During the Nguyễn dynasty period (1802–1945) ethnic minorities retained a level of autonomy and their tribal societies and principalities were a part of what was considered to be the "Domain of the Crown" as an informal division.

[4] French administrator Sabatier sought to emphasise a separate ethnic identity for the Montagnards differentiating them from the Annamese, and even created a customary law code for the Degar people.

[4] A combination of French colonial administrators, military officers, and ethnographers contributed to a process of "ethnicisation" to the centr Montagnard people, such as by classifying them into four major groups of "tribes".

[6] 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,[7] in addition to the natural resources from the forests, minerals and rich earth and realisation of its crucial geographical importance.

[4] High Commissioner Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu sought to neutralise the situation by approving the establishment of the Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina in Southern Vietnam on 1 June 1946 and then the Montagnard country of South Indochina in the central highlands region on 27 May 1946.

[4] Colonel Jacques Massu proposed a plan to let retired French military veterans create plantations in the Montagnard country of South Indochina, which was approved by High Commissioner Georges Thierry d'Argenlieu.