The Treaty of Huế or Protectorate Treaty was concluded on 6 June 1884 between France and Đại Nam. It restated the main tenets of the punitive Harmand Treaty of 25 August 1883, but softened some of the harsher provisions of this treaty. The treaty created the protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, and a colony in southern Vietnam. It formed the basis of French colonial rule in Vietnam during the next seven decades and was negotiated by Jules Patenôtre, France's minister to China; it is often known as the Patenôtre Treaty. The treaty was signed on the Vietnamese side by Phạm Thận Duật and Tôn Thất Phan, representatives of the emperor Tự Đức’s court. The treaty marked the Nguyễn dynasty's second acceptance of French protectorate in central and northern Vietnam, but it was canceled by the Nguyễn dynasty on 11 March 1945.
The signatures of Jules Patenôtre, Nguyễn Văn Tường, Phạm Thận Duật, and Tôn Thất Phan.
Indo-China - Reception of Mr. Arthur Tricou, Minister Plenipotentiary of France, by the new emperor of Annam.
The Treaty of Huế, concluded on 25 August 1883 between France and Vietnam, recognised a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin. Dictated to the Vietnamese by the French administrator François-Jules Harmand in the wake of the French military seizure of the Thuận An forts, the treaty is often known as the 'Harmand Treaty'. Considered overly harsh in French diplomatic circles, the treaty was never ratified in France, and was replaced on 6 June 1884 with the slightly milder 'Patenôtre Treaty' or 'Treaty of Protectorate', which formed the basis for French rule in Vietnam for the next seven decades.
François-Jules Harmand (1845–1921), architect of the Treaty of Huế
Signature of the Treaty of Huế, 25 August 1883
Indo-China – Reception of Mr. Arthur Tricou, Minister Plenipotentiary of France, by the new emperor of Annam.