Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.Kinh tế nông nghiệp tỉnh Sơn La từ đầu thế kỉ XIX đến năm 1945.
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION TRAN THI PHUONG AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OF SON LA PROVINCE FROM EARLY 19TH CENTURY TO 1945 Major: Vietnam History Code: 9.22.90.13 SUMMARY OF THESIS OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY HANOI - 2022 The thesis is completed at: Hanoi National University of Education Supervisors: - Prof PhD Vo Van Sen - Assoc Prof PhD Nguyen Duy Binh Reviewer 1: ……………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… Reviewer ……………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Reviewer 3: ……………………………………………… …………………………………………………………… The thesis will be defended at the Thesis council of Hanoi National University of Education on …………… , …… at … The thesis can be found at: Vietnam National Library, Hanoi Library of Hanoi National University of Education INTRODUCTION Reason for choosing topic Vietnam is a country with a long-standing developed agricultural economy Until the transition to the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country, the agricultural economy in Vietnam was still the main economic sector However, the development of Vietnam's agricultural economy in general and each locality and region in particular has different features and was changed from time to time due to the impacts of specific historical conditions In mountainous or border areas, due to special natural conditions and social organization characteristics, the land situation, farming practices, production techniques, exchange methods, etc and the agricultural economy in general also have different features Until now, agricultural economic activities in these areas, although there have been many positive changes, still have many limitations and difficulties Son La is a mountainous province in the Northwest region of Vietnam where many ethnic groups live together but most of them are Thai people Until the successful August Revolution in 1945, this was still an area under the rule of mainly Thai aristocratic families Due to the nature and social organization with many distinctive features, the management policy of the Nguyen feudal state as well as the French colonial government with distinctions, the agricultural economy of Son La province from the early 19th century to 1945 was affected in many aspects Until now, in Son La province, most of the ethnic groups still take the agricultural economy as the main economic sector, the vast majority of residents live on the agricultural economy However, in reality, there are not many researches on agricultural economy of Son La province in the past With the purpose of in-depth research to reconstruct a picture of the agricultural economic of Son La province with specific changes over two periods (from the beginning of the 19th century to 1895 and from 1895 to 1945), the thesis has clear scientific and practical meaning The thesis contributes to gradually filling the gaps and enriching the colorful picture of Vietnam's agricultural economy in the period before the August Revolution; thereby, contributing to explain the cause of slow development in mountainous areas such as Son La province The research results of the thesis contribute to building the basis and foundation with many lessons to apply scientific and technological advances to the development of the agricultural economy in Son La province – Northwest region according to sustainable and modern direction In light of the above, I chose the topic of “Agricultural economy of Son La Province from early 19th century to 1945” to be my Ph.D thesis, major in Vietnam History Aims and objectives of the thesis 2.1 Aims of the thesis - The thesis reconstructs the agricultural economy of Son La province from the early 19 th century to 1945 on the basis of systematizing, analyzing and clarifying documents related to the agricultural economy of Son La province in research scope - The thesis points out the characteristics of the agricultural economy of Son La province from early 19th century to the success of the August Revolution in the country (1945) in comparison to some other localities such as Cao Bang, Hoa Binh, Ha Giang, Thai Nguyen 2.2 Objectives of the thesis - To research on factors affecting the agricultural economy of Son La province (from early 19th century to 1945): change in administrative unit, geographical location, natural conditions, population, social life, policies of the Nguyen Dynasty and policies of the French colonialism - To reconstruct the agricultural economy situation of Son La province from the early 19th century to 1945 over two periods: from early 19 th century to 1895 (establishment year of Son La province) and from 1895 to 1945 in the fields of land situation, economic types (cultivation, husbandry), activities of exchange and trade of africultural products, some impacts on the people’s life, political – social situation, etc - To point out the changes in agricultural economy of Son La province over two periods in the research scope and some characteristics of the local agricultural economy on the basis of placing Son La province in the common space of the Northwest region and comparison to other provinces such as Lai Chau, Hoa Binh, Cao Bang and Ha Giang The author will carry out this task and integrate it in each content of the thesis to have specific evidence through direct evidence to ensure the accuracy and objectivity Research subjects and scopes of the thesis 3.1 Research subjects The research subject of the thesis is the agricultural economy of Son La province from early 19th century to 1945 (including the land regime, the cultivation economy, husbandry, and agricultural products export) 3.2 Research scopes Regarding space: In the early 19th century, from Gia Long's reign, Son La province belonged to Hung Hoa town, including the following “châu”: Thuan, Son La, Moc, Phu Hoa, Mai Son, and Viet According to the administrative reform of King Minh Menh, Son La territory belongs to Gia Hung government, Hung Hoa province with “châu”: Phu Yen, Moc, Thuan, Mai Son, Son La and Yen Under the French colonial rule, according to Decree 10/10/1895, Son La included 12 “châu”: Moc, Phu Yen, Son La, Yen, Mai Son, Thuan, Tuan Giao, Dien Bien, Lai, Luan, Quynh Nhai and Phong Tho However, on 28 June 1909, the General Governor of Indochina issued a decree separating Quynh Nhai, Dien Bien, Tuan Giao, Lai and Luan to establish a new province named Lai Chau (belonging to Quan Binh 4); merging Nghia Lo into Yen Bai province Son La territory had “châu” left, including Son La (a.k.a Muong La and the territory of Son La city today), Thuan Chau, Mai Son, Yen, Moc, Phu Yen (including Bac Yen today) and was maintained to the end of the French colonial period Son La province including aforementioned “châu” is the research space of the thesis Regarding time: The thesis researches on the agricultural economy in Son La province from early 19th century to 1945, corresponding to the period from the time when the Nguyen Dynasty established the geographic documents in the whole country in the Gia Long period in 1805 until the August Revolution in 1985 Regarding content: Agricultural economy in the broad sense includes many branches: cultivation, animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries; in the narrow sense, the agricultural economy includes farming and animal husbandry With the ethnic groups in Son La province, in addition to the two industries of cultivation and animal husbandry, the ethnic groups also conducted fishing and fish farming (Thai people) as well as exploitation of forest products However, in the process of surveying archival documents in French and domestic sources, we only had accessed to data and records on cultivation and husbandry activities as majority There are very few documents on forest exploitation and fishing activities of the Thai people, most of them are some comments on the nature-based habits of the ethnic groups Although this is one of the activities to help ethnic groups, especially the Thai people, ensure food sources, but these activities are spontaneous, seasonal, serving the needs of each family and paying tribute to the dominant division In other words, aquaculture in ponds and paddu fields of the Thai people was merely considered as a supplementary livelihood of this ethnic group, while forestry included mainly the exploitation of forest products and non-timber forest products for household consumption Therefore, we not have enough data to analyze and evaluate Therefore, the thesis focuses on studying traditional agricultural economics in Son La province, including two industries of cultivation and animal husbandry over two periods from the beginning of 19th century to the establishment year of Son La province (1895) and from 1895 to 1945 Research method and source of materials 4.1 Research method Methodology: With the topic of “Agricultural economy in Son La province from early 19th century to 1945”, the author bases on the theoretical basis of Marxism-Leninism, especially the views of dialectical materialism and historical materialism