French Indochina - 1930s Definitives

FRENCH INDOCHINA 1-centime (brown) and 2-centime (green) issued from 1931 until 1941 depicted  "La Jonque" (traditional Chinese junk sailboat). They were part of 34 definitive stamps printed by Helio-Vaugirard in Paris using the photogravure process. The stamps were printed by the French postal administration and designed by O. Menti (E) and A. Dawassy. 

FRENCH INDOCHINA 3-centime (brown), 4-centime, (blue) 5-centime (purple) and 6-centime (orange) stamps showed  "Ruines d'Ankor", two carved stone faces from the towers of the Bayon Temple in Angkor, Cambodia. It was  part of the "Local Motifs" series issued on 16 November 1931. This definitive series was printed by Helio-Vaugirard in Paris using the photogravure process. Designer / engraver was Antonin (Jean) Delzers (E) and Gabriel-Antoine Barlangue.

FRENCH INDOCHINA "Hoi-Hao" (Paddy Field) was part of a definitive series issued between 6 August 1938. It featured an illustration of a person working in a rice paddy field. The set included various denominations: 10-centimes (blue), 15-centimes (blue and brown) and 20-centimes (pink), and 21-centimes (green). This definitive series was printed by Helio-Vaugirard in Paris using the photogravure process. Designer / engraver was Georges Hourriez (E) and Nguyễn Phan Chánh.

BACKGROUND HISTORY 

French Indochina was officially known as Indochinese Union (Union Indochinese) after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation (Fédération Indochinese) after 1947. This was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia that issued postage stamps between 1886 and 1949.

This group comprised three Vietnamese regions of Tonkin (north), Annam (center), and Cochinchina (south) with Cambodia being formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and the leased Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan in 1898. The capital was moved from Saigon (in Cochinchina) to Hanoi (Tonkin) in 1902 and again to Da Lat (Annam) in 1939. In 1945, it was moved back to Hanoi.

After the Fall of France during World War II, the colony was administered by the Vichy government and was under Japanese occupation until March 1945, when the Japanese overthrew the colonial regime. After the Japanese surrender, the Viet Minh, a communist organisation led by Hồ Chí Minh, declared Vietnamese independence, but France subsequently took back control of French Indochina. An all-out independence war, known as the First Indochina War, broke out in late 1946 between French and Viet Minh forces.

In order to create a political alternative to the Viet Minh, the State of Vietnam, led by former Emperor Bảo Đại, was proclaimed in 1949. On 9 November 1953, the Kingdom of Cambodia proclaimed its independence. Following the Geneva Accord of 1954, the French evacuated Vietnam and French Indochina came to an end.