Léopold Sabatier (died c. 1929) was a French

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administrator in the province of Darlac (now Đắk Lắk Province). He was province chief and later ''résident'' of the province from 1914 to 1926, after serving temporarily in

Kontum Kon Tum is the capital city of Kon Tum Province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders of Laos and Cambodia. History After the People's Army of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam on March 30, 1 ...

. Sabatier died soon after his return to France in 1929.

Personal life

Sabatier had relationships with several E De women, which led some E De elders to complain that he slept with too many E De girls. His daughter H'ni was born in 1923. She later followed him to France.Gerald Hickey, Sons of the Mountains: Ethnohistory of the Vietnamese Central Highlands to 1954, p. 308

Policies

During his time in

(at least), Sabatier had serious doubts about missionary influence and sometimes had disputes with missionaries who used coercion to enforce rules or convert locals to Catholicism. Under Sabatier's rule of Đắk Lắk, the Franco-Rhadé School opened and there were efforts to create an alphabet for the E De language. In 1923 an E De court was established, which incorporated elements of E De legal procedure Sabatier tried to keep outsiders, especially French business groups and Vietnamese (

Kinh The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native lang ...

) migrants out of Đắk Lắk to protect the interests of the locals. At the same time, improvements in infrastructure made the province more accessible.Gerald Hickey, Sons of the Mountains: Ethnohistory of the Vietnamese Central Highlands to 1954, p. 303

Criticism

In both

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and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, Sabatier was criticized by commercial circles for his policy of keeping business interests out of Đắk Lắk. His reputation among missionaries was also bad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabatier, Leopold Đắk Lắk province Year of birth missing 1929 deaths French expatriates in Vietnam