242 



FRANCE. 



taiy expenditure of France for 1900 was fixed at 

 337,500 francs. 'Ihe coast line is 125 miles and the 

 inland boundary is undetermined. The population 

 of the French colony is 22,370. In the north 

 France claims the Bay of Adulis by virtue of a 

 cession to Napoleon 111 by the King of Tigre. 



Off the east coast of Africa numerous islands 

 are colonies of France, some of which have been 

 colonized for centuries. The claim to Madagascar 

 itself was based on the exercise or assertion of 

 sovereignty as early as 1642, but. the country was 

 not effectively occupied till 1895 (see MADAGAS- 

 CAR). The island of Reunion, 420 miles east of 

 Madagascar, has been a French possession since 

 1049, and is represented in the French Chambers 

 by a Senator and two Deputies. The area is 965 

 square miles. The population in 1897 was 173,192. 

 Si. Denis, the capital, had 32,850 inhabitants in 

 1899. There are plantations of sugar cane, coffee, 

 cacao, vanilla, and spices, on which coolie and 

 native labor is employed. There were 15,219 Brit- 

 ish Indians, 4,496 natives of Madagascar, 9,848 

 Africans, and 836 Chinese in 1897. A railroad, 83 

 miles long, now belonging to the Government, con- 

 nects the port of Pointe-des-Galete with the in- 

 terior towns. The local revenue in 1899 was esti- 

 mated at 5,979,077 francs. The expenditure of 

 France for 1900 was 4,460.203 francs. The value 

 of imports in 1898 was 19,765,268 francs, and of 

 exports 19,027,857 francs, the export of sugar being 

 8,851,250 francs and vanilla 6,883,775 francs in 

 value. The island of Mayotte, which has been 

 French since 1843, and the Comoro Islands, first 

 occupied in 1886, are administered from Reunion. 

 Mayotte has an area of 140 square miles and 

 11,640 inhabitants. Sugar and rum are the chief 

 products, but vanilla is becoming an important 

 culture, and recently coffee has been planted ex- 

 tensively. The imports are about 440,000 francs 

 and exports 960,000 francs. The local revenue in 

 1899 was 245,000 francs, to which France added 

 13,000 francs, and to repair the damages of a 

 hurricane in February, 1898, a loan of 500,000 

 francs to be paid without interest in twenty years. 

 The subvention from France in 1900 was 42,583 

 francs. The Comoros have an area of 620 square 

 miles and a population of 47,000, mainly Moham- 

 medan. Sugar and vanilla are cultivated, and 

 coffee and clove trees have recently been planted. 

 The revenue is about 260,000 francs. St. Paul, 

 Amsterdam, and Kerguelen islands in the Indian 

 Ocean have been annexed by France. Nossi R6 

 having an area of 130 square miles and 9,500 in- 

 habitants, and producing sugar, coffee, rice, vanilla, 

 and tobacco, has been attached administratively 

 to Madagascar; also Sainte Marie, 64 square miles 

 in extent, with 9,500 inhabitants. 



In Asia the oldest French possessions are the 

 towns of Pondichery, Karical, Shandernagar, 

 Mahe, and Yanaon, with outlying districts cover- 

 ing an area of 196 square miles and having a 

 total population of 279,091, including 1,000 Euro- 

 peans. They form the colony of French India, all 

 that remains of the once large possessions in the 

 Indian peninsula. The colony sends a Senator and 

 a Deputy to the National Assembly. The revenue 

 for 1899 was estimated at 1,159,204 rupees. The 

 1'rench subvention for 1900 was 308,412 francs. 

 The imports in 1898 were 3,877,710 francs; exports, 

 mainly oil seeds, 14,836,736 francs. 



