[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_image=”https:\/\/thesiamsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Jurney-to-Southern-cover-E.jpg” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_color=”RGBA(255,255,255,0)” background_image=”https:\/\/thesiamsociety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Siam-Society-Presentation-Selected-Photo-1.png” background_size=”contain” background_repeat=”repeat” min_height=”350px” max_height=”500px” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” background__hover_enabled=”on|desktop” sticky_enabled=”0″ title_text=”Siam Society Presentation Selected Photo (1)”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ use_custom_gutter=”on” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|tablet” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”|auto|28px|auto|false|false” custom_padding=”0px||15px|||” custom_padding_tablet=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding_phone=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ module_class=”second-on-mobile” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding_tablet=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding_last_edited=”off|phone” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_blurb url=”\/lectures\/” use_icon=”on” font_icon=”H||divi||400″ icon_placement=”left” image_icon_width=”24px” _builder_version=”4.16″ body_font=”|700|||||||” link_option_url=”\/lectures\/” icon_font_size=”24px” global_colors_info=”{}” body_text_color__hover_enabled=”on|hover” body_text_color__hover=”rgba(29,39,49,0.7)”]Back to Lectures[\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_text admin_label=”Pre-header message” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||15px||false|false” custom_css_main_element=”text-align: left;” text_text_align=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfcHJlLWhlYWRlcl9tZXNzYWdlIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJlbmFibGVfaHRtbCI6Im9uIn19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Lecture Topic Heading” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” header_text_color=”#8e794c” max_width_tablet=”90%” max_width_phone=”100%” max_width_last_edited=”off|desktop” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||62px|||” custom_padding=”||30px||false|false” module_alignment_last_edited=”off|tablet” custom_css_main_element=”text-align: left;” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”#dbd3d8″ text_text_align=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoicG9zdF90aXRsZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJlZm9yZSI6IjxoMT4iLCJhZnRlciI6IjwvaDE+In19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ text_font=”||||||||” header_font=”||||||||” width=”100%” custom_margin=”||40px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding_tablet=”50px||||false|false” custom_padding_phone=”” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n
We are accustomed to thinking of French Indochina as the three mainland Southeast Asian territories France had carved out and controlled by 1893: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. But, as early as 1885, French parliamentary Deputy Jean-Marie Antoine de Lanessan had presented a visionary geopolitical plan for a French imperium over a much larger area. This scheme would incorporate the entire Mekong River basin from upper Laos to the sea, including Siam\u2019s northeastern (Isan) region, her rich Cambodian provinces of Siem Reap and Battambang, and her gulf port at Chanthaboun. Other \u201cSiam activists\u201d in France\u2019s parti colonial<\/em>, including her Minister at Bangkok in 1893, Auguste Pavie, went further and sought to establish a protectorate over all of Siam.<\/p>\n The economic system which de Lanessan envisioned was based on an interconnected series of lakes and rivers throughout the region, including the Mekong, the Tonle Sap, the Serpent River, and the Mun-chi River complex, which extended westwards to the city of Korat. This system might be seen as a Southeast Asian version of Rome\u2019s mare nostrum<\/em> – her inland sea, the Mediterranean \u2013 command over which guaranteed much of Rome\u2019s power and prosperity. French control would also extend overland to connect Isan and Battambang with Siam\u2019s gulf port at Chanthaboun. Siam itself, with its core zone in the valley of the Menam Chaophraya, would remain independent, but was expected to become a mere economic dependency of this expanded zone of French dominion centered on Saigon.<\/p>\n In 1891, de Lanessan was appointed Governor-General of French Indochina and, by 1893, with the \u201cpacification\u201d of Tonkin well underway, he moved to occupy the Lao east-bank territories. However, passage of the Mekong remained obstructed by the presence of numerous cataracts and exploitation of the lake and river system for commerce was hindered by the seeming inability of France\u2019s own commercial interests to rise to this unique opportunity. In addition, the effort to extend French control westwards and south-westwards into Isan and Battambang faced numerous problems, including Siam\u2019s own determined resistance, Britain\u2019s opposition, and the changing climate of international politics. The result was that, despite France\u2019s eventual garnering of some additional Siamese territory by 1907, de Lanessan\u2019s vision of a French grand imperium <\/em>in the Greater Indochina region was doomed to failure, and French Indochina as a whole never prospered to the extent hoped for. Siam, though deprived of substantial territory, escaped the worst French machinations and went on to become a remarkably prosperous and successful independent nation.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_blurb title=”About the speaker” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ header_level=”h3″ header_font=”||||||||” custom_padding=”||10px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Dean Meyers <\/strong>was born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, in 1943. He received a BA in Liberal Arts (History) from Johns Hopkins University in 1965, and an MA in Oriental Studies (Modern Japanese History) from University of Arizona in 1971. Between 1970 and 1974, he taught courses in Asian history at the \u00c9cole Sup\u00e9rieure de P\u00e9dagogie (Lao National College of Education), on the outskirts of Vientiane, Laos. Following additional graduate study in Japan, he taught European and Southeast Asian history at Sophia University in Tokyo from 1982 until 2000. He retired to Thailand in 2001, where he has continued to undertake research and writing on Southeast Asian history, with a focus on French Indochina and Thailand in the period 1885\u20131945.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ module_class=”first-on-mobile” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#4e4e4d” custom_padding=”40px|40px|40px|40px|true|true” custom_padding_tablet=”” custom_padding_phone=”|40px||40px|true|true” custom_padding_last_edited=”on|phone” custom_css_main_element=”margin-bottom: 50px;” border_width_top=”4px” border_color_top=”#8e794c” border_width_bottom=”2px” border_color_bottom=”#8e794c” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_blurb title=”When” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ header_level=”h3″ header_font=”||||||||” background_layout=”dark” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Thursday, 6 August 2026 at 19:00<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title=”Where” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” header_level=”h3″ header_font=”||||||||” background_layout=”dark” custom_padding=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfbGVjdHVyZV9sb2NhdGlvbiIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJlZm9yZSI6IiIsImFmdGVyIjoiIiwiZW5hYmxlX2h0bWwiOiJvbiJ9fQ==@[\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title=”Admission” icon_placement=”left” _builder_version=”4.25.1″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” header_level=”h3″ header_font=”||||||||” background_layout=”dark” custom_padding=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfYWRtaXNzaW9uIiwic2V0dGluZ3MiOnsiYmVmb3JlIjoiIiwiYWZ0ZXIiOiIiLCJlbmFibGVfaHRtbCI6Im9uIn19@[\/et_pb_blurb][et_pb_blurb title=”For more information, please contact” icon_placement=”left” module_class=”contact-on-dark” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ header_level=”h3″ header_font=”||||||||” background_layout=”dark” custom_padding=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” body_link_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” body_link_text_color__hover=”#81bbc3″]<\/p>\n Tel: 02 661 6470-3 ext 201<\/p>\n