when did the french first take over vietnam
French Rule: The French colonized Vietnam in the mid 1800s. In 1885, France looked to take over Vietnam and in 1887 they did it. The French started to integrate more Western ideals, education, and religion including, for the first time, introducing Christianity.Their main exports were tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee.n 1959, North Vietnam began and forced a policy to reunify the country, which led to outbreak of the American War in Vietnam in the early 1960s. This concluded on April 30, 1975 when North Vietnamese soldiers captured the city of Saigon and forced the surrender of the South Vietnamese government.