Tonkin

 

(tŏn'kĭn', tŏng'–) , historic region (c.40,000 sq mi/103,600 sq km), SE Asia, now forming the heartland of N Vietnam. The capital was Hanoi. Tonkin was bordered on the north by China, on the east by the Gulf of Tonkin, on the south by the historic region of Annam, and on the S and W by Laos. The region of Tonkin was conquered in 111 B.C. by the Chinese, who ruled until they were ousted in A.D. 939, at which time the area became independent. The inhabitants began a southward expansion, and by 1471 they had acquired the kingdom of Champa. After the division of the Vietnamese lands between two dynasties in 1558, the northern half was ruled from the city of Tonkin (modern Hanoi); thus the name of Tonkin came to be applied by Europeans to the whole area. The two regions were reunited in 1802 under the rule of the restored line of Hue as part of the empire of Vietnam. To open the Red River to French trade, French expeditions were sent into Tonkin in 1873 and 1882; that of 1882 resulted in a full-scale colonial war, complicated by Chinese intervention (China also claimed the region) against the French. In 1884, Annam accepted a French protectorate, conceding France a separate protectorate over Tonkin with control more direct than over Annam. In 1887, Tonkin became part of the Union of Indochina. In World War II, the region was occupied (1940–45) by the Japanese. After the war Tonkinese and Annamese nationalist leaders joined in demanding independence for the state of Vietnam, and Tonkin was torn by guerrilla warfare between the French and the Viet Minh nationalists led by Ho Chih Minh. The name also appears as Tongking and Tonking.

Tonkin (Đông Kinh in Vietnamese), also spelled Tongkin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region". Located on the fertile delta of the Red River, Tonkin is rich in rice production.

The term derives from Đông Kinh (東京), a former name of Hanoi, which was the capital of Vietnam since the 7th century. (The name means "eastern capital", and is identical in meaning and written form in Chinese characters to that of Tokyo.)

Starting around 100 BC the land was given the Chinese name Jiaozhi (交趾; pinyin: Jiāozhǐ; Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ). Around 650 AD it was renamed Annam by the government of the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was called Dai Co Viet by the Tien Le Dynasty and then Đại Việt by the Ly Dynasty.

France assumed sovereignty over all of Vietnam after the Franco-Chinese War (1884-1885). The French colonial government then divided Vietnam into three different administrative territories. They named the territories: Tonkin (in the north), Annam (in the center), and Cochinchina (in the south). These territories were fairly arbitrary in their geographic extent. The vast majority of the Vietnamese regarded their country as a single land and fought for much of the next 90 years to achieve unification.

French overseas empire

Former Former French colonies in Africa and the Indian Ocean Mahgreb Algeria · Morocco (Arguin Island) · Tunisia French West Africa Côte d'Ivoire · Dahomey · French Sudan · Guinea · Mauritania · Niger · Senegal · Upper Volta   French Togoland · James Island French Equatorial Africa Chad · Gabon · Middle Congo · Oubangui-Chari Comoros Anjouan · Grande Comore · Mohéli   French Somaliland (Djibouti) · Madagascar · Ile de France · Seychelles Former French colonies in the Americas New France  (Acadia • Louisiana • Canada • Terre Neuve) 1655 – 1763 Inini · Berbice · Saint-Domingue (Haiti) · Tobago · Virgin Islands · France Antarctique · France Équinoxiale French West India Company Former French colonies in Asia and Oceania French India Chandernagor · Coromandel Coast · Madras · Malabar · Mahé · Pondichéry · Karaikal · Yanaon French Indochina Cambodia-Kampuchea · Laos · Vietnam (Annam • Cochinchina • Tonkin) Other Asian Alaouites · Alexandretta-Hatay · Ceylon · Kwangchowan Oceania New Hebrides (Vanuatu) French East India Company Present Overseas departments and territories of France Overseas departments1 French Guiana · Guadeloupe · Martinique · Réunion Overseas collectivities French Polynesia · Mayotte2 · Saint Barthélemy · Saint Martin · Saint Pierre and Miquelon · Wallis and Futuna Special status New Caledonia Uninhabited lands Clipperton Island French Southern and Antarctic Lands  (Amsterdam Island • Saint Paul Island • Crozet Islands • Kerguelen Islands • Adélie Land Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean:  Bassas da India3 • Europa Island3 • Glorioso Islands2, 3, 4 • Juan de Nova Island3 • Tromelin Island5) 1 Also known as overseas regions • 2 claimed by Comoros • 3 claimed by Madagascar • 4 claimed by Seychelles • 5 claimed by Mauritius

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