Start of French Rule
During 19th century, the kingdom of Cambodia had been reduced into a vassal state to the kingdom of Siam which had annexed its western provinces, including Angkor and growing influence from the Vietnamese Nguyen Dynasty threatened the eastern portion of the country. After the French establishment of a colony in Cochinchina (present-day southern Vietnam) in 1867, King Norodom of Cambodia requested a French protectorate over his kingdom. At the time, Pierre-Paul de La Grandière, colonial governor of Cochinchina, was carrying out plans to expand French rule over the whole of Vietnam and viewed Cambodia as a buffer between French possessions in Vietnam and Siam. On 5 July 1863, Norodom signed a treaty acknowledging a French protectorate over his kingdom. Under the treaty, the Cambodian monarchy was allowed to remain, but power was largely vested to a resident general to be housed in Phnom Penh. France was also to be in charge of Cambodia's foreign and trade relations as well as provide military protection. Siam later recognized the protectorate after France ceded the Cambodian province of Battambang and recognized Thai control of Angkor.
Read more about this topic: French Protectorate Of Cambodia
Famous quotes containing the words start, french and/or rule:
“If everything is perfect, language is useless. This is true for animals. If animals don’t speak, it’s because everything’s perfect for them. If one day they start to speak, it will be because the world has lost a certain sort of perfection.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“The French are a tremendously verbal race: they kill you with their assurances, their repetitions, their reasons, their platitudes, their formulae, their propositions, their solutions.”
—Christina Stead (1902–1983)
“The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)