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Early history
editThe area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was likely inhabited long since prehistory; the empire of Funan and later Chenla maintained a presence in the Mekong Delta for centuries.[1] The city was known as Prey Nokor (Khmer: ព្រៃនគរ) to the Khmer Empire, which likely maintained a settlement centuries before its rise in the 11th and 12th centuries.[nb 1] The kingdom of Champa, though mainly based along the coast of the South China Sea, is known to have expanded west into the Mekong Delta, seizing control of the town, which they named Baigaur, by the end of the 13th century.[nb 2] Author Nghia M. Vo suggests that a Cham presence may indeed have existed in the area prior to Khmer occupation.[nb 3]
Khmer Territory
editPrey Nokor was the most important commercial seaport to the Khmers. Beginning in the early 17th century, colonization of the area by Vietnamese settlers gradually isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from their brethren in Cambodia proper and resulted in their becoming a minority in the delta.
In 1618 the Khmer king Chey Chettha II (1618-28) married Nguyen Thi Ngoc, a daughter of Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên, one of the Nguyễn Lords who ruled southern Vietnam for most of the period of the Le dynasty.[2][nb 4] As a result of this marriage, the Cambodian King allowed Vietnamese settlers fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor, which they colloquially referred to as Sài Gòn, and to set up a custom house at Prey Nokor in 1623.[2] This settlement was the start of a major expansion by the Vietnamese beyond the borders established by Le Thanh Tong in 1471. The increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers which followed overwhelmed the Khmer kingdom—weakened as it was due to war with Thailand—and slowly Vietnamized the area.
Nguyễn dynasty rule
edit
In 1691 the Vietnamese occupied Prey Nokor, officially renaming it Gia Định (Chữ Nôm: 嘉定). Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyễn rulers of Huế by sea in 1698 to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area.[3] This act formally detached the Mekong Delta from Cambodia, placing the region firmly under Vietnamese administrative control. Cambodia was cut off from access to the South China Sea, and trade through the area was possible only with Vietnamese permission.[1] Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a power center of the Mekong Delta and an important commercial, political, and military city.
In the late 1700s, the city was the scene of warfare between the Tay Son Dynasty and Nguyễn Anh, nephew of the last Nguyễn Lord. Aided by French military advisors—including Catholic priest Pigneau de Behaine—Nguyễn captured the city in 1789, and in the following year built Gia Định Citadel (Vietnamese: Thành Gia Định), a large Vauban stone fortress, also known as the Citadel of Saigon (Vietnamese: Thành Sài Gòn). Further attacks by the Tay Son were prevented, solidifying Nguyễn's hold on the region and allowing him to build an administration and strengthen his forces for a campaign that united Vietnam in 1802, resulting in his coronation as Gia Long.
Nguyễn domination of the area remained intact until the Cochinchina Campaign in the 1850s-1860s, ostensibly brought about by the persecution of Catholic missionaries during the reign of Tự Đức. In 1857, French forces dispatched to Asia to fight the Second Opium War, commanded by Charles Rigault de Genouilly, were ordered on a punitive expedition to Vietnam. Tourane and Saigon were both captured; although the French eventually retreated from the former, they held Saigon, destroying the Citadel in 1859 at the conclusion of the Battle of Ky Hoa. The campaign eventually culminated in the Treaty of Saigon, which ceded Saigon to the French along with several surrounding provinces.
Colonial French era
editConquered by France in 1859, Saigon became the principal city of Cochinchina as part of the Treaty of Saigon in 1862. During the period of French colonial occupation, the city became heavily influenced by the French in its culture and architecture, and a number of classical Western-style buildings in the city reflect this. At one time, French influence was so strong that Saigon was called "the Pearl of the Far East" (Hòn ngọc Viễn Đông) or "Paris in the Orient" (Paris Phương Đông).[4] Saigon had, in 1929, a population of 123,890, including 12,100 French.[5]
Capital of South Vietnam
editFormer Emperor Bảo Đại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam in 1949 with himself as head of state. After the Việt Minh gained control of North Vietnam in 1954, it became common to refer to the Saigon government as “South Vietnam”. The government was renamed the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo Đại was deposed in 1955. Saigon and Cholon, an adjacent city with many Sino-Vietnamese residents, were combined into an administrative unit called Đô Thành Sài Gòn ("Capital City Saigon").
Post-Vietnam War and today
editAt the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army. Among Vietnamese diaspora communities and particularly the U.S. (which had fought the communists), this event is commonly called the “Fall of Saigon,” while the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam calls it the “Liberation of Saigon.”
In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Gia Ðịnh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Hồ Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Hồ Chí Minh. The former name Saigon is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts.[4] Generally, the term Saigon refers only to the urban districts of Hồ Chí Minh City. The word "Saigon" can also be found on shop signs all over the country, even in Hanoi.
Notes and references
edit- Notes
- ^ "At the height of the Khmer Empire's economic and political strength, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, its rulers established and fostered the growth of Prey Nokor[...] It is possible that there already had been a settlement at this location in the Mekong marshes for some centuries, depending, as Prey Nokor did, on the handling of goods traded between the countries bordering the South China Sea and the interior provinces of the empire." Robert M. Salkin, Trudy Ring (1996). Paul E. Schellinger, Robert M. Salkin (ed.). Asia and Oceania. International Dictionary of Historic Places. Vol. 5. Taylor & Francis. p. 353. ISBN 1884964044.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Such a trading center was bound to be one of the prizes in the struggle for power that developed in the thirteenth century between the declining Khmer Empire and the expanding kingdom of Champa, and by the end of that century the Cham people had seized control of the town." Robert M. Salkin, Trudy Ring (1996). Paul E. Schellinger, Robert M. Salkin (ed.). Asia and Oceania. International Dictionary of Historic Places. Vol. 5. Taylor & Francis. p. 353. ISBN 1884964044.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Saigon began as the Cham village of Baigaur, then became the Khmer Prey Nokor before being taken over by the Vietnamese and renamed Gia Dinh Thanh and then Saigon." Nghia M. Vo (2009). The Viet Kieu in America: Personal Accounts of Postwar Immigrants from Vietnam. McFarland & Co. p. 218.
- ^ It should be noted that in Khmer folklore southern Vietnam was given to the Vietnamese government as a dowry for the marriage of a Vietnamese princess to a Khmer prince in order to stop constant invasions and pillaging of Khmer villages.
- References
- ^ a b Robert M. Salkin, Trudy Ring (1996). Paul E. Schellinger, Robert M. Salkin (ed.). Asia and Oceania. International Dictionary of Historic Places. Vol. 5. Taylor & Francis. p. 353. ISBN 1884964044.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ a b Nghia M. Vo, Chat V. Dang, Hien V. Ho (2008-08-29). The Women of Vietnam. Saigon Arts, Culture & Education Institute Forum. Outskirts Press. ISBN 1432722085.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The first settlers, http://www.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/eng
- ^ a b "Pearl of the Orient is still Vietnam's heart". Travelterrific.com. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
- ^ "Yearbook of the Encyclopedia Americana (2006)". p.175.