Imperial interdependence on Indochina's Maritime Periphery: France in Singapore and Hong Kong, 1859-1895

Abstract

This paper considers the growth of the maritime and naval periphery of the French colonial project in Indochina, in particular that project's expansion and deepening in Singapore and Hong Kong. While it is well known that access to Hong Kong and Singapore were vital to the initial conquest of Saigon in 1859, less well understood is the continuing infrastructural interdependence between Indochina on the one hand and Singapore and Hong Kong on the other. This paper will examine the laying and operation of Saigon's undersea telegraphic cables, as well as its coal supplies, shipping routes and packet services, arguing that French Indochina remained carbon and communications interdependent with its British colonial neighbors. Indeed, even as French authorities secured access to known coal supplies in northern Vietnam after 1885, French Indochina remained enmeshed in an international carbon economy which drew French coal to British ports—redefining, but not severing the interdependent relationship. This paper makes use of naval, colonial and diplomatic archival sources from France, Britain, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.