Economy of Vietnam
Until the French colonization in the mid-19th century, Vietnam's economy had been mostly agrarian, subsistence-based and village-oriented. French colonizers, however, deliberately developed the regions differently as the French needed raw materials and a market for French manufactured goods, designating the South for agricultural production as it was better suited for agriculture, and the North for manufacturing as it was naturally wealthy in mineral resources. Though the plan exaggerated regional divisions, the development of exports—coal from the North, rice from the South—and the importation of French manufactured goods stimulated domestic commerce.
Overseas Vietnamese
France was the first Western country to where Vietnamese migrants settled due to the colonization of Vietnam by France that began in the late 1850s. During the colonial period, there was a significant representation of Vietnamese students in France, as well as professional and blue-collar workers, with many settling permanently.