French Indochina

State · 1860–1957 CE · at its largest around 1908 CE

France's colonial federation in Southeast Asia, covering present-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, which ended after the First Indochina War.

On its lands while it lasted

Joseon (1392–1897 CE): Dynasty founded by Yi Seong-gye with its capital at Hanseong (Seoul); it ruled Korea for five centuries.
Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868 CE): Military government based at Edo that brought over two centuries of peace to Japan.
Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864 CE): Civil war led by Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, based at Nanjing; one of the deadliest conflicts in history.
British Raj (1858–1947 CE): After the 1857 rebellion the British Crown took direct rule of India from the East India Company, governing until independence in 1947.
Meiji Restoration (1868 CE): Imperial rule was restored under Emperor Meiji, launching Japan's rapid modernisation.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 CE – 1948 CE): Leader of the Indian independence movement who developed nonviolent mass civil disobedience (satyagraha).
Eruption of Krakatoa (1883 CE): Catastrophic eruption in the Sunda Strait in August 1883 whose tsunamis killed more than 36,000 people; its explosion was heard thousands of kilometres away.
Ho Chi Minh (1890 CE – 1969 CE): Vietnamese revolutionary who led the Viet Minh independence movement, declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and led North Vietnam until his death.
1911 Revolution (1911–1912 CE): Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule.
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945 CE): Full-scale war between China and Japan, merging into the Second World War; the Nationalist government moved its capital to Chongqing.
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima (1945 CE): On 6 August 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the first use of a nuclear weapon in war.
Independence of India (1947 CE): India became independent on 15 August 1947, with Jawaharlal Nehru as its first prime minister.
Partition of India (1947 CE): British India was divided into India and Pakistan in August 1947, followed by communal violence and the displacement of some 15 million people.
Korean War (1950–1953 CE): War between North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea, backed by UN forces led by the United States.
Vietnam War (1955–1975 CE): War between communist North Vietnam and the US-backed South, which escalated into large-scale American intervention and ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975.