Vietnam: The Mandarin of the port of Haiphong with the director of police, 1883. (Colourization by Raul Gil Sarmiento). French Indochina (French: Indochine francaise; Khmer: á????á????á??—á????á??–????á????á????á??’á????á????á??…á??·á??“, Vietnamese: aong D??°????ng thuá????c Phap, frequently abbreviated to aong Phap) was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin (North), Annam (Central), and Cochinchina (South), as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887.