Describe any five steps taken by the French for the development of the ‘Mekong delta region’.
The French colonisers took many important steps for the development of the Mekong delta region of Vietnam.
Five major steps among them are
(i) The French authority started building canals and draining lands in the Mekong delta to increase cultivation.
(ii) This vast system of irrigation work including canals and earthworks was built mainly by forced labour of native people.
(iii) The area under rice cultivation was made larger. In 1873, the area under rice cultivation was 2,74,000 hectares but in 1930, it occupied 2.2 million hectares.
(iv) Vietnam started to export two-thirds of its rice production and by 1931, it became the third
largest exporter of rice in the world.
(v) The French authority developed infrastructure of Vietnam to help transport goods for trade. They constructed railway network that connected Vietnam to China and Vietnam to Siam (Thailand).