After the 1954 Geneva Conference, the Domain of the Crown lost considerable amounts of territory, as the entirety of Bắc phần was ceded to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, reducing it only to Tây Nguyên.

[7] Up until French rule, the Central Highlands was almost never entered by the Vietnamese since they viewed it as a savage (Mọi) populated area with fierce animals like tigers, "poisoned water" and "evil malevolent spirits."

The Vietnamese expressed interest in the land after the French transformed it into a profitable plantation area to grow crops on,[8] in addition to the natural resources from the forests, minerals and rich earth and realisation of its crucial geographical importance.

This was arranged by the French explorer and colonial representative Auguste Pavie who signed a treaty with Đèo Văn Trị, the White Tai lord of Muang Lay (Lai Châu) on 7 April 1889.

After the Second World War, worries about rising nationalist movements in Cambodia and Vietnam and Vietminh potential takeover of the highlands prompted France to negotiate and establish several autonomous entities assigned to indigenous minority peoples to retain direct French control under the camouflage of granting independence.

[13] According to a letter written by the French President Vincent Auriol the areas populated by the ethnic minorities should be seen as "the private property of the Emperor of Annam" rather than belonging to the Vietnamese state.

[15] In his own memoires Bảo Đại wrote that the creation of the Domain of the Crown was suggested to him by Léon Pignon in Paris who argued that the lands of ethnic minorities were never directly administered by the imperial court of the Nguyễn dynasty and could be assigned to the Chief of State in order to help the unification of Vietnam.

[15] On 10 November 1950 Bảo Đại issued Dụ số 4/QT-TG which separated the administration of the city from Lâm Viên Province giving it the status of "independent township" (Thành thị xã độc lập) where the mayor would be directly appointed by the Chief of State of Vietnam.

[2] In fact, in the central highlands the Khâm mạng was Colonel Pierre Didelot, the husband of Agnès Nguyễn Hữu Hào making him the brother-in-law of empress consort Nam Phương.

[2][15] After enacting Quy chế 16, Bảo Đại and High Commissioner Léon Pignon attended a ceremony in Buôn Mê Thuột, Đắk Lắk Province, to receive the symbol of the lands of the "Domain of the Crown" and took the oath of the chiefs of the Southern Montagnards.

[15] In his book "The Dragon of Vietnam" (Con rồng Việt Nam) written by Bảo Đại as his memoirs, he recorded: "Personally, I am worshiped by them, for the Emperor is the king of the gods who protects their forests and plains".

[13] The educated Montagnards from this period would accept administrative positions outside of their native tribal areas, which would develop long-lasting and often unprecedented relationships extending across the region, among which marriages across clan were common.

[1] Chief of State Bảo Đại accepted the signed Dụ số 21 into law and the leftover areas of the Domain of the Crown were formally annexed into Trung phần.

[1] On 24 March 1955 a ceremony was held in front of Kontum Administrative Court, with the presence of thousands of ethnic minorities where the Chief of State Bảo Đại read the declaration which formally ended the 4 year and 11-month existence of the Domain of the Crown.