to study the factors impacting on the agricultural economy of Son La province; the current status of the province's agricultural economy within the scope of the study; point out the changes in the agricultural economy of Son La province over two periods from the beginning of the 19th century to 1895 and from 1895 to 1945, the characteristics of the agricultural economy of Son La province in the period from early 19th century to 1945 Research method: The thesis is implemented based on combination of methods specialized in History such as historical method, logical method, statistical method, analysis, synthesis, comparison of material sources In which, the historical method and the logical method are mainly used The historical method helps the author reconstruct accurately and systematically the issues of agricultural economy of Son La province in certain time and in specific circumstances The logical method helps the thesis author to analyze and present the research problems that need to be solved or the research tasks posed for the thesis to be rigorous, seamless and reasonable in order to achieve the research purpose The statistical method is used to collect data because the thesis uses many different sources (French sources, Han - Nom documents, local fieldwork, research works, study monographs, thesis, etc.), process and filter important references and documents The comparative method was used to understand the changes in the agricultural economy of Son La over periods from the beginning of 19th century to 1895 and from 1895 to 1945; simultaneously, there is a comparison with some provinces in the Northern mountainous region The method of collecting and processing material is used by the author during the thesis-making process The author collects Vietnamese, Thai, Han Nom and French resources related to the thesis From the collected documents, the author estimates their relevance to the thesis and arranges and processes the materials suitable for each specific content in the thesis In addition, the author also uses interdisciplinary research methods, especially ethnography, geography, etc combining investigation, interview, and fieldwork in the locality Because in the thesis, ethnographic studies on ethnic groups, especially agricultural economic activities, are described and reconstructed through a series of fieldwork and data collection processes by ethnologists The author has also conducted interviews with researchers, elderly people of different ethnic groups, conducted fieldwork and surveys in the locality to get more data and compare with archived documents in order to restore the traditional agricultural economy of the ethnic groups in Son La province in the most completion manner 4.2 Sources of materials The author has refered the three resources: documents archieved at the National Archives Center I (TTLTQG I), Hanoi including the source of geographic materials under the Nguyen Dynasty and the source of French documents; local sources of data collection and fieldwork; reference sources such as research works, books, thesis, articles published in journals, seminars Specifically: - Firstly, regarding the archived documents: + Source of geographic documents referred in the thesis are the geographic documents archived at the TTLTQG I, Hanoi 34 Han-Nom geographic documents of Son La province are 34 different caves and communes The geographic documents under Gia Long reign belong to “châu” (Phu Yen, Thuan, Son La, Mai Son, Moc) The geographic documents under Minh Menh reign belong to “châu” (Phu Yen, Thuan, Yen, Son La, Mai Son) + French materials which are archived at TTLTQG I, Hanoi The documents exploited by the author mainly focus on the following contents: economic reports (from 1902 to 1941), annual general situation reports of the province, provincial council meetings, transfer minutes, application dossier for land allocation, etc mainly in departments of Thong Su Bac Ky (with the symbol RST) and Agriculture, Forestry and Commerce of Indochina (with the symbol AFC) However, the French materials are also interrupted, lacking statistics of a continuous nature - Secondly, regarding the collected materials and fieldwork materials: An important source of documents used in the thesis is customary laws of the Thai people in localities such as Custom of the Black Thai in Thuan Chau, Mai Son which have been collected and translated into Vietnamese by Cam Trong, Ngo Duc Thinh and summarized in the works named Customs of Thai in Vietnam [155] Through these customary laws, the author of the thesis has made comparisons to the original documents in feudal period of the Nguyen Dynasty to examine the level of implementation of the agricultural and land policy of the central state with the ethnic groups people in Son La Especially, the customary law of the Thai people also clarified the types of land ownership in Son La before the French colonization In addition, the author uses the historical books of the Thai people such as Quam to muong (The story of muong village) of the “châu”: Mai Son, Thuan, Moc, Phu Yen, Yen The books recording history of the landlords in each locality such as the Bac Cam family history in Muong Muoi (Thuan Chau), the list of ancestors of the Lo Cam family in Mai Son also provides author with the key basis when researching agricultural economy of the ethnic groups, especially Thai people in Son La Besides, there are oral documents and interviews with Thai researchers, Thai artisans, elderly people of ethnic groups who are knowledgeable about history, etc However, all these sources are mainly written about the Thai people, other ethnic groups are mentioned, but as a dependent part of the Thai people, only the Thai people here have their own records through customary laws up to 1945 Therefore, for agricultural studies in Son La province, especially in the feudal period when original documents such as cadastral records were missing, the author used Thai customary law to illustrate and outline the points made in the original document, find out the similarities and differences, thereby pointing out the characteristics of the agricultural economy as well as the land situation of Son La province from the early 19th century to 1945 - Thirdly, regarding the materials such as of research works, books, thesis, articles published in journals, seminars These are references that refer to a series of issues related to the agricultural economy of the country in general, the Northwest region and Son La province in particular from different aspects New contribution of the thesis - The thesis is considered as one of the first works reproducing in a relatively comprehensive and systematic manner the agricultural economic situation of Son La province from the early 19th century to 1945 - The thesis analyses and evaluates the factors affecting the agricultural economy of Son La province such as natural conditions, population, history of formation, the policies of the feudal state and the French colonialism from the early 19th century to 1945 - The research results of the thesis contribute to clarify the characteristics of the agricultural economy of Son La province in particular and the Northwest region in general from the early 19th century to 1945 such as fragmented land, selfsufficiency nature, nature-closely depending, outdated farming methods (mainly manual labor in the style of "poking holes for seeds"), low labor productivity and low productivity of plants and animals The main method of exploitation is characterized by "tribute of products and unpaid labor" - The thesis contributes to supplement and enrich research materials on Son La in particular and the Northwest in general; the research results of the thesis are a reference for compiling and teaching the local history in universities, colleges and high schools in the Northwest region and the whole country - The research results on "Agricultural economy of Son La province from early th 19 century to 1945" contributes to building the basis, foundation and many valuable lessons to apply the advances of science and technology into the development of a modern and sustainable agricultural economy in Son La - Northwest, especially lessons on land management in the current period 6 Structure of the thesis In addition to the introduction, conclusion, references, appendices, the main content of the thesis includes chapters as follows: Chapter 1: Overview of research related to the thesis topic Chapter 2: An overview of Son La province before 1945 Chapter 3: Agricultural economy of Son La province from early 19th century to 1895 Chapter 4: Agricultural economy of Son La province from 1895 to1945 CHAPTER OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH RELATED TO THE THESIS TOPIC 1.1 Research on issues related to Vietnam's agricultural economy from the early 19th century to 1945 1.1.1 Group of research on issues related to Vietnam's agricultural economy in the medieval period The work laying the foundation for the research on land and agricultural economy in Vietnam is Land regime and agricultural economy in the Le early period (15th century) written by Phan Huy Le Later, a series of works focused on research