Annam

or Anam, an Indo-China protectorate of France. It is not only the chief French holding in that peninsula, but in Asia as well. Annam lies on the east coast of Indo-China, with a frontage of about 800 miles on the South China Sea. It is separated from Siam on the west by the Mekong River. Present area, 52,100 square miles, about equal to that of Arkansas. The population (1901) was returned at 6,124,000. The inhabitants are chiefly "Anamites," speaking a language closely related to Chinese. The mountains are inhabitated by a hill people. The peasants of Annam are chiefly Buddhists. The educated element follows Confucius. There are half a million Catholics. Rice is the food crop. The country produces rice, corn, cinnamon, sugar, tea, coffee, cotton, tobacco, and silk. The Anamese considered themselves natives of the south of China. Legendary Chinese annals running back, nobody knows how long, but for a couple of thousand years before the Christian Era, speak of the inhabitants of Annam under a native name which signifies "with the big toe."

Speaking historically, about 214 B. C. Annam became a Chinese possession. Independence was secured in 1428, over half a century before the discovery of America by Columbus. In the days of greatest prosperity Annam held Cochin-China and Tonking. About the middle of the nineteenth century France began to interfere in the affairs of Annam on the score of protecting the natives who had been converted to Christianity. After the camel got its nose in, the body followed. Successive treaties were forced upon the rulers until, in 1886, the French government, English fashion, announced that Annam had consented to permanent French protection.

In 1907 a boy eight years old was placed on the throne. Real authority is vested in a resident French lieutenant-governor. The capital is Hue, a city of 50,000 people. A French garrison occupies the citadel. The ports of Annam are open to all countries for trade.