Place:Saigon, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

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NameSaigon
Alt namesHo Chi Minh City
Sai-gonsource: Rand McNally Atlas (1989) I-151
Saigonsource: Encyclopædia Britannica (1988) V, 955
Thanh-pho Ho Chi Minhsource: Rand McNally Atlas (1989) I-176
Thành Pĥó H̀ô Chí Minhsource: Getty Vocabulary Program
TypeCity
Coordinates10.75°N 106.667°E
Located inHo Chi Minh, Vietnam
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ho Chi Minh City, also known by its former name Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam. Situated in the south, and in the southeastern region, the city straddles the Saigon River and covers about . The name Saigon is still frequently used.

Prior to Vietnamese settlement in the 17th century, the city was a scarcely populated area that had been part of historic empires of Funan, Chenla, and Cambodia. With the arrival of Vietnamese, the area became more populated and officials established the city between 1623 to 1698. After it was ceded by the last Vietnamese dynasty to the French in 1862, the name Saigon was adopted and the city underwent urbanization to become the financial center of the region. The city was the capital of South Vietnam until the end of the Vietnam War with North Vietnamese victory in 1975. In 1976, the government of the unified Vietnam renamed Saigon in honor of Hồ Chí Minh, who was Chairman and founder of the Workers' Party of Vietnam.

Now the primary economic center of all of Vietnam, it is also an emerging international destination, with popular landmarks related to remnants of its history showcased through its architecture. A major transportation hub, the city hosts the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the busiest airport in Vietnam. Sài Gòn or Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh is also undergoing construction of educational institutions and transportation, and also serves as a major media and entertainment outlet. Residents are called "Saigonese" in English or "dân Sài Gòn" in Vietnamese.

Contents

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Early settlement

The earliest settlement in the area was a Funan temple at the location of the current Phụng Sơn Buddhist temple, founded in the 4th century AD. A settlement called Baigaur was established on the site in the 11th century by the Champa.[1] Baigaur was renamed Prey Nokor around 1145,[1] Prey Nokor grew on the site of a small fishing village and area of forest.

The first Vietnamese people crossed the sea to explore this land completely without the organization of the Nguyễn Lords. Thanks to the marriage between Princess Nguyễn Phúc Ngọc Vạn - daughter of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên - and the King of Cambodia Chey Chettha II in 1620, the relationship between Vietnam and Cambodia became smooth, and the people of the two countries could freely move back and forth. Vietnamese settlers began to migrate to the area of Saigon, Dong Nai. Before that, the Funanese, Khmer, and Cham had lived there, scattered from time immemorial.

The period from 1623 to 1698 is considered the period of the formation of later Saigon. In 1623, Lord Nguyen sent a mission to ask his son-in-law, King Chey Chettha II, to set up tax collection stations in Prey Nokor (Saigon) and Kas Krobei (Ben Nghe). Although this was a deserted jungle area, it was located on the traffic routes of Vietnamese, Chinese,... to Cambodia and Siam. The next two important events of this period were the establishment of the barracks and residence of Vice King Ang Non and the establishment of a palace at Tan My (near the present-day Cong Quynh – Nguyen Trai crossroads). It can be said that Saigon was formed from these three government agencies.

Nguyễn Dynasty rule

In 1679, Lord Nguyễn Phúc Tần allowed a group of Chinese refugees from the Qing Dynasty to settle in My Tho, Bien Hoa and Saigon to seek refuge. In 1698, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyễn rulers of Huế by sea to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. In 1788, Nguyễn Ánh captured the city, and used it as a center of resistance against Tây Sơn. Two years later, a large Vauban citadel called Gia Định, or Thành Bát Quái ("Eight Diagrams") was built by Victor Olivier de Puymanel, one of the Nguyễn Ánh's French mercenaries.

