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.
Cochinchina
During the French colonial period, the label moved further south, and came to refer exclusively to the southernmost part of Vietnam, controlled by Cambodia in prior centuries, and lying to its southeast. The capital of the French colony of Cochinchina was at Saigon. The two other parts of Vietnam at the time were known as Annam (Central Vietnam) and Tonkin (Northern Vietnam).