Studying professional organization of the French Indochina’s Post Offices and Telegraph

Abstract

After their invasion of Vietnam (1858) and gradual conquest of the whole country via the Giap Than treaty (also known as Patenôtre treaty, signed on June 6 1884), French colonialists gradually established networks of post offices and telegraphs all over Indochina. These networks played essential roles in the process of conquering and pacifying Indochina, as well as providing services that connected colonies, regions, towns and villages with cities. Base transceiver stations linked the colonies with metropolitans and other countries outside Vietnam. All activities of the post offices and telegraph systems were placed under the management and control of the Indochinese Department of Post Offices and Telegraph. Based on examining historical materials, this paper aims to contribute a new understanding of the professional organization of the Indochinese Department of Post Offices and Telegraph since it became an independent institute in the Indochinese colonial government.