on land issues, the life of Nguyen Dynasty farmers like Overview of the land situation and the life of peasants before the August Revolution written by Nguyen Kien Giang, Understanding the Vietnamese land regime in the first half of the nineteenth century written by Vu Huy Phuc, The situation of agricultural land and the life of peasants under the Nguyen Dynasty written by the authors Truong Huu Quynh - Do Bang and a series of related articles published on scientific magazines This is the basis for the author to learn about the impacts of the Nguyen feudal state policy on the agricultural economy of Son La province in the nineteenth century as well as the economic development of Son La province in the general development of the country In addition, the PhD thesises in history have researched on the land and agricultural economics issues of localities in the country such as Thai Binh, Ninh Binh, Quang Ninh, Thanh Hoa, Cao Bang, Ha Tinh The thesises have created a basis for the author to have a research orientation on agricultural economy in a specific locality like Son La, and at the same time there is a certain comparison in the research process 1.1.2 Group of research on issues related to Vietnam's agricultural economy during the French colonial period * Group of research of the French authors - From the late 19th century to 1945, there must be a mention of the French authors with a series of special studies related to the land regime, irrigation, and agricultural production (crop, yield, productivity export of agricultural products) Although the above studies not refer directly to the agricultural economy of Son La, they play an important role, create the foundation and general context of Vietnam's agricultural economy during the colonial period Thereby, it can be seen that the economic policies in general and agriculture in particular of France in Vietnam, including Son La, especially, policies on land management, allocation of land, policies for development of transportation infrastructure, policies on land tax, etc * Group of research of the Vietnamese authors - After the August Revolution, especially after 1954, the study of land and agricultural economy received more attention A series of works by domestic authors have been published, raised important issues about the land and agricultural economy of Vietnam during the French colonial period Outstanding authors on land, economic and social studies in Vietnam during the French colonial period are Ta Thi Thuy, Nguyen Van Khanh, Ho Tuan Dung, Duong Kinh Quoc, etc 1.2 Research on issues related to agricultural economy, ethnic groups, the Thai ethnic group in the Northwest and Son La from early 19 th century to 1945 1.2.1 Research on issues related to agricultural economy of Son La * Group of research of the French authors Through research and thorough examination of different sources in French, the author finds that during the colonial period, there was no monograph study on Son La in general and Son La agriculture in particular This is quite special because many provinces in the Northern often have the Geography compiled by the French, but Son La has not found any documents until now Because of the above reason, the socioeconomic information of Son La, especially the agricultural economy of this province, is mainly mentioned in some general studies on the Northern * Group of researches of the Vietnamese authors There are two authors have recent research on issues directly related to the agricultural economy of Son La province from early nineteenth century to 1945: Tong Thanh Binh with the thesis Economy and society of Son La province since 1895 to 1945; Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy with two articles "Administrative boundaries and land situation in Son La in the nineteenth century through Nguyen dynasty geographic documents", "The land situation in Son La through Gia Long (1805)” Through these works, the issue on land of Son La province has been revealed through the Nguyen dynasty’s geographic documents, especially the socio-economic panorama of the French colonial period They can be considered as the most recent works, closely related to the research content of the thesis, which should be inherited and further expanded 1.2.2 Group of research on ethnic groups in the Northwest The research mainly clarifies the traditional economic branches of the ethnic groups in the Northwest, including wet rice cultivation, upland cultivation, and husbandry of ethnic groups in which the author specifically clarifies this issue in the Thai ethnic group, Mong, Kho Mu, Xinh Mun, Khang, etc 1.2.3 Group of research on the Thai people in the Northwest, Son La By 1932, Son La still had 74.5% of the population being Thai, so the research on the agricultural economy as well as the land issue of Thai people is of special meaning Referring to the studies of the Thai people in general, related to the agricultural economy of the Thai people in particular, we have the authors such as Cam Trong, Dang Nghiem Van, La Van Lo with a series of research The main content of these research is to restore and sketch the socio-economic conditions of the Thai people in different historical periods In addition, the work of Thai customary law in Vietnam (customary law) has copies of the law directly related to the land issue of the Thai people in Son La, namely the Black Thai Law in Thuan Chau (Son La) and the Muong Law in Mai Son These are two extremely important customary laws, with high authenticity, providing the most necessary issues to clarify the ownership of land, land types, land allocation method in villages of Muong and Thai before 1930 1.3 The issues have been clarified and the issues of the thesis needed to be solved 1.3.1 The issues of the thesis have been clarified Monographs, thesises and articles written by the French and Vietnamese authors have clarified the following issues: - The research of the French authors is mainly related to the land regime, irrigation and agricultural production of Indochina in general and some general research works on the Northern In other words, the overall picture of the agricultural economy of Indochina, especially the Northern region, has been restored and recreated by the authors This is the context of the thesis when studying agricultural economics in Son La province during the French colonial period - There have been monographs on land of the feudal period, the French colonial period and agricultural economy in specific localities such as Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Cao Bang, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, etc This is an important foundation for the author to have an accurate research direction, placing the agricultural economy of Son La province in the general development of the country, as well as the comparison to other localities - The group of research on the Northwest region in general and the ethnic minorities, the Thai in particular has focused on clarifying the studies in the fields of spiritual life, material life, typical culture, social organization, etc of the ethnic groups in the Northwest region (including Son La province) during this period - The research works of the Vietnamese authors regarding the agricultural sector of the Northwest region in general and Son La province in particular, the authors such as Cam Trong, Dang Nghiem Van study, sketch, and reconstruct the panorama of the agricultural economy from the ethnographic aspect of the ethnic groups, especially the Thai people in the Northwest Recently, the authors such as Tong Thanh Binh, Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy have had direct studies on the land issue of Son La province during feudalism or socio-economic of Son La province under the French colonial period Especially, in the thesis of Tong Thanh Binh, there was an indepth study of the agricultural economy of Son La province before 1895 and the agriculture of Son La province during the French colonial period, giving comments on the agricultural economy of Son La province during the French colonial period in chapter “Reviews on the economy and society of Son La province from 1895 to 1945” The author will inherit and continue to clarify the picture of agricultural economy in Son La province from early 19th century to 1945 In conclusion, in general, there has not been any monograph that has studied in detail about the agricultural economy of Son La province from early 19 th century to 1945, so the author choses this issue as the thesis topic 1.1.3 The issues needed to be solved With the research objective of “the agricultural economy of Son La province from early 19th century to 1945” over two periods: from early 19th century to 1895 and from 1895 to 1945, as per the inherit of the research results of French and Vietmanese authors, the thesis will focus on solving the following problems: 11 staffs A petty bourgeois class appeared, but in small numbers The number of workers is small because plantations and industries are not developed Especially in Thai society, there is a deep division with different levels (“phìa tạo”, “kỳ mục”, “mo chang”, “nơng dân cơng xã”, “gia nô”) Overall, before 