheme that fulfilled domestic consumption was mostly a colonial
its energo-imperial objectives and offered a one,170 energo-imperialism in Vietnam resulted
financial and energy justification for the colo- in an “unequal ecological exchange”171 between
nization of Tonkin. France and Vietnam, in terms of energy, benefits
from coal extraction and localization of ecolog-
37 Colonial Vietnam’s energo-imperial scheme ical destruction (water contamination).172 This
would therefore be until its final demise in 1954- unequal ecological exchange, which went with
55 the product of a settlement between big busi- the unequal socio-economic exchange between
ness, the Navy and the colonial administration French capitalists and managers and Vietnamese
energy imperialisms. In that sense, it was dif- workers,173 is henceforth to be studied altogether
ferent from Algerian energo-imperial scheme with colonial deforestation on the one hand,174
regarding coal, which aimed solely to satisfy colo- and plantation capitalism on the other, 175 in
nial energy needs at whatever economic cost.166 order to have a full picture of the lasting impact
In contrast, that of Vietnam also allowed for the of French energy and environmental colonialism
profitable exportation of coal on South-East Asia in Vietnam.176

167 Association des mines du Tonkin, L’industrie minérale en

Indochine en 1933 (Hanoï: Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient), 74.
168 Brocheux and Hémery, Indochina: An Ambiguous
Colonization, 125.
169 Association des mines du Tonkin, L’industrie minérale en
Indochine en 1933 (Hanoï: Imprimerie d’Extrême-Orient), 10.
170 Ibid., 82.
171 Alf Hornborg, Global Ecology and Unequal Exchange:
Fetishism in a Zero-Sum World (New York: Routledge, 2011).
172 ANOM, Fonds ministériels, Mission Dimpault (1936-1937),
1AFFECTO/104, Rapport Tupinier du 5 mai 1937. The absence
of archival sources on pollution and environmental issues is
telling much about the colonial disinterest in these issues.
173 Jaehyun, “Exploitation minière et exploitation humaine”,
2018.
174 Frédéric Thomas, “Protection des forêts et environne-
mentalisme colonial : Indochine, 1860-1945”, Revue d’histoire
moderne et contemporaine, 56–4.4 (2009), 104; Pamela D.
McElwee, Forests Are Gold: Trees, People, and Environmental
Rule in Vietnam (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016).
175 Martin J. Murray, The Development of Capitalism in
Colonial Indochina (1870-1940) (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1980); Marianne Boucheret, “Les planta-
tions d’hévéas en Indochine (1897-1954)” (Paris 1, 2008);
Xuan Tri Tran, “Les plantations d’hévéa en Cochinchine
(1897-1940)” (Aix-Marseille, 2018); Michitake Aso, Rubber
and the Making of Vietnam: An Ecological History, 1897-1975
(Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018).
165 ANMT, CS-BI, côte n°2011 030 5922; ANOM, Indo AF, 176 On that issue, see Armel Campagne, “La ecolo-
côte n°T41(2); ANOM, Indo AF, côte n°T41(3). gia-mundo del imperio colonial francés”, Relaciones
166 Saul, Intérêts économiques français et décolonisation Internacionales, “Ecología-Mundo, Capitaloceno y
de l'Afrique du Nord, 2016. Acumulación Global”, nos. 46 y 47 (forthcoming, 2021).
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