Metal made for propagation: How coins spread messages in French Indochina.
By Nguyen Ngoc Lien | 24 May 2022.
Even though coins have become much less popular in our modern society, they were an important and popular kind of currency in the past. They had come into use since as early as ancient Greek and Roman times, and the people in power soon realized its potential, as a visual language, to impart certain kinds of message (Kemmers 2021, 6). The ancient states were the first that decided to choose iconographies that even the common people could easily recognize.
Figure 1: Map of the territory of French Indochina.
This practice was employed in ancient times, and then adopted by the French during the French Indochina period. Coins were effectively utilized as a means for propagating messages and ideologies of the metropole. In addition to coins, the French also made excessive use of banknotes as carrier of propaganda, using some shared iconographies with those on coins. Together, these two forms of currency became effective tools to spread messages about the power and dominating position of the French over the colonies. For the coins, the messages contained were at least two-fold: firstly to assert France’s power over the colonies, and secondly to spread the allegedly noble values that the French center metropole upheld what, hence, justified the French domination of other countries.
Figure 2: Tonkin 1905 zinc sapaque.
The coins issued by the French for different regions differ in shape and in their design on the surface, which were used mainly for carrying the messages. In terms of shape, there are two types that can be found in Indochina: one with a hole in the middle of the coin, one with the usual solid round plate. There are usually two main elements on a coin: textual elements and symbol elements. Arguably, the designs on the coin were likely to be determined by the shape of the coin as the coins with a hole in the middle usually contain only texts (though there are few exceptions), while the other type of coins contains both texts and imageries.
The texts on the coins are mainly in French, and usually consist of the following components: (1) the monetary value (denomination) of the coin, (2) a description of the period or a significant event of that period, and (3) a denotation that the coins are properties of the French Republic of some kind.
Figure 3: King Norodom of Cambodia on coin 1860.
Figure 4: French Union 1 Piastre coin 1947.
Figure 5: Libertas on 1894 French Indochina coin.
There is a variety of iconographies depicted on these coins: ranging from images of King Norodom the First, Libertas, Marianne, to wheat grain – the shortage of which was considered to be one of the causes of the French Revolution (McIlvenna 2019). What they have in common is that we can easily discern that they illustrate the values of the French, as a way to highlight the omnipresent power of France in the colonies. Notably, coins with depictions of the wheat grain plant and Liberty or Marianne are most representative of the French Revolution and its values. Especially, the use of Liberty or Marianne, two figures associated the value of liberty, can be considered the epitome of using coin iconographies in order to impose their ideals on the colonized people.
Figure 6: Rice plant on French Union issue for Vietnam in 1953.
However, towards the end of the colonial period, the French did issue several coins with each colony’s national representations, such as the national emblem of Kingdom of Laos or the rice plant of Vietnam. This shift of paradigm can be explained by the shift from assimilation policy to association policy that the French used for governing. In other words, the French still tried to maintain their grip on the colonies, but in a much more subtle manner as their power in the region was diminishing. It is almost as if the French were trying to form an alliance with the colonies by allowing the representations of the colonies to appear on the coins. Nonetheless, similar to how the representations on coins were deployed to signify the French’s emerging authorities in the colonies at the beginning of the occupation, they then heralded, whether by the French’s choice or not, the end of French Indochina.
Bibliography
Kemmers, Fleur. 2021. “Coin Iconography and Social Practice in the Roman Empire.” In The Oxford Handbook of Roman Imagery and Iconography, edited by Lea K. Cline and Nathan T. Elkins. 338–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190850326.013.15.
McIlvenna, Una. 2019. “How Bread Shortages Helped Ignite the French Revolution.” History.com, A&E Television Networks. Last modified September 30, 2019 (24 May 2022).