1945, the Thai people play a key role in the muong village, in which the role of the “phìa” – “chúa đất” (“chẩu mường”, “chủ mường”) is very important In terms of formality, all land, upland fields, water sources, forests, etc belong to the muong village, but in Son La, according to the custom of law, that ownership actually belongs to the landlords The basis of the “phìa tạo” regime is the public field regime – “ruộng toàn mường” CHAPTER AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OF SON LA PROVINCE FROM THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY TO 1895 3.1 The Nguyen Dynasty’s policies on agricultural economy The land policies of the Nguyen dynasty such as measuring and setting up the geographic documents in the country, allocating land, reclaiming had certain impacts on the agricultural economy of Son La province in this period In sum, the Nguyen Dynasty always tried to protect the amount of public land, and the process of privatization of land under the Nguyen dynasty took place quickly Proportion of private and public land between localities is not the same because of regional characteristics Therefore, the land rents and land tax regime of the Nguyen dynasty for each locality was different and changed according to each king's reign Land tax under the Nguyen Dynasty was basically a tax collected in kind At the same time, the tax policy in the Northern created favorable conditions for the landlord class to collect high rents, stimulated the expansion of small and medium landowners' ownership by invading public lands and bankrupting small farmers' ownership 3.2 Land status 3.2.1 Through geographic documents There are 34 geographic documents belong to the territory of Son La province today, as mentioned in the list of geographic documents archived in TTLTQG I Land in Son La province is concentrated, reflected in the geographic documents of Gia Long (1805) and Minh Menh 21 (1840) Specifically: Table 3.3 Land situation in Son La as described in geographic document of Gia Long (1805) No Communue Tuong Phong Quang Hoa Khinh Khoai Nam Trinh Time Private land Cultivated land Phu Yen District GL4 66.8.13.2.01 60.8.13.2.0 90.9% 6.0.00.0.0 GL4 115.0.05.8.0 100.0.05.8.0 87% 15.0.00.0.0 Thuan District GL4 19.9.04.8.0 6.7.04.0.0 31.6% 13.2.00.8.0 GL4 49.7.03.2.0 14.7.00.0.0 28.6% 35.0.03.2.0 Stand for 66 acres poles 13 yards dm cm Successful restoration Fallow Level 9.1% 13% tertiary tertiary 68.4% 71.4% tertiary tertiary 12 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Thanh Binh Hoang Mai Trinh Bac GL4 61.6.12.6.0 13.3.05.0.0 21.3% 48.3.07.6.0 78.7% tertiary GL4 58.7.13.1.0 13.6.10.0.0 22.4% 45.1.03.1.0 77.6% tertiary GL4 60.6.00.3.0 12.5.00.0.0 20.6% 48.1.00.3.0 79.4% tertiary Son La District Hieu Trai GL4 165.0.03.8.0 96.5.00.0.0 58.5% 68.5.03.8.0 41.5% tertiary Cot Kham GL4 96.8.05.6.0 31.8.05.0.0 32.9% 65.0.00.6.0 67.1% tertiary Trinh La GL4 418.7.09.7.0 105.7.00.0.0 25.2% 313.0.09.7.0 74.8% tertiary Mai Son District Lo Ty GL4 18.7.14.0.0 18.7.14.0.0 tertiary Trinh [Chieng] Ban GL4 169.6.09.0.0 81.5.00.0.0 48.1% 88.1.09.0.0 51.9% tertiary Trinh [Chieng] Bon GL4 17.0.00.0.0 17.0.00.0.0 tertiary Trinh [Chieng] GL4 52.5.02.1.0 47.6.02.1.0 90.7% 4.9.00.0.0 9.3% tertiary Chanh Moc District Huong Can GL4 73.8.09.7.0 30.4.05.7.0 41.2% 43.4.04.0.0 58.8% tertiary Moc Ha GL4 91.4.01.8.0 37.2.01.8.0 40.7% 54.2.00.0.0 59.3% tertiary Moc Thuong GL4 91.4.01.8.0 40.2.00.0.0 44% 51.2.01.8.0 56% tertiary Xuan Nha GL4 20.2.05.7.0 15.2.00.7.0 75.2% 5.0.05.0.0 24.8% tertiary Cam Nong GL4 12.1.09.2.0 7.1.00.0.0 58.6% 5.0.09.2.0 43.4% tertiary Total 1660.3.06.3.0 750.9.07.3.0 45.2% 816.3.04.1.0 49.2% 93.0.09.9.0 5.6% Table 3.4 Land situation in Son La as described in geographic documents of Minh Menh 21 (1840) No Commune Time Tuong Phu MM21 Tuong MM21 Phong Private land 78.3.07.4.0 66.8.13.2.0 Cultivated Fallow land Phu Yen District 70.3.07.4.0 89.8% 60.8.13.2.0 Successful restoration 6.0.00.0.0 10.2% tertiary tertiary 9.0% 33.7% 13.2.00.8.0 66.3% 35.0.03.2.0 48.3.07.6.0 70.4% tertiary 78.4% tertiary 71.6.07.0.0 82.0.05.0.0 41.7% tertiary 45% tertiary 91% 8.0.00.0.0 Level Thuan District Khinh MM21 Khoai Nam Trinh MM21 Thanh Binh MM21 Bac Nhi MM21 Trinh Nho MM21 19.9.04.8.0 49.7.03.2.0 61.6.12.6.0 6.7.04.0.0 Nhan Ly MM21 111.8.14.7.0 14.7.00.0.0 29.6% 13.3.05.0.0 21.6% Yen District 100.2.10.0.0 58.3% 100.2.00.9.0 55% Son La District 39.0.14.0.0 34.9% Trinh La MM21 418.7.09.7.0 105.7.00.0.0 25.2% 10 Huong Bao MM21 96.8.05.6.0 11 Lo Ty Total 171.9.02.0.0 182.2.05.9.0 31.8.05.0.0 32.9% Mai Son District MM21 18.7.14.0.0 18.7.14.0.0 100% 1.277.0.03.1.0 561.8.13.5.0 44% tertiary 72.8.00.7.0 65.1% tertiary tertiary 313.0.09.7.0 74.8% 65.0.00.6.0 67.1% tertiary 715.1.04.6.0 56% tertiary Through the study of the local records, which are mainly concentrated in two dynasties Gia Long (1805) and Minh Menh 21 (1840), it can be seen that all types of land in Son La's caves and communes according to the statistics is private field; the distribution of private land is not equal among localities; the land of the caves and communes of Son La in the first half of the 19th century only cultivated one crop in autume, the autumn field area was 100%; the land scale of the villages/communes 13 of Son La in the first half of the 19th century did not change; there are no large land owners having over 16 arces, mainly small and medium owners; the position of Thai families such as Cam, Lo, and Ha families is quite large in the total number of owners; the people with the largest land ownership are not staffs in the cave, they are mainly small and medium owners 3.2.2 Through other materials Through the study of "Custom of the Black Thai people in Thuan Chau" and "Laws of muong village in Mai Son", the Laws not mention any private land, but only mention division of public land or the Thai called it as “ruộng toàn mường” “Ruộng toàn mường” is divided into the following two parts: fields allocated to nobles and servants (including the head of the muong village, the servants in the muong village); and the fields allocated to servants (including peasants called “nông dân gánh vác” and peasants called “cuông”, “nhốc”, “pụa pái”) This legal division has resulted in a wide range of different types of land tenure in society 3.3 Agricultural production actitities 3.3.1 Cultivation Types of crops Waterfields are owned by the Thai people and the Thai only cultivate rice and cultivate only one crop in the waterfields In the uplands, many different crops are grown: rice, maize, potato, and cassava; oily plants such as sesame, peanuts; and especially they grow cotton and indigo to meet the needs of wearing, making blankets, mattresses, etc The Thai people live stably by waterfields, accompanied with upland economy while living of other ethnic groups such as the Mong people is not stable due to frequent changes in cultivation places The Thai says "moving house three days, leaving the village three months" Cultivation techniques For wet fields, Thai people are the main part of farming on wet fields However, basically, farming techniques depend a lot on natural factors, especially water sources Wet fields only cultivate one crop, not fertilize the fields The Thai people have created an irrigation system " mương, phai, lái, lín, lốc, cọn" to direct water into the fields Technical measures include plowing - weeding - clearing bushes - embankment - harrowing after leading water to the field - transplanting - tending harvesting - ending the crop For shifting cultivation, the main source of livelihood of most ethnic groups in the province, especially the Mong people and Mon Kho me people (Khang, La Ha, Xinh Mun, Kho Mu) are the two major swidden subdivisions in Son La In terms of technology, each ethnic group has different cultivation techniques on upland fields However, basically, most ethnic groups, including the Thai people, cultivate by manual methods, according to the traditional style of "đao canh hỏa chủng", using a knife to spread the grass, the tree is then dried and burned with fire to get the ashes; waiting until the beginning of the rainy season to use a stick to "poke holes for seeds" Particularly for the Mong people, in addition to the part according to the manual farming method, they conduct more advanced farming techniques that are plow and harrow: use a knife to cut grass, cut trees, wait to dry, use fire to burn, then plow the pass winter, plow a second time and harrow to clear the weeds, then proceed to plant 14 Scale (productivity and output) Based on the scale of land ownership, we can completely guess that the farming forms in Son La are fragmented with no specialized plantations In terms of scale, area of upland fields is always larger than area of waterfields, but in terms of productivity, waterfields are much higher Comparing in the swidden division of the ethnic groups, it can be seen that with the Mong people, with the use of plowing in the fields, knowing how to apply manure to the soil, there are clearly great advances compared to farming methods “poke holes for seeds” and rely on naturally available manure sources of most other ethnic groups Therefore, their productivity is also