Haiphong

Haiphong (Vietnamese: Hải Phòng,  listen) is the third largest city of Vietnam and northern Vietnam's most important seaport with its deep-water anchorage and large maritime facilities. The city's name means "coastal defense" and it is nicknamed the Flamboyant City because of the many Delonix regia planted throughout it.

History

To the Mac Dynasty

Haiphong is the home of Lê Chân, one of the female generals under the command of the Trưng Sisters who rose against Chinese rule in 40 AD and ruled until their defeat in 43 AD. Centuries later under the Mạc Dynasty the area earned the appellation Hải tần Phòng thủ ("defensive coastal area") as it protected the eastern flank of Mac kings' home province.

Nguyen Dynasty

By the 19th century at the end of Nguyễn Emperor Tự Đức's reign, the Hang Kenh Communal House in what is now the city's Le Chan district was made the administrative seat of An Dương District, restoring its regional importance. The area by then had developed into a sizable commercial port.

Cần Thơ

Cần Thơ ( listen) is the fourth-largest city in Vietnam, and the largest city in the Mekong Delta.

It is noted for its floating market, rice paper-making village, and picturesque rural canals. It had a population of 1.2 million as of 2011, and is located on the south bank of the Hau River, a branch of the Mekong. In 2007, about 50 people died when the Cần Thơ Bridge collapsed, causing Vietnam's worst engineering disaster. In 2011, Can Tho International Airport opened.

The city is nicknamed the "western capital" (Tây Đô), and is located 169 kilometres (105 miles) from Ho Chi Minh City. Cần Thơ's climate is tropical and monsoonal with two seasons: rainy, from May to November; and dry, from December to April. Average annual humidity is 83%, rainfall 1,635 mm (64 in) and temperature 27 °C (81 °F).

Administrative system

The city is an independent municipality at the same level as provinces of Vietnam. It was created in the beginning of 2004 by a split of the former Cần Thơ Province into two new administrative units: Cần Thơ City and Hậu Giang Province.

Vietnam

Coordinates: 16°10′N 107°50′E / 16.167°N 107.833°E / 16.167; 107.833

Vietnam (UK /ˌvjɛtˈnæm, -ˈnɑːm/, US ⁱ/ˌviːətˈnɑːm, -ˈnæm/;Vietnamese: Việt Nam [viət˨ næm˧]), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV; Vietnamese: Cộng Hòa Xã Hội Chủ Nghĩa Việt Nam ( listen)), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants as of 2014, it is the world's 14th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country. The name Vietnam translates as "Southern Viet" (synonymous with the much older term Nam Viet); it was first officially adopted in 1802 by Emperor Gia Long, and was adopted again in 1945 with the founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and Malaysia across the South China Sea to the southeast. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975.

Ho Chi Minh City

Coordinates: 10°46′36.8″N 106°42′02.9″E / 10.776889°N 106.700806°E / 10.776889; 106.700806

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh; IPA: [tʰan fə ho̞˧˩ t͡ɕɪj˧ mɪ̈n˧]), formerly named and still also referred to as Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài Gòn; IPA: [sâj ɣɔ̂ŋ], French: Saïgon), is the largest city in Vietnam. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer seaport prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent republic of South Vietnam 1955–75. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding Gia Định Province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still unofficially widely used).

The metropolitan area, which consists of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area, Thủ Dầu Một, Biên Hòa, Vũng Tàu and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam. The city's population is expected to grow to 13.9 million in 2025.

Hanoi

Coordinates: 21°01′42.5″N 105°51′15.0″E / 21.028472°N 105.854167°E / 21.028472; 105.854167

Hanoi (/hæˈnɔɪ/ or US /həˈnɔɪ/; Vietnamese: Hà Nội [ha˨˩ nɔj˩]) is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts and 7 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. The number of population in 2015 was estimated at 7.7 million people. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. It was eclipsed by Huế, the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1945), but Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1954. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam, and it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North's victory in the Vietnam War.

The city lies on the right bank of the Red River. Hanoi is 1,760 km (1,090 mi) north of Ho Chi Minh City and 120 km (75 mi) west of Hai Phong city.

October 2010 officially marked 1000 years since the establishment of the city. The Hanoi Ceramic Mosaic Mural is a 4 km ceramic mosaic mural created to mark the occasion.