VietnamVietnam (Việt Nam, vîət nāːm), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's fifteenth-most populous country. Vietnam shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia through the South China Sea.
Nguyễn dynastyThe Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which was preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruled the unified Vietnamese state independently from 1802 to 1883 before being under French protectorate. During its existence, the empire expanded into modern-day southern Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos through a continuation of the centuries-long Nam tiến and Siamese–Vietnamese wars.
Ho Chi Minh CityHo Chi Minh City (abbreviated HCMC), commonly known as Saigon, is the most populous city in Vietnam, with a population of around 9.3 million in 2023. Situated in the Southeast region of Vietnam, the city surrounds the Saigon River and covers about . Saigon was the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1902, and again from 1945 until its cessation in 1954. Following the partition of French Indochina, it became the capital of South Vietnam until the fall of Saigon in 1975.
ChampaChampa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; ចាម្ប៉ា; Chiêm Thành 占城 or Chăm Pa 占婆) was a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd century AD until 1832. According to earliest historical references found in ancient sources, the first Cham polities were established around the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE, in the wake of Khu Liên's rebellion against the rule of China's Eastern Han dynasty, and lasted until when the final remaining principality of Champa was annexed by Emperor Minh Mạng of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty as part of the expansionist Nam tiến policy.
Nguyễn lordsThe Nguyễn lords (, 主阮; 1558–1777, 1780–1802), also known as the Nguyễn clan (阮氏, Nguyễn thị), were the rulers of southern Đại Việt during the Revival Lê dynasty and ancestors of Nguyễn dynasty's emperors. The territory they ruled was known contemporarily as Đàng Trong (Inner Realm) and by Europeans as Cochinchina, in opposition to the Trịnh lords ruling northern Đại Việt, known then as Đàng Ngoài (Outer Realm). Both Nguyễn and Trịnh lords were de jure subordinates of the Lê dynasty.
Lê dynastyThe Lê dynasty, also known in historiography as the Later Lê dynasty (Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or nhà Hậu Lê, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), officially Great Việt (Đại Việt; Chữ Hán: 大越), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, having ruled from 1428 to 1789, with an interregnum between 1527 and 1533.
Trịnh lordsThe Trịnh lords (Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formally titled as Viceroy of Trịnh (Trịnh vương; 鄭王), also known as the House of Trịnh or the Trịnh clan (Trịnh thị; 鄭氏), were a noble feudal clan that ruled Northern Vietnam (referred to then as Tonkin), during the Later Lê dynasty, Đại Việt. The Trịnh clan and their rivals, the Nguyễn clan, were both referred to by their subjects as "Chúa" (Lord) and controlled Đại Việt while the Later Lê emperors were reduced to only a titular position.
South VietnamSouth Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; Việt Nam Cộng hòa; République du Viêt Nam), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of the Cold War after the 1954 division of Vietnam. It first received international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with its capital at Saigon (renamed to Ho Chi Minh City in 1976), before becoming a republic in 1955.
HanoiHanoi (Hà Nội haː˨˩ noj˧˨ʔ) is the capital and second-most populous city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. It is located within the Red River Delta of Northern Vietnam. Hanoi's history goes back to the third century BCE, when a portion of the modern-day city served as the capital of the historic Vietnamese nation of Âu Lạc. Following the collapse of Âu Lạc, the city was part of Han China.
Communist Party of VietnamThe Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), also known as the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP), is the founding and sole legal party of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Founded in 1930 by Hồ Chí Minh, the CPV became the ruling party of North Vietnam in 1954 and then all of Vietnam after the collapse of the South Vietnamese government following the Fall of Saigon in 1975. Although it nominally exists alongside the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, it maintains a unitary government and has centralized control over the state, military, and media.
Da NangDa Nang or Danang ( (,)dA:,d@'næN,_'nA:N ; Đà Nẵng, ʔɗaː˨˩ naŋ˦ˀ˥) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one of Vietnam's most important port cities. As one of the country's five direct-controlled municipalities, it falls under the administration of the central government. The city was known as Cửa Hàn during early Đại Việt settlement, and as Tourane (or Turon) during French colonial rule.
TonkinTonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain Đàng Ngoài under Trịnh lords' control, including both the Northern and Thanh-Nghệ regions, north of the Gianh River. From 1884 to early 1945, this term was used for the French protectorate of Tonkin, composed of only the Northern region. "Tonkin" is a Western rendition of 東京 Đông Kinh, meaning 'Eastern Capital'.
Nam tiếnNam tiến (nam tǐən; 南進; lit. "southward advance" or "march to the south") is a historiographical concept that describes the historic southward expansion of the territory of Vietnamese dynasties' dominions of Đại Việt from the 11th to the 19th centuries. The concept of Nam tiến has differing interpretations, with some equating it to Viet colonialism of the south and to a series of wars and conflicts between several Vietnamese kingdoms and Champa Kingdoms, which resulted in the annexation and Vietnamization of the former Cham states as well as indigenous territories.