The citadel was captured by Lê Văn Khôi during his revolt of 1833–35 against Emperor Minh Mạng. Following the revolt, Minh Mạng ordered it to be dismantled, and a new citadel, called Phụng Thành, was built in 1836. In 1859, the citadel was destroyed by the French following the Battle of Kỳ Hòa.[2] Initially called Gia Dinh, the Vietnamese city became Saigon in the 18th century.[1]

French colonial era

Ceded to France by the 1862 Treaty of Saigon, the city was planned by the French to transform into a large town for colonization. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, construction of various French-style buildings began, including a botanical garden, the Norodom Palace, Hotel Continental, Notre-Dame Cathedral, and Bến Thành Market, among many others. In April 1865, Gia Dinh Bao was established in Saigon, becoming the first newspaper published in Vietnam. During the French colonial era, Saigon became known as "Pearl of the Orient" (Hòn ngọc Viễn Đông), or "Paris of the Extreme Orient".


On 27 April 1931, a new région called Saigon–Cholon consisting of Saigon and Cholon was formed; the name Cholon was dropped after South Vietnam gained independence from France in 1955. From about 256,000 in 1930, Saigon's population rose to 1.2 million in 1950.[3]

Republic of Vietnam era

In 1949, former Emperor Bảo Đại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam with himself as head of state. In 1954, the Geneva Agreement partitioned Vietnam along the 17th parallel (Bến Hải River), with the communist Việt Minh, under Ho Chi Minh, gaining complete control of the northern half of the country, while the southern half gaining independence from France. The State officially became the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo Đại was deposed by his Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in the 1955 referendum,[4] with Saigon as its capital. On 22 October 1956, the city was given the official name, Đô Thành Sài Gòn ("Capital City Saigon"). After the decree of 27 March 1959 came into effect, Saigon was divided into eight districts and 41 wards.[5] In December 1966, two wards from old An Khánh Commune of Gia Định, were formed into District 1, then seceded shortly later to become District 9. In July 1969, District 10 and District 11 were founded, and by 1975, the city's area consisted of eleven districts, Gia Định, Củ Chi District (Hậu Nghĩa) and Phú Hòa District (Bình Dương).[6]

Saigon served as the financial, industrial and transport center of the Republic of Vietnam. In the late 1950s, with the U.S. providing nearly $2 billion in aid to the Diệm regime, the country's economy grew rapidly under capitalism;[5] by 1960, over half of South Vietnam's factories were located in Saigon. However, beginning in the 1960s, Saigon experienced an economic downturn and high inflation, as it was completely dependent on U.S. aid and imports from other countries.[5] As a result of widespread urbanization, with the population reaching 3.3 million by 1970, the city was described by the USAID as being turned "into a huge slum". The city was also suffered from "prostitutes, drug addicts, corrupt officials, beggars, orphans, and Americans with money", and according to Stanley Karnow, it was "a black-market city in the largest sense of the word".[7]

On 28 April 1955, the Vietnamese National Army launched an attack against Bình Xuyên military force in the city. The battle lasted until May, killing an estimated 500 people and leaving about 20,000 homeless.[7] Ngô Đình Diệm then later turned on other paramilitary groups in Saigon, including the Hoa Hao Buddhist reform movement.[7] On 11 June 1963, Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức burned himself in the city, in protest of the Diệm regime. On 1 November of the same year, Diệm was assassinated in Saigon, in a successful coup by Dương Văn Minh.[7]

During the 1968 Tet Offensive, communist forces launched a failed attempt to capture the city. On 30 April 1975, Saigon fell, ending the Vietnam War with a victory for North Vietnam, and the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army.[7]

Post–Vietnam War and today

In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including the Cholon area), the province of Gia Ðịnh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of the late Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. At the time, the city covered an area of with eight districts and five rurals: Thủ Đức, Hóc Môn, Củ Chi, Bình Chánh, and Nhà Bè.[6] Since 1978, administrative divisions in the city have been revised numerous times,[6] most recently in 2020, when District 2, District 9, and Thủ Đức District were consolidated to form a municipal city.[8]

Today, Ho Chi Minh City, along with its surrounding provinces, is described as "the manufacturing hub" of Vietnam, and "an attractive business hub". It was ranked the 111th-most expensive major city in the world according to a 2020 survey of 209 cities. In terms of international connectedness, as of 2020, the city was classified as a "Beta" city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

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