and the Parrot's Beak of
Svay Rieng were ceded to the Cambodian Kingdom. The
Mekong Delta region (the location of the Six Provinces) was gradually annexed by Vietnam from the
Khmer Empire starting in the mid 17th century to the early 19th century, through their
Nam tiến territorial expansion campaign. In 1832, Emperor
Minh Mạng divided Southern Vietnam into the six provinces
Nam Kỳ Lục tỉnh. According to the
Đại Nam nhất thống chí (Nguyễn dynasty national atlas) of the
Quốc sử quán (official Nguyễn-era compilation of Vietnamese history, geography and people from 1821 to 1945), in 1698 the lord
Nguyễn Phúc Chu established the prefecture (
phủ) of Gia Định. In 1802, emperor
Gia Long turned Gia Định prefecture into a township, and in 1808, he renamed Gia Định prefecture into a governorate containing the five townships of Phan Yên, Biên Hòa (or Đồng Nai), Định Tường, Vĩnh Thanh (or Vĩnh Long), and Hà Tiên. In 1832, emperor
Minh Mạng renamed Phan Yên Citadel into
Gia Định Citadel, and the 5 townships were turned into the six provinces of Phan Yên, Biên Hòa, Định Tường, Vĩnh Long, Hà Tiên, and the newly established An Giang. Thus, the Six Provinces was created in 1832; and in 1834 the Six Provinces were collectively called
Nam Kỳ (
"Southern Region", which would eventually be known in the West as
Cochinchina). Phan Yên province was renamed to Gia Định province in 1835. After the French colonial invaders, led by vice-admiral
Charles Rigault de Genouilly attacked and captured the three eastern provinces of Gia Định, Định Tường, and Biên Hòa in 1862, and invaded the remaining western provinces of Vĩnh Long, An Giang, Hà Tiên in 1867, the
French Empire abolished the administrative divisions created by the Nguyễn dynasty. At first, the French used
départements instead of prefectures, and
arrondissements in place of districts (
huyện). By 1868, the former
Nam Kỳ Lục tỉnh had over 20 arrondissements (districts). Cochinchina was ruled by a French government-appointed governor in Saigon, and each county had a
Secrétaire d’Arrondissement (en: "
County Secretary", vi: "
thư ký địa hạt" or "
bang biện").
Bạc Liêu county was created in 1882. On 16 January 1899, the counties were changed into
provinces per a French government decree, each with a provincial
premier (fr: "
chef de la province", vi: "
chủ tỉnh") who is head of provincial government.
French division into 21 smaller provinces, discontinuation of the Six Provinces The French government divided the original six provinces into 21 smaller ones. Following the 1899 decrees, starting 01/01/1900 Nam Kỳ would be divided into the following 21 provinces: •
Gia Định province was divided into the 5 provinces of:
Gia Định,
Chợ Lớn,
Tân An,
Tây Ninh, and
Gò Công. •
Biên Hòa province was divided into the 4 provinces of:
Biên Hòa,
Bà Rịa,
Thủ Dầu Một, and
Cap Saint-Jacques (later
Vũng Tàu province). Cap Saint Jacques was created on 30/04/1929 and dissolved 01/01/1935; in 1947 the province was re-established under the name Vũng Tàu until 1952 when it was dissolved again. •
Định Tường province became
Mỹ Tho province. •
Vĩnh Long province was divided into the 3 provinces of:
Vĩnh Long,
Bến Tre, and
Trà Vinh. •
An Giang province was divided into the 5 provinces of:
Châu Đốc,
Long Xuyên,
Sa Đéc,
Sóc Trăng, and
Cần Thơ. •
Hà Tiên province was divided into the 3 provinces of:
Hà Tiên,
Rạch Giá,
Bạc Liêu. • On 11/05/1944
Tân Bình province was created, carved out of Gia Định province. The reason for this division into 21 provinces was because the French Empire intended to erase the name "Lục tỉnh" from the hearts and minds of the
Vietnamese people and
language, and cut any feelings of attachment and Vietnamese nationalism with this region to avert potential local revolution or rebellion. However, in 1908 the newspaper
Lục Tỉnh Tân Văn ("Six Provinces News") whose editor was
Gilbert Trần Chánh Chiếu, still commonly used the names "Lục Tỉnh" and "Lục Châu". The French Empire called Southern Vietnam (
Nam Kỳ) Cochinchine, Northern Vietnam (
Bắc Kỳ)
Tonkin and Central Vietnam (
Trung Kỳ)
Annam.
Cochinchina itself was an exonym. == Administrative divisions ==