higher, their lives are more settled than other ethnic groups who use shifting cultivation as the main source of livelihood in the province 3.3.2 Husbandry Types of animals For the Thai people, in the past, each family raised cattle and poultry It is common to raise buffaloes, cows, pigs, horses, goats, dogs, cats, chickens, ducks, fish, etc with the main purpose to provide traction for agriculture, to increase the amount of food for meals, to serve food services for ritual sacrifices, to receive guests, etc and when necessary also bring out trade For the Mong people, buffalo is a popular livestock to provide traction for agriculture Small cattle rearing develops with many breeds of pigs and chickens that reproduce quickly for high productivity For the Kho Mu people and the Khang people, livestock production is quite diverse, including raising large cattle (buffaloes, cows, horses), raising small livestock (pigs, dogs, goats) and poultry (mainly chickens and ducks) The Xinh Mun's husbandry activities only stop at grazing poultry Husbandry techniques Ethnic groups often raise cattle and poultry in a half-caring, half-natural way Most livestock are self-sufficient (raised in a free-range manner) and are brought home in the evening or in the new season In general, animal husbandry in this period was mainly household-based, with no major breeding forms The main goal of animal husbandry is to serve the essential needs of the people's daily life or to raise livestock of the ethnic groups in Son La during this period with obvious self-sufficiency This leads to a low number of livestock products in trade 3.3.3 Consumption of agricultural products Son La economy in this period was still an economy of self-sufficiency Agricultural products are mainly produced to serve the needs of households Trading has taken place but mainly between ethnic groups in the region The main form of exchange is an object in exchange for an object with or without a valuation Residents often bring knitting products, precious native products to exchange for things necessary for daily activities and agricultural tools In which, the products of cultivation are always larger than those of livestock Especially, during this period, Chieng Le market appeared, where Chinese and Vietnamese traders came to exchange and trade 3.4 Comments on agricultural econmomy of Son La province from early th 19 century to 1895 Firstly, the core issue of the agricultural economy is land but when studying the 15 land issue of Son La province during this period, we can see the difference between the private property mentioned in the geographic documents of Nguyen Dynasty and public ownership in local customary laws of the Thai people However, in general, the role of the Thai lineages in the issue of land ownership emerged Secondly, the public-farm regime – “ruộng toàn mường” in Son La province is one of the causes leading to "inertia" in agricultural production Thirdly, the characteristics of agricultural production in Son La province in particular and the Northwest region in general are that each ethnic group has its own strengths in developing agricultural production in different areas Forthly, the agricultural economy of Son La province in this period was an outdated, stagnant, heavily self-sufficient, dependent on nature Fifthly, under the impact of land and agricultural economy, the society has made a clear differentiation, characterized by the long-term existence of the “phìa tạo” in the muong villages Society has divided into two parts: one side is the domination class represented by the nobility with the responsibility of managing the Muong village; one side is the submisison class including all farmers in Muong village with labor responsibility to shoulder the Muong work However, when accessing different sources of documents, the author of the thesis found that, until before the French colonial invasion, in Son La, there were no struggles of ethnic peasants against the regime of “phìa, tạo” This makes Son La society less volatile, less contradictory, less conflicted Later, when the French colonialists came to dominate Son La, because of these advantages, they basically kept the old ruling apparatus under the creationist regime CHAPTER AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OF SON LA PROVINCE FROM 1895 TO 1945 4.1 New historical conditions impact on the economy of Son La province 4.1.1 The French colonialists occupied and set the rule in Son La On December 1887, from Bao Ha (Lao Cai), as led by Cam Bun Hoan (the leader of the Muong La insurgent army who confessed to the French colonialists in 1884), the French magistrate Udri (Ouderie) led the invader team follow the Ngoc Chien road, It Ong, Ta Bu, and Muong Bu (Muong La) to capture Son La In April 1888, the French basically captured the central area of Son La and began to build a governing apparatus Son La province follows the regime of public envoys, led by a French envoy and has a number of agencies and staff to assist In addition, the colonial government continued to maintain a very complex feudal administrative apparatus headed by the “Tuần phủ” with a very limited executive and authority There are several departments specializing in administrative, ceremonial, cultural, social work, etc serving the “Tuần phủ” In the locality, French colonialists kept the domination apparatus of the previous feudal aristocrats, including the districts (“châu”), “mường”, and the villages (“bản”) At the same time, the French colonialists implemented a clear divide-and-rule policy by using the autonomous 16 government system of the Thai, Mong, Xa, and Dao ethnic groups The political policies of the French colonialism combined with economic measures made the society of Son La under many profound changes 4.1.2 Agricultural policy of the colonial government Land policy Immediately after the end of military operations on the territory of Vietnam, the French colonialists intensified their land grabbing activities, leading to the appearance of more and more large plantations Appropriating land to establish plantations was the biggest policy of the French colonialists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries In addition, in the Northern - where the public field system existed for a long time, the French colonialists advocated maintaining and even developing the public ownership regime, banning villages from selling public land This policy pushed Northern farmers into bankruptcy, poverty and impasse Agricultural policy on colonial exploitation With the aim of supporting the agricultural exploitation of the Europeans as well as encouraging the development of indigenous agriculture, the colonial government established the Northern Agricultural Office in 1894 and established agencies such as the Indochina Meteorological Department (in 1897), the Department of Animal Health (in 1901), the Livestock Improvement Council (1904), etc Besides, in 1920, the Colonial Agricultural Action Committee together with a number of agricultural advisory bodies: Indochina Agriculture Department, General Inspector of Agriculture, Forestry and Livestock, Indochina Agricultural Research Institute At the same time, in order to encourage the development of agricultural production, especially exploitation and expansion of plantations, right from the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the colonial government implemented a series of measures such as agricultural tax policy industry, reward policy, subsidy policy for the cultivation and breeding of the landowners, etc In addition, the colonial government also built irrigation systems, traffic works, railways, roads, etc To a certain extent, these actions had a positive impact on development agricultural economy in the Northern Tax policy Tax policy related to agriculture in Son La province includes land tax and tax on consumption of agricultural products These two taxes clearly demonstrated the purpose of plundering and exploiting the colonial government 4.2 Land situation 4.2.1 Area and distribution According to Henry's statistics in "Agricultural Economy in Indochina", the total area of Son La province is 10,865 km2, including the field area of 8,000 ha, with a population of 90,003 people, the average land area per person is 0.088 The area of land is unevenly distributed among “châu”, this is largely due to terrain factors and natural conditions 4.2.2 Types of land Public land regime (from 1896 to 1925) Before 1925, it was confirmed in Son La's statistical reports on land issues that "Private land ownership does not exist in Son La province" All land in this period is under public ownership Despite of that, the colonial government intends to narrow the right of exploitation on the basis of the public land of the "phìa, tạo" class, turning "phìa, tạo" into its salaried civil servants The colonial government 17 basically maintained the regime of "phìa, tạo" and turned it into the machinery of the colonial government The colonial government wisely intervened in the public land regime, reallocating public land with the aim of reducing portions of the fields of “chẩu mường” as prescribed by the previous Muong law, and then