Hanoi summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Hanoi.

Hanoi , City (pop., 2009: 2,316,772), capital of Vietnam. Located in northern Vietnam on the western bank of the Red River, it became the capital of Vietnam’s Ly dynasty in 1010. It was the main capital of Vietnam until 1802, when the Nguyen dynasty transferred the capital south to Hue. Under French rule Hanoi again became an important administrative centre, and in 1902 it was made the capital of French Indochina. It became the capital of North Vietnam after the French defeat in 1954. During the Vietnam War many of its monuments and palaces were destroyed by U.S. bombing. As the capital of a united Vietnam since 1976, it has steadily been rebuilt and its industrial base has grown. The city observed its 1,000th anniversary in October 2010.

Vietnam Summary

Vietnam, country occupying the eastern portion of mainland Southeast Asia. Tribal Viets inhabiting the Red River delta entered written history when China’s southward expansion reached them in the 3rd century bce. From that time onward, a dominant theme of Vietnam’s history has been interaction with