Đại Việt

For a thousand years, the area of what is now Northern Vietnam was ruled by a succession of Chinese regimes as Giao Châu (交州, Jiaozhou) and Giao Chỉ (交趾, Jiaozhi).

The indigenous inhabitants in Northern Vietnam of ancient kingdom of Nanyue (c. 204 – 111 BC) were known as the Lạc Việt (Luoyue).[2] In 111 BC, Western Han dynasty (c. 202 BC – 9 AD) conquered Nanyue and incorporated the kingdom into Chinese rules, as known as Giao Chỉ. However until the 7th century, the region's population were largely indigenous people.[15]

In 679, the Tang dynasty created Protectorate General to Pacify the South and a military government. In late 9th century, the collapsing Tang dynasty was unable to retain control of the area. Local Viet chieftains and highland people in central Vietnam, in an attempt to overthrow the Tang Chinese influences in the region, allied with Nanzhao.[16] Repeated Nanzhao attack and local rebels from 854 to 866 in Annan ousted the Chinese until Gao Pian recaptured it in 866.[17] In 880, the army in Annan mutinied, took the city of Đại La, and forced the military commissioner Zeng Gun to flee, ending de facto Chinese control in Vietnam.[18][19]

In 905, a local Vietnamese sinicized chieftain Khúc Thừa Dụ was elected as jiedushi (military governor) of Tĩnh Hải circuit amid the collapsing of Tang Empire.[3][20] This notable event was widely regarded by Vietnamese historians as the reclaim of Vietnamese Independence after a thousand years of Imperial Chinese rules.[21] In 930, Southern Han attacked Annam, decimated the Khuc, but was repulsed by Duong Dinh Nghe in the next year. In 937 Duong Dinh Nghe was assassinated by Kieu Cong Tien, who was assisted by the Southern Han. Ngo Quyen, a warlord from the south killed Kieu Cong Tien, defeated the Southern Han naval invasion in December 938 on the Bach Dang River. Ngo Quyen established himself as king of the Viet with Co Loa as his estates.[22] However, chaos returned after his death in 944, as his two sons were struggling for deposing their uncle Duong Tam Kha out of power, resulted in the Twelve Warlords period.[23]

In 968, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh (r. 968–979) reunited the Viet state[24] under the name of Đại Cồ Việt and claimed the title (emperor).[25] The founder of the kingdom, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh, and his successors, were less sinicized than the previous Khuc family.[26] With assistance of powerful Buddhist monks, Bộ Lĩnh chose Hoa Lư in the southern edge of the Red River Delta as the capital instead of Tang-era Dai La, adopted Chinese-style imperial titles, coinage, and ceremonies and tried to preserve the T’ang administrative framework.[26] In 980 royal powers was transferred to the Lê family of general Lê Hoàn (r. 980–1005), who repelled an Chinese invasion in 981 and invaded Champa in 982.[27] A short period of civil war between princes and princess of Lê Hoàn for succession weakened the royal court. In 1009 Ly Cong Uan deposed the last Early Le king and to become the ruler of Dai Viet.[28]

In 1010, King Lý Thái Tổ relocated the Vietnamese capital from Hoa Lư to Thăng Long (modern-day Hanoi).[29] His son and grandson, Ly Phat Ma (r. 1028–1053) and Ly Nhat Ton (r.1054-1072) led two seaborne attacks against Champa in 1044 and 1069, expanded Vietnamese kingdom to the south, raided Song China in 1053 and 1059, established strong Buddhist institutions around the capital and open the first Confucian classic school in the capital.[30] The Ly abandoned Chinese-style administrative system, divided the country into 24 outer and inner phu (mandalas), with each governed by regional families connecting with the Ly family through royal marriages, that allowed maternal clans to introduce their rivalries at court, but still retained an Sinic techniques to enhance unitary.[31] The fourth Ly king, Ly Can Duc (r.1072-1127) opened the first national civil service examinations in 1075 to recruit officials.[32] The Ly period also saw the creation of a new script called nôm which based on Chinese characters and contain a mix of logographs and phonographs to write Vietnamese language.[33]

The eighth Ly king, Ly Hue Tong (r. 1210–1224) appointed his seven-years-old daughter Ly Chieu Hoang (r.1224–1226) as heir, and abdicated in her favor and became a monk. Tran Thu Do, an high-rank court official, offered Ly Chieu Hoang to marry with his nephew Trần Cảnh, which became Tran Thai Tong (r. 1226–1258), founder of the Tran dynasty of Dai Viet.[34] The ruling Tran (whom may have been descended from Chinese immigrants according to Victor Lieberman) patronized Chinese culture and Chinese-style government more than the previous Ly dynasty. For the first time Chinese-style population registers for each village were set up, civil examinations to recruit literati became larger and more important.[35] The Tran kings also aborted the previous administrative system, appointed their royal members to govern each province.[36]

Following the Mongol conquest of Dali Kingdom in 1253, Mongol army under Uriyangkhadai launched a campaign against Dai Viet in 1258 which resulted in subjugation of Dai Viet to the Yuan empire; however in the second attempt of re-subjugating the Vietnamese and the Cham in 1283, 1285 and 1288, the Yuan armies were repelled.[37]

In 1400, the Trần was then succeeded by the Hồ dynasty, who claimed descent from the Trần and changed the name of the country to Đại Ngu.[8][9] The Hồ was then conquered by the Chinese Ming dynasty in the Ming–Hồ War of the early 15th century. The region was administered as Giao Chi (Jiaozhi).[10]^:181

In late 18th century, the Tây Sơn uprising led by the Nguyễn brothers overthrew the Lê dynasty and repelled the invading Qing armies in the Battle of Ngọc Hồi-Đống Đa, considered one of the greatest military victories in Vietnamese history.

In 1802, the Tây Sơn was then overthrown by Gia Long, who founded the Nguyễn dynasty and renamed the country Việt Nam in 1804.[38]