Place:Hanoi, Hà So'n Bình, Vietnam

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Hanoi ( or  ; ) is the capital city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . The second largest city in Vietnam, it consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is the cultural and political centre of Vietnam.

Hanoi traced its history back to the third century BCE, when a portion of the modern-day city served as the capital of the historic Vietnamese nation of Âu Lạc. Following the collapse of Âu Lạc, the city was part of Han China. In 1010, Vietnamese emperor Lý Thái Tổ established the capital of the imperial Vietnamese nation Đại Việt in modern-day central Hanoi, naming the city Thăng Long (literally "Ascending Dragon"). Thăng Long remained Đại Việt's political centre until 1802, when the Nguyễn dynasty, the last imperial Vietnamese dynasty, moved the capital to Huế. The city was renamed Hanoi in 1831, and served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1945. On 6 January 1946, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam designated Hanoi as the capital of the newly-independent country, which would last during the First Indochina War (1946–1954) and the Vietnam War (1955–1975). Hanoi has been the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam since 1976.

Hanoi hosts various venerable educational institutions and cultural venues of significance, including the Vietnam National University, the Mỹ Đình National Stadium, and the Vietnam National Museum of Fine Arts. Amongst its achievements, it has a UNESCO World Heritage Site—The Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, first constructed in 1011AD. Hanoi was the only Asia-Pacific locality to be granted the "City for Peace" title by the UNESCO on 16 July 1999, recognizing its contributions to the struggle for peace, its efforts to promote equality in the community, protect the environment, promote culture and education, and care for younger generations. Hanoi joined UNESCO's Network of Creative Cities as a Design City on 31 October 2019, on the occasion of World Cities' Day. The city has also hosted numerous international events, including APEC Vietnam 2006, 132nd Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU-132), 2019 North Korea–United States Hanoi Summit, as well as the 2003 Southeast Asian Games, 2009 Asian Indoor Games, and the 2021 Southeast Asian Games.

History

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Pre-Thăng Long period

Many vestiges of human habitation from the late Palaeolithic and early Mesolithic ages can be found in Hanoi. Between 1971 and 1972, archaeologists in Ba Vì and Đông Anh discovered pebbles with traces of carving and processing by human hands that are relics of Sơn Vi Culture, dating from 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. In 1998–1999, the Museum of Vietnamese History (now National Museum of Vietnamese History) carried out the archaeological studies in the north of Dong Mo Lake (Son Tay, Hanoi), finding various relics and objects belonging to Sơn Vi Culture – in the Paleolithic Age, 20,000 years ago. During the mid-Holocene transgression, the sea level rose and immersed low-lying areas; geological data clearly show the coastline was inundated and was located near present-day Hanoi, as is apparent from the absence of Neolithic sites across most of the Bac Bo region. Consequently, from about 10,000 to approximately 4,000 years ago, Hanoi in general was completely absent.^[1] It is believed that the region has been continuously inhabited for the last 4,000 years.

Kingdom of Âu Lạc and Nanyue

In around third century BCE, An Dương Vương established the capital of Âu Lạc north of present-day Hanoi, where a fortified citadel is constructed, known to history as Cổ Loa, the first political center of the Vietnamese civilization pre-Sinitic era, with an outer embankment covering 600 hectares. In 179 BC, the Âu Lạc Kingdom was annexed by Nanyue, which ushered in more than a thousand years of Chinese domination. Zhao Tuo subsequently incorporated the regions into his Nanyue domain, but left the indigenous chiefs in control of the population. For the first time, the region formed part of a polity headed by a Chinese ruler.

Hanoi under Chinese rule

In 111 BC, the Han dynasty conquered Nanyue and ruled it for the next several hundred years. Han dynasty organized Nanyue into seven commanderies of the south (Lingnan) and now included three in Vietnam alone: Giao Chỉ and Cửu Chân, and a newly established Nhật Nam.

In March of 40 AD, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, daughters of a wealthy aristocratic family of Lac ethnicity in Mê Linh district (Hanoi), led the locals to rise up in rebellion against the Han. It began at the Red River Delta, but quickly spread both south and north from Jiaozhi, stirring up all three Lạc Việt regions and most of Lingnan, gaining the support of about 65 towns and settlements. Trưng sisters then established their court upriver in Mê Linh. In 42 AD, the Han emperor commissioned general Ma Yuan to suppress the uprising with 32,000 men, including 20,000 regulars and 12,000 regional auxiliaries. The rebellion was defeated in the next year as Ma Yuan captured and decapitated Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị, then sent their heads to the Han court in Luoyang.

By the middle of the fifth century, in the center of ancient Hanoi, a fortified settlement was founded by the Chinese Liu Song dynasty as the seat of a new district called Tống Bình (Songping) within Giao Chỉ commandery. The name refers to its pacification by the dynasty. It was elevated to its own commandery at some point between AD 454 and 464. The commandery included the districts of Yihuai (義懷) and Suining (綏寧) in the south of the Red River (now Từ Liêm and Hoài Đức districts) with a metropolis (the domination centre) in the present inner Hanoi.

Protectorate of Annam

By the year 679, the Tang dynasty changed the region's name to Annan (Pacified South), with Songping as its capital.

