In Vietnam, some individuals focused their interest on the study of coins.
Some studies were published in the bulletin of the Socie ́te ́des E ́tudes Indo-
chinoises, formed in Saigon in 1865 to coordinate the study of all the recently
acquired territories. In 1882, Jules Silvestre, the inspector for native aVairs in
Cochin China, published a ‘Note to help research and classiWcation of coins of
Annam and French Cochinchine’ inExcursions et Reconnaissances, a colonial
journal which had begun to be published just three years earlier. In an
updated version produced in 1900, De ́sire ́ Lacroix, a sea artillery captain
with an interest in antiquities, justiWed both colonialism and the study of
antiquities with these words:
Like my master [M. Silvestre], I would advise my compatriots who circumstances have
brought to Indochina, to collect as many coins as possible of this disappearing two
thousand year-old empire. We have given the natives a taste for work, showing them
the beneWts to be obtained from the vast lands of Annam. These, for a long time
abandoned, have been transformed into riceWelds and each day, under the plough-
share, surfaced the ancient links, the hidden and lost treasure forgotten by their
forefathers.
(Lacroix 1900: 3).He then explained about the native custom of keeping antiquities as fetishes
and amulets, as well as cult objects. His mention of thieves as additional
competition for the coins seems to imply the existence of an antiquities
market (Lacroix 1900: 3–4). In 1905, Albert Schroeder published the results
of his twenty-year study in Vietnam with the title ofAnnam. E ́tudes Numis-
matiques.
The institutionalization of antiquities in Indochina would occur at the
turn of the century with the creation of the E ́cole Franc ̧aise d’Extreˆme
Orient (EFEO, French School of the Far East). Its origins have to be
sought in the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1889 (Halgand n.d.).
Here antiquities were given a place in the colonial discourse: sculptures
and moulds of ancient monuments and works of art were included in
the display. French Indochina was an obvious success for visitors identiWed
themselves with the oYcial policy of colonial expansionism defended by
politicians such as Jules Ferry. The recent incorporation of Tonkin and
Annam into the colonial territories from the mid 1880s had made France a
real player in the colonial politics of Southeast Asia. The need was
felt, accordingly, to organize oYcially an institution to coordinate scientiWc
study. A few years were needed to accomplish this, as the Mission arche ́ologi-
que d’Indochine was created only in 1898. Its name was to be changed two
years later to the E ́cole Franc ̧aise d’Extreˆme Orient to make the school
comparable to those opened in Greece, Italy, and Egypt in 1848, 1873, and
234 Colonial Archaeology