[Photos] The People of 1880s Indochina Captured in a Series of Striking Portraits

When French photographers Hippolyte Arnoux and Émile Gssel traveled to Indochina in 1880, they documented not only its landscapes, but also its people.

These images, which appear in the book Voyage de l’Egypte à l’Indochine, include striking portraits of Vietnamese, Chinese, Cambodian, Indian and indigenous people across different geographies and social classes.

Arnoux eventually went on to become the first commercial photographer in Saigon. Yet the duo's early images of individuals, families, community groups, chess players and street workers form some of their most celebrated and vital work. 

Take a look below:

Related Articles:

- [Photos] Saunter Across Hanoi's Old Quarter Streets in 1896

- [Photos] On the Cusp of a Tourism Boom, a Pristine Sapa of the 1920s

- [Photos] A Child Wedding of Tay Ethnic Minority in Lao Cai in 1920s