compensating for the reduction by paying wage In fact, the land in Thai society since the French colonial invasion was basically still under public ownership and was held and distributed by the “phìa, tạo” Public land are divided into two categories: The first category includes "phìa, tạo" fields, “ruộng chức” is the best land, occupying about 50% of all local land, devided to "phia, tao" and the servants in the ruling apparatus of "phìa, tạo" The second category called "ruộng phần phu", "ruộng nóc" or "ruộng gánh vác", accounts for about 50% of the land area, most of which are worse fields, was allocated to peasant households who will contribute tax to the “phìa, tạo”, go to work, go to the army, pay taxes to the empire on the principle that whoever contributes more will enjoy more fields, whoever contributes less will get less fields, whoever cannot contribute will be withdrawed the fields Therefore, the dominant class with about 5% of the population accounts for 50% of the land, and peasants with 95% of the population account for the remaining 50% of the land On average, a person in the dominant class occupies 20 times the land of a peasant The rulers' exploitation method mainly forced peasants to work "cuông" and pay "nguột" The French colonialists dominated the Thai people by specifying more specifically the content of “việc mường” into two payments and taxes Plowing this “ruộng gánh vác”, the farmer has to pay rent, tax, laborer, soldier, and unpaid service to the “chẩu mường” and the “tạo bản” This policy made the part of the free peasants in the former villages become more extreme than the part of the “cuông”, “nhốc”, in many villages, the “nông dân gánh vác” requested the “phìa, tạo” to be “cng”, “nhốc” - The emergence of private land To promote the development of Son La's agriculture, since 1925, the colonial government issued a Decree on 13/11/1925 regulating the agricultural exploitation of indigenous peoples The provincial government has allowed and encouraged the exploitation of commodity-oriented agriculture of the indigenous peoples, so-called the Son La indigenous-people agricultural colonization program Decree dated 13 November 1925 as amended and supplemented by Decree dated June 1939 was the first policy of the colonial government to establish private ownership of land in Son La Private fields appeared from the traditional land types, in particular: some nobles, especially in Phu Yen, Thuan Chau, Phong Tho, turned the "ruộng bớt" for nobles from a long time ago (“ná bớt tạo”) into private fields; the land was distributed and harvested in the form that they called "thuê làm ruộng" (“chảng hây”) with rent payment was about 50% The French officers also involved in the Thai’s forms of exploitation of “cuông nhốc” At the same time, private fields appeared through new forms of land ownership, typically the assignment, purchase and sale of land in large area 4.3 Agricultural production 4.3.1 Cultivation Types of crops In 20th century, basically crops in Son La still included food crops: rice and corn, in addition to cassava, potatoes, beans and vegetables Perennial fruit trees planted by the people are mango, jackfruit, custard apple, lemon, peach, plum, etc and some industrial crops such as tea, ant wings, mulberry, cotton, hemp At the same 18 time, they grow herbal plants, mushrooms, etc to serve the needs of the province and sell to outside The Thai still monoculture rice in waterfields The government has set up a research committee specializing in rice varieties, put wheat in for testing and wants to replicate it in Son La Since in 1924, a few French people began experimental coffee and tea cultivation in Moc Chau In 1933, they started experimental cultivation of potatoes in some places and some new fruit trees like grapes - Farming technique rice crop per year is maintained However, during this period, rice crops started to appear, but the area was small, only in Phu Yen Up to this period, the cultivation still depended heavily on the nature of cultivation, especially the water source Cultivation of other crops such as upland rice, maize, cotton, indigo basically is unchanged, the farmers still not take care and there are no new technical measures, it’s only depended on nature - Situation of some typical crops The most important food crops with the largest acreage and production are rice and maize There are also other food crops such as sweet potatoes, cassava, beans, vegetables, fruit trees Industrial crops such as tea, cotton, ant wings, hemp also contribute certain yields to the total crop output of Son La province annually 4.3.2 Animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the strength of the mountainous provinces, including Son La Under the French colonial period, animal husbandry was focused and gradually developed in both production methods and product quality, but still faced many difficulties Due to the rich food base, especially from the area of natural grasslands and by-products of the cultivation industry, the animal husbandry has had conditions to expand its scale and improve production value, forming a commoditized products from that time The cattle and poultry herds of Son La in the period 1929-1939 developed relatively stably Table 4.7: Total herd of cattle and poultry in Son La from 1929 to 1938 4.3.3 Consumption of agricultural products Son La’s agriculture since early 20th century has been of a commodity nature or in other words, since the beginning of 20th century, agricultural products, other than the 19 main purpose of serving the needs of the province, were sold to the outside market The total output of agricultural export products of the province continuously changes each year, and the output of cultivation was always higher than that of husbandry: Table 4.5 Export trade of agricultural products in Son La province from 1901 to 1931 Time Cultivation 1901 480,032 kg 1903 62,806 kg July and August 1904 32,160 kg January, February, March, April, May, 224,248 kg June, November and December 1905 November and December 1906 56,536 kg March, April, May, June, October, 286,098 kg November 1907 June 1925 to June 1926 8,520 kg June 1926 to June 1927 3,084,720 kg 1929 323,560 kg 1930 185,220 kg 1931 223,791 kg Husbandry 2,442 kg 4,148 kg + 2,721 animals 1,740 kg + 520 animals Total output 482.474 kg 66,234 kg + 2,721 animals 33,900 kg + 520 animals 4,198 kg + 2,113 animals 228,446 kg + 2,113 animals 4,510 kg + 894 animals 61,604 kg + 894 animals 31,586 kg + 730 animals 317,684 kg + 730 animals 4,320 kg 8,220 kg 10,800 kg 5,796 kg 12,840 kg 3,084,720 kg 331,780 kg 196,020 kg 229,587 kg The main export products of Son La province during this period were ant wings and animal skins Son La's export trade is mainly in the hands of the Chinese, and some Vietnamese The Thai only sell local products and not engage in export trade 4.4 Changes in agricultural economy in Son La province from 1895 to 1945 Firstly, with regard to the land issue, the public ownership of land was still popular along with the solid existence of the regime of “phìa, tạo” in the society in Son La during the French colonial period In particular, while the establishment of plantations is typical of Vietnam's economy at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the study area of Son La province includes 6“châu”: Son La, Thuan, Yen, Moc, Mai Son, In Phu Yen, in Son La during the French colonial period, there were no large French plantations, but only small indigenous plantations, appearance of sale and purchase of land with a large area Secondly, under the impact of the agricultural policy of the colonial government, there were many new points in agricultural production activities which are different from the feudal period Since then, the agricultural economy of Son La province during the French colonial period has had certain changes, although it is still slow and not comprehensive Although the transformation process is slow and prolonged, it has made the province's agricultural economy change in a positive direction A number of technical measures and varieties of plants and animals, that the French colonialists introduced to Son La in the period from 1895 to 1945, were actually a new and more advanced capitalist production method in comparison to the old-fashioned and backward agricultural production method as the style of "poking holes for seeds" in Son La before Concurrently, agricultural products were traded outside of the provinces which partly broke the closed nature of the economy in general and the agricultural economy of Son La province in particular Thirdly, despite of certain changes in comparison to feudal period (from the early 19th century to 1885), overall, there was no comprehensive change in Son La's agricultural economy from 1885 to 1945 In other words, the policies of the colonial 20 government in the field of agricultural economy in Son La province during this period stopped at the experimental level, not being popularized and widely applied by the people Therefore, during the French colonial period, the agricultural economy of Son La province was still immersed in poverty, out of date and stagnation, an economy heavily dependent on natural