French protectorate of Cambodia

The French protectorate of Cambodia was the period of French rule over Cambodia from 1863 to 1953. It began with a treaty signed by King Norodom I on August 11, 1863, and ended when King Norodom Sihanouk declared independence on November 9, 1953. Cambodian kings stayed on the throne throughout, while French officials took over more and more of the government.

King Norodom, who signed the 1863 protectorate treaty with France, in a 19th-century photograph

History details
Start	1863
End	1953
Present-day countries	Cambodia

On this page

1. The treaty of 1863
2. The convention of 1884 and the revolt
3. French rule
4. Nationalism
5. The end of French rule
6. References

On this page

1. The treaty of 1863
2. The convention of 1884 and the revolt
3. French rule
4. Nationalism
5. The end of French rule
6. References

The treaty of 1863

France moved into Cambodia in part to keep British and Siamese power away from the Mekong, which it took, wrongly, for a route into central China. In 1863 Norodom was persuaded by officers of the French navy based in Vietnam to sign a treaty that put Cambodia's foreign affairs under French control and loosened Siam's hold on the kingdom. When Norodom was crowned in 1864, a French admiral had a part in the ceremony. The treaty was ratified in Paris the same year.

For about fifteen years France asked little of Cambodia and helped the king put down revolts. From the late 1870s it pressed for control of the kingdom's taxes and courts. Norodom resisted, while his half brother Sisowath was ready to work with the French.

The convention of 1884 and the revolt

On June 17, 1884, Norodom signed a convention that took away most of his power. Britannica says the French made him sign "at gunpoint". Under the convention French résidents were posted to the provinces under a résident general, French officials took charge of taxes, customs and public works, and slavery was abolished.

Provincial officials raised armed bands against the French. In January 1885 supporters of Prince Si Votha attacked a French post at Sambor. The revolt lasted until the middle of 1886 and ended after the French gave ground to the king; Osborne credits Norodom's standing with bringing the fighting to a close. It was the only movement against French rule in the kingdom until after the Second World War.

French rule

From 1897 the king could not decide official matters without the approval of the French Résident supérieur. Norodom died in 1904. Cambodians lived under a colonial system of taxes, identity cards, forced labor and policing.

Sisowath, king from 1904 to 1927, cooperated more readily, and the country was partly modernized; by his death it had hundreds of miles of paved roads and thousands of acres of rubber plantations. In a treaty signed at Bangkok on March 23, 1907, Siam gave the provinces of Battambang, Sisophon and Siem Reap back to Cambodia. The same year the École française d'Extrême-Orient took charge of conserving the monuments of Angkor, a task it held until 1975.

In November 1915, 200 laborers from Kampong Cham province who had been called up for forced labor marched in protest. The protests that followed spread to most major provinces and drew an estimated 30,000 to 100,000 people. In 1925 the French Résident of Kampong Chhnang, Félix Louis Bardez, went to a village to collect taxes, and he, a militiaman and his interpreter were beaten to death.

Nationalism

Sisowath Monivong reigned until 1941 with little power of his own. The Buddhist Institute was founded on January 25, 1930, jointly with Laos. In 1936 Pach Chhoeun and Sim Var started the newspaper Nagara Vatta, and Son Ngoc Thanh soon joined them. Britannica calls it the first newspaper in the Cambodian language, mildly nationalist and tied to the Buddhist Institute.

In 1941, with Japanese troops already in French Indochina, the Vichy Governor-General Jean Decoux chose the eighteen-year-old Norodom Sihanouk as king. After the French arrested the monk Hem Chieu, over a thousand people, half of them monks, marched peacefully on July 20, 1942, to ask for his release.

The end of French rule

On March 9, 1945, Japanese forces arrested the French in Indochina and urged Sihanouk to declare independence. Son Ngoc Thanh led the government for several months. The French returned in October 1945 and arrested him. In January 1946 France and Cambodia agreed new terms: Cambodians would govern under French supervision, and France kept control of defense and foreign affairs. In the election of September 1, 1946, the Democrats won 50 of the 67 seats. Cambodia was now self-governing inside the French Union, with a constitution and political parties of its own, but the French kept the real power. A treaty at the end of 1949 gave what Sihanouk later called "50 percent independence".

In June 1952 Sihanouk dismissed the Democratic Party government, took power himself and promised independence within three years. His campaign abroad and at home, the "Royal Crusade", put pressure on France. He declared independence on November 9, 1953, the date now marked as Independence Day.

References 12