Cochinchina's a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city's Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1948. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region has been called Gia Định (1779-1832), Nam Kỳ (1834-1945), Nam Bộ (1945-48), Nam phần (1948-56), Nam Việt (1956-75), and currently Miền Nam. (Nam Bộ's still in unofficial use.) In French, i… (More on Cochinchina)