factors Forthly, all changes in the agricultural economy have had certain impacts on people's life, making the social structure of Son La province during the French colonial period more clearly differentiated: The peasant class had to work and pay taxes to the colonial government, while also ensuring the obligation to contribute to “châu mường” and “phìa” Due to being exploited by two layers of oppression, their life was extremely miserable, leading to conflicts between the peasants and the feudal class and between the peasants and imperialism These two contradictions need to be resolved and become the task of anti-imperialism and anti-war movements for the struggle movements The domination feudal class is still the same as in the previous period, including the Thai aristocracy (“phìa”, “tạo”, “chẩu mường”), Mong people (“thống lý”, “thống quán”), serving staffs from “châu” to “tổng”, “mường”, “bản” However, under the French colonial period, this division depended on the colonial government with the highest representative being the French Ambassador, whose interests were attached to the colonial regime The French colonialists allowed them to self-declare dignitaries for their children and upper-class relatives to enjoy perks and not have to go to work However, this class was also divided, a part with more or less national spirit, did not submit to the rule of the French colonialists In addition to the two main classes, there is also a newly emerged petty bourgeoisie including civil servants, teachers, small merchants, most of them have a nationalist spirit, hate colonialism, feudalism Later, this division made great contributions to the revolutionary movement in Son La The number of workers is small because in Son La during the French colonial period, there were no large plantations and "no industrial field in Son La existed" In addition, in Son La, there is a section of French and Vietnamese officials of the colonial government and henchmen However, the quantity of this part is not stable and often changes While the “phìa, tạo” – the typical regime in Son La also has a deeper divergence than before (both dependent on the French colonialists, while increasing exploitation of ethnic minorities, increasing conversion of public land to private land), plus the tax rent and oppression of the colonial government, farmers have to pay tax and ensure their obligations of “việc mường”, plus the frequent food shortages caused by agriculture is not enough to meet the local food needs, all of which have sparked a series of struggle movements of the people of different ethnic groups with different forms Typical for the struggle related to the conflict stemming from the land regime in Son La plus the heavy rent and tax regime of the French colonialists is the movement "chiêu dân tống thẻ" The movement clearly reflects the impacts from the agricultural economy, especially the root of the agricultural economy is the conflict in the land issue that needs to be resolved Later, in the struggle against the French and Japanese in the period from 1939 21 to 1945 in Son La, there was always the participation of ethnic groups in the struggle under the leadership of the Communist Party of Son La Prison which led to the success of the uprising to seize local power in August 1945 CONCLUSION Son La is a province in the Northwest mountainous region with many conditions to develop agricultural production In the economic structure of Son La province from the early 19th century to 1945, agriculture was the main economic sector that had a significant impact on agricultural production to the life of ethnic groups people here Being one of the five provinces of the Northwest region (Son La, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Yen Bai), Son La has very diverse and rich natural conditions In general, besides the difficulties, inadequacies and extremes of the climate and weather (hazardous terrain, difficult traffic, flash floods, pipe floods, landslides in the rainy season; frost in the cold season), soil conditions, rivers and climate of Son La are very favorable for the development of agricultural production, especially cultivation and animal husbandry Son La is not only rich with fertile fields, lush tropical forests, but also diversified in agricultural products Especially, Son La's geographical position has made this place a natural bridge for the exchange of goods and agricultural products between the Northeast and the Northwest, between the lowland and the highland regions From Son La, along National Highway 6, or Da River, people can go upstream from Tuan Giao to Lai Chau, down to Hoa Binh, to Nghia Lo (Yen Bai) easily, especially from Son La, people can easily exchange with Hua Pan province of the Lao People's Democratic Republic through two border gates Pa Hang (Moc Chau), Chieng Khuong (Song Ma) The geographical location and favorable natural conditions have made the inhabitants of ethnic groups in Son La take agriculture as the main economic sector Other economic sectors such as handicrafts or trade are only complementary to agriculture Handicrafts only create products that serve the essential needs of residents In trade, the products, which are traded outside the province, are agricultural products In addition, there was no industry in Son La at this time, which made the role of agriculture stronger in people's life All changes in the field of land and agricultural economy have certain effects on the socio-economic situation of the province The basic and typical characteristic of Son La agriculture in the history as well as the period from the early 19th century to 1945 is monoculture agriculture, heavily self-sufficient, closely dependent on nature Agricultural economy in Son La province with two main production industries are cultivation and animal husbandry; in which cultivation always plays a key role to ensure the supply of food necessary for the life of residents as well as to create products for exchange and trade n addition, the life of Son La residents also depends on forest products exploitation in the forest and fishing along rivers and streams Industry and commerce in Son La are almost undeveloped Before the French came to colonize and establish a rule, due to the specificity of the locality (the rugged 22 terrain is extremely complicated, transportation is difficult, the climate is harsh, there are many ethnic minorities, traditional production practices in the form of longstanding swidden cultivation of residents, etc.), Son La agriculture is in a very poor and backward; most of the land, forests and mountains, the means of production of society are owned by the Thai, Muong, and Mong aristocracy; meanwhile, production is scattered, monoculture, closely dependent on nature, heavily self-sufficient Regarding the production method until 1895, Son La residents still applied the traditional production method: “đao canh hỏa chủng đao canh thủy nậu”, manual work in the style of "poking holes for seeds", animal crops are mainly old varieties, labor productivity and livestock productivity are very low Regarding the method of exploitation and the exchange of goods, until the French entered the domination, the exchange of goods in Son La still followed the traditional method of parity “to barter something for something”, the typical method of exploitation is "tribute of products and unpaid labor" Since the French came to colonize and establish a rule, in order to achieve the goal of domination and "exploit as much as possible", in addition to maintaining the exploitative domination apparatus and the traditional land system in Thai society, the Mong society in Son La in the past, the French also have a number of new exploitation policies in the capitalist style in the Northwest in general, Son La in particular, such as issuance of many land policies to encourage French and Vietnamese landowners to open plantations in Son La and the Northwest region; they pay attention to the introduction of a number of new crops and livestock into Son La, initially focusing on applying a number of scientific and technical measures to agricultural production; formation of a number of geodetic, climate and hydrological observation stations along the Da river; establishing epidemic prevention stations for cattle, livestock, and especially in 1925, the Northern Governor allowed the establishment of Son La Veterinary Department However, all these progressive and positive jobs are still single, lacking in synchronization, lacking in system, mainly just experimental Moreover, due to the extremely low intellectual level of ethnic minorities, it is not possible to absorb and apply these new factors in production All foregoing factors lead to low efficiency in agricultural production and the effects of these new factors are not strong enough to transform the old-fashioned traditional production methods among ethnic minorities as well as create new changes in the structure of crops and livestock in Son La Therefore, during the French colonial period until 1945, the agricultural economy of Son La province was generally poor and backward, bearing heavy monoculture, selfsufficiency, and close dependence