Charles-Marie David de Mayréna, a former French…
June 1888 CE
When the king of Siam begins claiming territories near those held by the French, Mayréna persuades the nervous colonial administrator to permit him to lead an expedition into the interior in order to negotiate treaties with the local tribespeople.
However, upon his arrival, he instead persuades the tribesmen to form a local kingdom under his rule.
To justify this, he argues that the tribes involved are not subjects or vassals of the emperor of Annam (Vietnam), and hence have a right to independent statehood.
The Kingdom of Sedang, as he names it, incorporated the Bahnar, Rengao, and Sedang tribes.
Mayréna is elected King by the chiefs of these tribes, establishes his capital at Kon Gung (also called Pelei Agna, or Great City), and assumes the regnal name and style of Marie the First, King of the Sedang, on June 3, 1888.
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Southeast Asia
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