Pierre Poivre's Voyages to Cochinchina in Mid-Eighteenth Century: A Reappraisal

Abstract

Ironically, there remain ignorance and conflicting judgments about Pierre Poivre's voyages to Cochinchina in the Mid-eighteenth  century.

First, there is a gap of historical perspective reflecting through either Vietnamese histories or annals about Poivre's voyages to Vietnam. In addition, monographs on the French-Vietnamese relationship at that time, especially those by Vietnamese scholars, did not mention about this event, not only in term of the eighteenth-century trading relations, but also in regard to an insightful analysis about the interesting information in his descriptions of Cochinchina. Instead, they tended to interpret the history of Vietnamese-French relationship as a colonial process, which had begun right from the first encounter!

Second, praised as a person who profoundly understood Cochinchina and in reply to the way of penetrating Cochinchina in 1768, Pierre Poivre unhesitatingly advised his French Government at that time to employ forces (armanent). Because of this, some researchers concluded that the French had intended to invade Vietnam since the mid-eighteenth century if Poivre's advice of military use had been considered.

Based on the French materials and a comparison with Poivre's memoir, this article seeks to compare the contents of both descriptions of Cochinchina by Poivre. It also reconsiders Poivre's admonitions in an attempt to justify the impossible military plan under such a historical circumstance in the mid-eighteenth century.