on nature This is the most basic and typical feature of Son La economy in general and Son La agricultural economy in particular during the French colonial period In the period from 1895 to 1945, although the agricultural economy of Son La province was poor and backward, some new factors appeared, especially the exchange of agricultural products were expanded to lowland provinces and some countries in the region which broke the closed nature of Son La agriculture in this period From the early of 19th century until 1895, the exchange of agricultural products in Son La was still purely closed in the traditional style of “batering something to something” rather than the commodity-currency exchange This is typical in the 23 exchange of agricultural products in Son La before 1895; remnants of this exchange mode even lasted until 1954 when the North was completely liberated Since 1895, in order to achieve the goal of domination and exploiting "as much as possible", on the one hand, the French still maintain the exploiting domination apparatus and the traditional land system in Thai and Mong society in Son La in the past; on the other hand, the colonial government also imposed a new policy of capitalist investment and exploitation in the Northwest in general, Son La in particular, from province to districts, communes From the beginning of the 20th century, the French expanded traffic and built many roads, especially Road 41 across the Northwest from Hanoi - Hoa Binh - Son La - Lai Chau - Thuong Lao, along with a number of bridges and culverts on intra-provincial roads in Son La to enhance the exchange of goods within the region, Son La - Northwest region and between the Northwest and the lowlands and Northern of Laos In addition, during this period, the French also opened a number of people's markets in Son La town, Van Yen region and created conditions for Son La to participate in fairs in Hanoi Along with those actions, the French also paid attention to impose tax on agricultural products and goods in some localities with great potential for development (this is the beginning to form specialized farming areas), such as opium, ant wing, turpentine, paint The purpose of these actions is to promote and stimulate the diverse and rich potentials of Son La agriculture and forestry in order to attract and encourage Vietnamese and French landowners to increase investment and exploitation in the Son La - Northwest region It can be said that it was the first time in history, a number of new progressive factors have been created in agricultural production activities in Son La province, such as the Department of plant varieties; Experimental facilities for plant and animal varieties; Climate and geodetic monitoring department; the Center of consumption of agricultural products The agricultural products have been displayed and promoted at markets These are positive changes (consequences of the colonial agricultural exploitation policy of the French colonialists) that no one can deny The core problem of the agricultural economy is land and in Son La from the beginning of the 19th century to 1945, the nature, type, and method of division of land have own typical characteristics At the same time, the issue of land and agricultural economy has had certain impacts on the social situation of Son La province After studying the land issue of Son La province from the beginning of the 19th century to 1945, in terms of land ownership, it is "public becomes private, private within the limits of public" The distinction between public and private is only relative In which, public fields always account for a large proportion and are under the control of the Thai people In the Muong villages, the Thai people have strong control over other ethnic groups on the basis of their right to manage public fields Therefore, in the agricultural economic structure, although the number of wet fields is small, it is the basis that governs all social relations in the traditional society in Son La before 1945 Until the French colonialists entered and established their rule here, there was no change regarding this point The intervention of the colonial government was also mainly on the basis of water fields or on the basis of the previous management apparatus, especially the system of phìa tạo in Thai society, thống lý, thống quán in the Mong community During the French colonial period, the area of 24 private fields increased through a series of new forms such as small plantations of indigenous people, land purchase and sale, auction, etc., but basically, public fields still account for a large proportion The fact that public land is under management of phìa tạo in the Thai people has made the role of this section in society extremely large, establishing domination from economy to politics, society and even ideology of the people They consider customary to be the law that the entire population must obey This greatly influenced the development of agricultural economy in Son La province during this period The production process is mainly to serve the needs of life, enough to fulfill the obligations of the Muong as well as pay tax under the French rule This is one of the basic reasons why the agricultural economy in particular and the economy of Son La province in general is clearly self-sufficient Trade did take place, but only to meet the needs of the dominant or surplus products, not to form specialized farming areas or large plantations The types of land are divided equally associated with the status and position of different classes in society In other words, the economic benefits brought to the people manage “bản, mường” in associated with the land Because it is the common land of the “bản, mường”, the people who receive the field are dependent both physically and spiritually on that land The theocratic domination combined with economics and politics created an invisible chain that tightly bound the peasantry to the “bản, mường” This type of exploitation of the entire population makes the agricultural economy of Son La province slow to develop, less variable and difficult to change in the long time The colonial government recognized this point and continued to maintain the old forms of exploitation based on the former Thai aristocratic rule Therefore, it is difficult for Son La to have a comprehensive change like other regions In addition, the difficulties of geographical location, natural conditions, the meager investment of the colonial government, etc all became the causes leading to a slowdeveloped economy with little change in terms of economy structure as well as speed of Son La province from the beginning of the 19th century to 1945 Research on agricultural production activities in Son La from the early 19th century to 1945 practically contributes to supplementing and enriching research documents on Son La, the Northwest where there are very few monograph works published At the same time, the conclusions and lessons learned also contribute to creating the basis, foundation and leaving many lessons learned for land management, formation and development of agricultural science in Son La, focusing on infrastructure investment for socio-economic development; planting, tending, crossbreeding and applying new advances to agricultural production; selecting varieties, plants and domestic animals suitable to the locality; creating specialized farming areas In addition, the research results of the thesis are also a reference for implementing agricultural extension policies in the locality; it is also a reference document to serve the compilation and teaching of local history in vocational high schools, colleges, universities and high schools in Son La, the Northwest of Vietnam in current period 25 THESIS-RELATED PUBLICATIONS Tran Thi Phuong (2019), “Forms of land ownership of the Thai people living in Son La Province before 1930 (from research of custom of Black Thai in Thuan Chau)", Journal of Science, Hanoi National University of Education, pages 43 to 51 Tran Thi Phuong (2020), “Situation of agricultural products export of Son La Province in the first 30 years of 20 th century”, Journal of Historical Studies, (532), pages 48 to 56 Tran Thi Phuong (2021), “Origin of public field regime of the Thai people in Son La (before 1887)”, Journal of Science, Tay Bac University, pages 94 to 99 Tran Thi Phuong, Trinh Thi Thu Hang (2022), “Land Ownership of Families in Son La: A view from cadastral recods in the Minh Menh’s year”, Journal of Social and Political Sciences, ISSN 2615-3718 (Online), ISSN 2621-5675 (Print), pages 116 to 128 ... customary law in Vietnam (customary law) has copies of the law directly related to the land issue of the Thai people in Son La, namely the Black Thai Law in Thuan Chau (Son La) and the Muong Law in... solved 2.3 Population - society 2.3.1 Population Before the August Revolution in 1945, Son La belonged to a province with large land and sparse people Son La has 12 ethnic groups: Thai, Kinh, Mong,... of land Public land regime (from 1896 to 1925) Before 1925, it was confirmed in Son La' s statistical reports on land issues that "Private land ownership does not exist in Son La province" All land