Trương Vĩnh Ký với biên khảo: “Tập bài giảng nhỏ về địa lý Nam Kỳ” (Petit cours de géographie de la basse-cochinchine)

Abstract

The scholar Truong Vinh Ky (1837-1898) left behind a huge legacy of works in many different genres such as poetry, prose, textbooks, dictionaries, historical and geographical research... Among them, he carried out and had research on the history and geography of Nam Kỳ, also known as Cochinchina, published quite early, starting with the work Petit cours de géographie de la Basse-Cochinchine, 1er Édition, Saigon, Imprimerie du Gouvernement, 1875 (Small Collection of Lectures on Geography of Nam Kỳ, first printed at the General Governor Palace Printing House, Saigon, 1875). Going beyond a 60-page set of lectures used to teach students in colonial schools, the work has become an outstanding book with great reference value on the history and geography of Cochinchina during the colonial period.