To defeat the people's uprisings in the later half of the 8th century, Zhang Boyi (張伯儀), a Tang dynasty viceroy, built Luocheng (羅城, La Thanh or La citadel, from Thu Le to Quan Ngua in present-day Ba Dinh precinct). In the earlier half of the ninth century, it was further built up and called Jincheng (金城, Kim Thanh or Kim Citadel). In 863, Nanzhao army and local people laid siege of Jincheng and defeated the Chinese armies of 150,000. In 866, Chinese jiedushi Gao Pian recaptured the city and drove out the Nanzhao and rebels. He renamed the city to Daluocheng (大羅城, Đại La thành). He built the wall, 6,344 meters around the city, which some part were more than eight meters high. Đại La at the time with approximate 25,000 residents included small foreign communities and residents of Persians, Arabs, Indian, Cham, Javanese, and Nestorian Christians, became an important trading center of the Tang dynasty due to the ransacking of Canton by Huang Chao rebellion.^[2] By early 10th century AD, modern-day Hanoi was known to the Muslim traders as Luqin.

Hanoi under Independent Vietnam

Thăng Long, Đông Đô, Đông Quan, Đông Kinh

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

In 1408, the Chinese Ming dynasty attacked and occupied Vietnam, changing Đông Đô's name to Dongguan (Eastern Gateway), or 'Đông Quan' in Sino-Vietnamese. In 1428, the Vietnamese overthrew the Chinese under the leadership of Lê Lợi, who later founded the Lê dynasty and renamed Đông Quan Đông Kinh (東京, "Eastern Capital") or Tonkin. During 17th century, the population of Đông Kinh was estimated by Western diplomats as about 100,000. Right after the end of the Tây Sơn dynasty, it was named Bắc Thành (北城, "Northern Citadel").

During Nguyễn dynasty and the French colonial period

When the Nguyễn dynasty was established in 1802, Gia Long moved the capital to Huế. Thăng Long was no longer the capital, its Hán tự was changed from 昇龍 ("Rising dragon") to 昇隆 ("Ascent and prosperity"), aiming to reduce the sentiment of Lê dynasty. Emperors of Vietnam usually used dragon (龍 long) as a symbol of their imperial strength and power. In 1831, the Nguyễn emperor Minh Mạng renamed it Hà Nội (河內, "Between Rivers" or "River Interior"). Hanoi was occupied by the French in 1873 and passed to them ten years later. As Hanoï, it was located in the protectorate of Tonkin became the capital of French Indochina after 1887.^[3]

During WWII and Vietnam War

The city was occupied by the Imperial Japanese in 1940 and liberated in 1945, when it briefly became the seat of the Việt Minh government after Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the independence of Vietnam. However, the French returned and reoccupied the city in 1946. After nine years of fighting between the French and Viet Minh forces, Hanoi became the capital of an independent North Vietnam in 1954. The French Army withdrew that year and the People's Army of Vietnam and International Control Commission occupied the city under the terms of the 1954 Geneva Conference.

During the Vietnam War, Hanoi's transportation facilities were disrupted by the bombing of bridges and railways by the U.S. Seventh Air Force and Republic of Vietnam Air Force. These were all, however, later repaired. Following the end of the war, Hanoi became the capital of a reunified Vietnam when North and South Vietnam were reunited on 2 July 1976.

Modern Hanoi

After the Đổi Mới economic policies were approved in 1986, the Communist Party and national and municipal governments hoped to attract international investments for urban development projects in Hanoi. The high-rise commercial buildings did not begin to appear until ten years later due to the international investment community being skeptical of the security of their investments in Vietnam.^[4] Rapid urban development and rising costs displaced many residential areas in central Hanoi.^[4] Following a short period of economic stagnation after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Hanoi resumed its rapid economic growth.^[4]

On 29 May 2008, it was decided that Hà Tây Province, Vĩnh Phúc Province's Mê Linh District and four communes of Lương Sơn District, Hòa Bình Province be merged into the metropolitan area of Hanoi from 1 August 2008. Hanoi's total area then increased to 334,470 hectares in 29 subdivisions with the new population being 6,232,940.,^[5] effectively tripling its size. The Hanoi Capital Region, a metropolitan area covering Hanoi and six surrounding provinces under its administration, will have an area of with 15 million people by 2020.

Hanoi has experienced a rapid construction boom recently. Skyscrapers, appearig in new urban areas, have dramatically changed the cityscape and have formed a modern skyline outside the old city. In 2015, Hanoi is ranked 39th by Emporis in the list of world cities with most skyscrapers over 100 m; its two tallest buildings are Hanoi Landmark 72 Tower (336 m, second tallest in Vietnam after Ho Chi Minh City's Landmark 81 and third tallest in south-east Asia after Malaysia's Petronas Towers) and Hanoi Lotte Center (272 m, also, third tallest in Vietnam).

Public outcry in opposition to the redevelopment of culturally significant areas in Hanoi persuaded the national government to implement a low-rise policy surrounding Hoàn Kiếm Lake.^[4] The Ba Đình District is also protected from commercial redevelopment.^[4]

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