Cochin China

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a country forming part of the peninsula of southeastern Asia, and generally regarded as comprising the whole of ANAM (q. v.) and Lower or French Cochin China. The latter belonged to Anam till, in 1863, a portion of it was ceded to France after a war occasioned by the persecution of French missionaries; another portion being declared French territory in 1867. The territory thus acquired covers about 20,000 square miles. Pop. about 3, 050,785. It is now organized into four provinces and 21 arrondissements In the low and wet grounds much rice is In the more elevated districts grown. are grown tobacco, sugar-cane, maize, indigo, and betel. Among the other products are tea, gums, cocoanut oil, silk, spices. Industrial arts are as yet limited among the natives. But they excel in the use of wood, of which their temples, pagodas, and tombs are built, being ornamented with elaborate car carving. They live in villages adjacent to the rivers, which form the chief means of communication. The principal export is rice, mainly to China; cotton and silk are also exported. The majority of the inhabitants are Anamese. In their monosyllabic language, their religious tendencies toward Buddhism or the system of Confucius, and in their social customs they much resemble the Chinese. Upper Cochin China is the name sometimes given to the narrow strip of land on the E. coast of Anam between the mountains and the sea extending from Tonquin on the N. to Champa on the S., or from about 18° to 11° N. In the World War of 1914-1918 Anamite troops fought with the French in the Balkan campaigns. COCHIN, HENRY DENYS BENOÎT MARIE. A French author, born in Paris in 1854. He was educated at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, graduating in literature and law. During the Franco- German war he was a volunteer in the 17th batallion of the Garde Nationale. In 1877 he became attaché to the Minister of the Interior; and deputy in 1893, remaining in the Chamber till 1914, when he retired in favor of his son. For four years he was Conseiller Général of the North. His works include: "Giulietta et Roméo," "Le Manuscrit de M. Larsonecace," "Un Ami de Pé- ," nier," "Boccace trarque," "Le Frère de Pétrarque," "La Vita Nuova de Dante traduite et commentée," "Tableaux flamands," "Jubilés d'Italie," "Lamartine et la Flandre," "Les deux Guerres," "L'Œuvre de guerre du peintre Albert Besnard," this last appearing in 1918.