Французький колоніалізм та питання приватизації землі у В’єтнамі: дослідження Південно-Західної Кохінхіни (1867–1940)

Abstract

The article examines the process of land privatization in Southwestern Cochinchina (Vietnam) from 1867 to 1940 under French colonial rule, drawing on colonial administrative reports, cadastral records, and relevant scholarship, particularly archival materials currently preserved at the National Archives Center II in Ho Chi Minh City. The research has applied historical, logical, and quantitative methods to analyze how the colonial state established a legal framework through land registration, concessions, and public auctions that transformed land into a transferable commodity and integrated it into the colonial market economy. This institutional framework not only legitimized private ownership but also facilitated the circulation, accumulation, and concentration of land on an unprecedented scale. While these policies, together with major investments in hydraulic infrastructure, especially the expansion of canal networks, enabled large-scale land reclamation and the rapid growth of cultivated areas, turning Southwestern Cochinchina into the principal rice-producing center of Indochina, they also generated profound structural imbalances. Land increasingly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small group of landowners, including not only French concessionaires but also a segment of wealthy Vietnamese elites, some of whom acquired French citizenship and actively participated in large-scale land accumulation. Meanwhile, the majority of rural inhabitants remained smallholders or landless peasants, facing growing dependence on tenancy, credit, and fluctuating market conditions. As a result, traditional communal landholding structures were progressively eroded, and a highly stratified rural society emerged, characterized by unequal access to land and widening socio-economic disparities. By situating these transformations within the broader logic of colonial exploitation, the article underscores the dual nature of French policies, which simultaneously promoted agricultural expansion and commercialization while deepening social inequalities and fundamentally reshaping agrarian relations in Southwestern Cochinchina.