history of hanoi

History

Hoàn Kiếm Lake in the centre of Hanoi, with the streets of the old town in the background (1999)

Tháp Bút (pen tower) next to Hoàn Kiếm Lake (2007)

The area around modern Hanoi has been inhabited since at least 3000 BC. One of the first known permanent settlements is the Co Loa citadel founded around 200 BC.

Hanoi has had many names throughout history, all of them of Sino-Vietnamese origin. During the Chinese domination of Vietnam, it was known as Tống Bình (宋平) and later Long Đỗ. In 866, it was turned into a citadel and was named Đại La (大羅).

In 1010, Lý Thái Tổ, the first ruler of the Lý Dynasty, moved the capital of Đại Việt (大越, the Great Viet, then the name of Vietnam) to the site of the Đại La Citadel. Claiming to have seen a dragon ascending the Red River, he renamed it Thăng Long (昇龍, Ascending dragon) - a name still used poetically to this day. It remained the capital of Vietnam until 1397, when the capital was moved to Thanh Hóa, also known as Tây Đô (西都, Western Capital). Thăng Long then became Đông Đô (東都, Eastern Capital).

In 1408, Vietnam was invaded by Chinese troops from the Ming Dynasty and Đông Đô was renamed Đông Quan (東關, Eastern Gateway) by the Chinese. In 1428, Vietnam was liberated from Chinese rule by Lê Lợi, the founder of the Le Dynasty and Đông Quan was renamed Đông Kinh (東京, Eastern Capital - the name known to Europeans as Tonkin; and evidently, the same characters used for Tokyo). During the Tây Sơn Dynasty, it was named Bắc Thành (北城, Northern Citadel).

In 1802, when the Nguyễn Dynasty was established and then moved the capital down to present-day Huế, it was renamed Thăng Long ( "ascending dragon"). However, the second syllable of the toponym is actually a homonym of the word long, and so, actually suggests “to flourish” as opposed to “dragon”. Therefore, the name would then have appeared as 昇隆, roughly to ascend and flourish. In 1831 the Nguyen Dynasty renamed it Hà Nội (河内, can be translated as Between Rivers or River Interior) . Hanoi was occupied by the French in 1873 and passed to them ten years later. It became the capital of French Indochina after 1887.

The city was occupied by the Japanese in 1940, and liberated in 1945, when it became the seat of Vietnam's government. From 1946 to 1954, it was the scene of heavy fighting between the French and Viet Minh forces. At that point, the city became the capital of an independent North Vietnam.

During the Vietnam War Hanoi's transportation facilities were disrupted by the bombing of bridges and railways, which were, however, promptly repaired. Following the end of the war, Hanoi became the capital of Vietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on July 2, 1976.