The French conquests in Indo-China are modern, 

 beginning with the protectorate over Cochin China, 

 now a French colony, in 1861 and over Cambodia 

 in 1862, though their origin goes back to an earlier 

 colonial period when France was a dominant power 

 in India and intervened in Annam in 1787. The 

 protectorate over Annam was proclaimed in 1884 



and established in 1886, and the conquest of Ton- 

 quin. which was annexed by proclamation as a 

 dependency of Annam in 1884, was not accom- 

 plished without several years of fighting and two 

 hard campaigns, in the last of which China became 

 involved by the informal intervention of Chinese 

 troops. In 1893, after an armed conflict with Siani, 

 the protectorate was extended over Laos. French 

 Indo-China is under the authority of a single 

 governor general and forms a customs union, but 

 the provinces have different forms of government 

 and separate local authorities. The total area is 

 about 363,000 square miles and the aggregate popu- 

 lation is estimated at 23,300,000. The imports in 

 1898 were valued at 102,444,346 francs, of which 

 44,415,786 francs came from France. The exports 

 of native produce were 125,553,528 francs in value, 

 of which 29,198,786 francs went to France. The 

 foreign exports were 1,957,665 francs in value, 

 making the total exports 127,510,979 francs. The 

 territory of Kwang-Chi-Wan,on the coast of China, 

 acquired in 1899 by lease from the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment, has been placed under the authority of 

 the Governor General of Indo-China. The Su- 

 perior Council of Indo-China, created in 1887 and 

 reorganized in 1897, is consulted by the Governor 

 General and assists him in controlling the budgets 

 of Cochin China, Annam, Tonquin, Cambodia, and 

 Laos. The military force maintained by France in 

 Indo-China numbers 9,059 men, recruited in Eu- 

 rope and paid by the French Government. The 

 present Governor General is Paul Doumer. The 

 revenue for 1899 was estimated at $17,620,000: the 

 contribution of France in 1900 was 19,222,288 

 francs. 



Cochin China has an area of about 23,160 square 

 miles, with a population estimated in 1899 at 

 2.323,499, comprising 4.451 Europeans, 2,054,831 

 Annamites, 183,659 Cambodians, 6,374 Mois, 2,656 

 Chams, 65,801 Chinese, 4,130 Malays, 1,477 Indians, 

 46 Tagals, and 46 other foreigners. A regiment 

 of French marines is stationed in Cochin China 

 and one in Tonquin and one in Annam. Besides 

 there is the native soldiery trained by French offi- 

 cers, numbering in Cochin China 2,405. The main 

 crop is rice, of which 11,277,770 piculs were ex- 

 ported in 1898 to China, Japan, and Europe. Other 

 articles of export are cotton, silk, hides, fish, isin- 

 glass, pepper, cardamoms, and copra. The mer- 

 chandise imports in 1898 were valued at 54,964,222 

 francs; exports, 108,010,322 francs. Coffee is raised 

 by European and some native planters. The num- 

 ber of vessels entered in 1898 at the port of Saigon 

 was 600, of 726,368 tons; cleared, 579, of 729,781 

 tons. The railroad from Saigon to Mytho is 51 

 miles long. The total length of telegraphs is 

 2,276, with 3,840 miles of wire, over which 321,536 

 messages were sent in 1896. There are 850 miles 

 of railroad planned. 



Annam has a King. Thanh Thai, who was sot up 

 by France in 1889, and the administration is car- 

 ried on under French control by native officials. 

 The area of the protectorate is 88,780 square mile* : 

 the population is estimated at 6.000,000. The prod 

 ucts of the country are rice, silk, corn, areca nuts, 

 cinnamon, tobacco, sugar, betel, manioc, bamboo, 

 rubber, dyes, medicinal plants, and timber. Th<> 

 natives mine and work iron, copper, zinc, and gold. 

 and make pottery and silk fabrics. The value oi 

 imports in 1898" was 3.775.000 francs; exports, 

 3,075.000 francs. The revenue in 1899 was esti- 

 mated at $1,845,835. 



Cambodia is ruled by King Norodom undo- 

 French direction. The area is 40,530 square miles 

 the population is estimated at 1,500.000. includim,' 

 lie-ides the various native races 250.000 Chine- 1 

 and Annamites and 40,000 Malays. Pnom Penh, 



