The story
In 1802 Nguyen Anh, a surviving prince of the Nguyen lords, takes Hanoi and, as Emperor Gia Long, proclaims a new dynasty at the court at Hue. For the first time a single ruler holds the whole territory from the Chinese border to the Gulf of Siam, the area of modern Vietnam. In 1804 the Qing court recognizes his realm with the name Viet Nam. The Nguyen dynasty lasts until the abdication of Bao Dai in 1945.
From the 1500s Vietnam had been divided between the Trinh lords in the north and the Nguyen lords in the south, who had expanded into former Cham and Khmer land in the Mekong delta. The Tay Son rebellion from 1771 overthrew both and unified the land under the Tay Son brothers. Nguyen Anh escaped and fought back for 25 years, helped by Siam, by French adventurers and arms, and by the Catholic bishop Pigneau de Behaine. He ruled in Confucian style, built the citadel at Hue and codified laws. His successor Minh Mang tightened control and persecuted Catholic missionaries, which in time gave France a pretext to intervene and start its conquest of Vietnam from 1858.
Why it mattered
- It created the unified Vietnamese state within roughly today's borders, ruled from Hue.
- It began the Nguyen dynasty, the last of Vietnam's imperial dynasties, which lasted until 1945.
- Its ties with French advisers and later conflicts with missionaries led to French intervention from 1858.
Sources
- Vietnam: The Nguyen Dynasty and Expanding French Influence Library of Congress Country Studies
- Pierre-Joseph-Georges Pigneau de Behaine Britannica
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