Domain of the Crown

The Domain of the Crown (Vietnamese: Hoàng triều Cương thổ; Chữ Hán: 皇朝疆土; French: Domaine de la Couronne; Modern Vietnamese: Đất của vua) was originally the Nguyễn dynasty's geopolitical concept for its protectorates and principalities where the ethnic Kinh did not make up the majority, later it became a type of administrative unit of the State of Vietnam. It was officially established on 15 April 1950. In the areas of the Domain of the Crown, the Chief of State Bảo Đại was still officially (and legally) titled as the "Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty".

The Domain of the Crown was established to preserve French interests in French Indochina and to limit Vietnamese immigration into predominantly minority areas, halting Vietnamese influence in these regions while preserving the influences of both French colonists and indigenous rulers.

After the 1954 Geneva Conference, the Domain of the Crown lost considerable amounts of territory, as the entirety of Bắc phần was ceded to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, reducing it only to Tây Nguyên. On 11 March 1955 Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm dissolved the Domain of the Crown (officially 24 March) reducing both the power of the Chief of State Bảo Đại and the French directly annexing these areas into the State of Vietnam as the crown regions still in South Vietnam would later become Cao nguyên Trung phần in the Republic of Vietnam.

During the Nguyễn dynasty period (1802–1945) ethnic minorities retained a level of autonomy and their tribal societies and principalities were a part of what was considered to be the "Domain of the Crown" as an informal division.

This Domain included the Montagnard territories of Central Vietnam. The Champa Kingdom and the Chams in the lowlands of Central Vietnam were traditional suzerains whom the Montagnards in the highlands acknowledged as their lords, while autonomy was held by the Montagnards. After 1945, concept of "Nam tiến" (the southward expansion of Vietnam) was celebrated by Vietnamese scholars. The Pays Montagnard du Sud-Indochinois (or "Montagnard country of South Indochina") was the name of the Central Highlands from 1946 under French Indochina. Up until French rule, the Central Highlands was almost never entered by the Vietnamese since they viewed it as a savage (Mọi) populated area with fierce animals like tigers, "poisoned water" and "evil malevolent spirits." The Vietnamese expressed interest in the land after the French transformed it into a profitable plantation area to grow crops on, in addition to the natural resources from the forests, minerals and rich earth and realisation of its crucial geographical importance.

Furthermore, the Domain would include areas in Northern Vietnam populated by various ethnic minorities, primarily Tai peoples. Even though the upland Tai had stronger ethnic and cultural ties to Laos, Sip Song Chau Tai was incorporated into the French protectorate of Tonkin—and therefore French Indochina—after the year 1888. This was arranged by the French explorer and colonial representative Auguste Pavie who signed a treaty with Đèo Văn Trị, the White Tai lord of Muang Lay (Lai Châu) on 7 April 1889. Thereby the Sip Song Chau Tai accepted the French overlordship, while the colonial power promised to respect the positions of the Tai lords and their autonomy in internal affairs.

Following the abolition of the Nguyễn dynasty and the subsequent Proclamation of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 the French sought to regain the pre-war status quo in French Indochina after the surrender of Japan and tried reinstalling Bảo Đại. After months of negotiations with French President Vincent Auriol, he finally signed the Élysée Accords on 9 March 1949, which led to the establishment of the State of Vietnam with Bảo Đại as Chief of State. However, the country was still only partially autonomous, with France initially retaining effective control of the army and foreign relations. Bảo Đại himself stated in 1950: "What they call a Bảo Đại solution turned out to be just a French solution... the situation in Indochina is getting worse every day".

The Central Highland tribes were conquered by Franco-Vietnamese forces from 1887 to 1902. In order to meet the demand of the rubber market during the First World War, under industrial brokerage pressures to open up the Central Highlands, the French colonial government permitted establishment of colonial rubber plantations in 1916. By 1941, 42,000 Kinh and 5,100 French colonists had made the area their residence. There was some serious Montagnard revolts against French colonialists. Colonialism in Central Highlands nevertheless was halted during the Second World War, when the fascist Petain regime and its Decoux administration of Indochina attempted to boast the native Montagnards' warrior culture and recruit indigenous loyalism, first to reject Vietnamese nationalist claim to the region, second to circumvent indigenous liberation, third to prevent Japanese access. After the Second World War, worries about rising nationalist movements in Cambodia and Vietnam and Vietminh potential takeover of the highlands prompted France to negotiate and establish several autonomous entities assigned to indigenous minority peoples to retain direct French control under the camouflage of granting independence.