Annam (Vietnamese: An Nam or Trung Kỳ, alternate spelling: Anam) is a French protectorate encompassing the central region of Vietnam.
Before the protectorate's establishment, the name Annam is used in the West to refer to Vietnam as a whole.
Vietnamese people are referred to as Annamites.
The protectorate of Annam becomes in 1887 a part of French Indochina.
Two other Vietnamese regions, Cochinchina (Nam Kỳ) in the South and Tonkin (Bắc Kỳ) in the North, are also units of French Indochina.
The region has a dual system of French and Vietnamese administration.
The Nguyễn Dynasty still nominally rules Annam, with a puppet emperor residing in Huế.
In 1948, the protectorate is merged in the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam, which is replaced the next year by the newly established State of Vietnam.
The region is divided between communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam under the terms of the Geneva Accord of 1954.
