v31_1836 - SECOND EMPIRE - CAMBODGE Essai de 5 centimes 1860 Bruxelles (?)

SECOND EMPIRE - CAMBODIA

Cambodia has been a Vietnamese protectorate since 1771.. Between 1834 and 1841, Vietnam accentuated its domination by implementing a policy of total annexation of Cambodia, with the imposition of the Vietnamese language in the administration.. In 1845, a revolt broke out killing thousands of Vietnamese across the country.. Cambodian emissaries request a Siamese intervention which is granted to them. Siamese army enters Oudong. But Siamese and Vietnamese end up agreeing and each retains the annexed provinces. It is in this context that King Ang Duong, fearing a definitive division of his country between his two powerful neighbours, in 1853 requested the intervention of France on the advice of Mgr Miche, Apostolic Vicar in Cambodia.. Napoleon III gives his agreement but the Siamese, made aware, make fail the treaty of alliance in gestation. Ang Duong then implemented, with very limited resources, a policy of modernization and reconstruction of a devastated country.. On his death in 1860, his son became king under the name of Norodom. In 1863, King Norodom will sign an agreement with France which will establish a protectorate over the kingdom and gradually integrate the country into its colonial empire.. France's takeover of Cambodia will be part of the process of colonization of the three countries, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which will form French Indochina for a little less than a century..