Discuss the factors that led to the formation of French Indo-China in 1887.

The question requires that candidates offer a considered and balanced review of the factors that led to the formation of French Indo-China in 1887. Candidates may refer to the French desire to colonise Indo-China in order to benefit from the country’s natural resources. They also needed treaty ports for trade and markets for finished goods. There was competition from other European powers to establish strongholds in Asia. France was also heavily involved in Vietnam in the nineteenth century, protecting the work of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. While other relevant factors, for example the fact that the Cambodian King Norodom had requested the establishment of a French protectorate, may be referred to, the bulk of the response will remain on the issue raised in the question.