300 years of Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City

[AnHai Doan <anhai@cs.washington.edu>]

300 years of Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City 

1698: The Nguyen Dynasty set up the city government in a land called
Saigon. At that time, the city had some 4,000 households, with
200,000 people. The main economic activity was trading.

1772: The first citadel named Ban Bich, more than 8 kilometers long,
was built to protect the city.

1788: The Nguyen Dynasty named Saigon the capital of Gia Dinh, the
metropolitan city of the southern region.

1790: New citadels and many royal palaces were built. Many
factories, especially shipyards, were started.

1819: The city had a population of 700,000. It was a hub of rice
export and communication for the whole country.

1859: The French colonialists occupied Saigon, making it a base to
invade the Mekong Delta, the South and the whole region. They began
to call the city Saigon-Ville (Saigon City) and to design it like a
French city.

1945: The August Revolution succeeded; Vietnam regained its
independence.

April 30, 1975 was the closing day of the struggle for independence
and Reunification of Vietnam.

1997 is the year HCMC starts to prepare for the tricentenary
anniversary of its founding, an opportunity for the city to promote
historical traditions in the new developmental stage.     
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