![1771 Bonne Map of Tonkin and Cochinchina (Vietnam)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/1771_Bonne_Map_of_Tonkin_and_Cochinchina_%28Vietnam%29.jpg)
Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
referring to the northern region of
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain ''
Đàng Ngoài
Đàng Ngoài ( vi-hantu, 唐外, lit. "Outer Land"), also known as Tonkin, Bắc Hà (北河, "North of the River") or '' Kingdom of Annam'' (安南國) by foreigners, was an area in northern Đại Việt (now Vietnam) during the 17th and 18th ...
'' under
Trịnh lords
The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...
' control, including both the
Northern and
Thanh-
Nghệ regions, north of the
Gianh River
The Gianh River ( vi, Sông Gianh) is a river in the Quảng Bình Province of Vietnam's North Central Coast (Bắc Trung Bộ). The river is in length.
It was the border between ruling families during the partition of Vietnam following the Tr ...
. From 1884 to early 1945, this term was used for the
French protectorate of Tonkin, composed of only the Northern region.
Names
"Tonkin" is a Western rendition of 東京 ''Đông Kinh'', meaning 'Eastern Capital'. This was the name of the capital of the
Lê dynasty
The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...
(present-day
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
). Locally, Tonkin is nowadays known as ''miền Bắc'', or ''Bắc Bộ'' (北部), meaning '
Northern Region'.
The name was used from 1883 to 1945 for the
French protectorate of Tonkin (Vietnamese: ''Bắc Kỳ'' 北圻), a constituent territory of
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
.
Geography
It is south of
Yunnan
Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...
(Vân Nam) and
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
(Quảng Tây) Provinces of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
; east of northern
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
and west of the
Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...
.
Having the fertile
delta
Delta commonly refers to:
* Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet
* River delta, at a river mouth
* D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta")
* Delta Air Lines, US
* Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19
Delta may also ...
area of the
Red River, Tonkin is rich in
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
production.
History
![Map of Tonkin 1873](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Map_of_Tonkin_1873.png)
The area was called
Văn Lang from around 2000−200 BC. Evidence of the earliest established society in northern Vietnam, along with the
Đông Sơn culture
The Dong Son culture or the Lạc Việt culture (named for modern village Đông Sơn, a village in Thanh Hóa, Vietnam) was a Bronze Age culture in ancient Vietnam centred at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam from 1000 BC until the ...
, was discovered in the
Cổ Loa Citadel
Cổ Loa Citadel ( vi, Thành Cổ Loa ) is an important fortified settlement and archaeological site in present-day Hanoi's Đông Anh district, roughly 17 kilometers north of present-day Hanoi, in the upper plain north of the Red River. Variou ...
area, located near present-day
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
, the capital city of Vietnam.
According to Vietnamese myths the first Vietnamese peoples descended from the Dragon Lord
Lạc Long Quân
Lạc Long Quân (Chữ Hán:貉龍君; "Dragon King of Lạc"; also called Sùng Lãm 崇纜) is a semi-mythical king of the Hồng Bàng dynasty of ancient Vietnam. Quân was the son of Kinh Dương Vương, the king of Xích Quỷ. He is the ...
and the Immortal Fairy
Âu Cơ
Âu Cơ ( Chữ Hán: ; ) was, according to the creation myth of the Vietnamese people, an immortal mountain snow fairy who married Lạc Long Quân (), and bore an egg sac that hatched a hundred children known collectively as Bách Việt, a ...
. Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ had 100 sons before they decided to part ways. 50 of the children went with their mother to the snow-capped mountains, and the other 50 went with their father who preferred the four seasons by the sea. The eldest son became the first in a line of earliest Vietnamese kings, collectively known as the
Hùng king
Hùng king (c. 2524 BC – ?; Chữ Hán: 雄王; vi, Hùng Vương (雄王) or ''vua Hùng'' (𤤰雄); ''Vương'' means "king" and ''vua'' means "monarch; could mean emperor or king") is the title given to the ancient Vietnamese rulers of the ...
s of the
Hồng Bàng dynasty
The Hồng Bàng period (Vietnamese: ''thời kỳ Hồng Bàng''), also called the Hồng Bàng dynasty,Pelley, p. 151 was a legendary, semi-mythical period in Vietnamese historiography, spanning from the beginning of the rule of Kinh Dương ...
. The country was called Văn Lang and its people were referred to as the
Lạc Việt
The Lạc Việt or Luoyue ( or ; pinyin: ''Luòyuè'' ← Middle Chinese: *''lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚'' ← Old Chinese *''râk-wat'') was a group of multilinguistic, specifically Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic, tribal peoples that inhabited ancient northe ...
.
By the 3rd century BC, another Viet group, the
Âu Việt The Âu Việt or Ouyue () were an ancient conglomeration of Baiyue tribes living in what is today the mountainous regions of northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and northern Guangxi, China, since at least the third century BCE. They were belie ...
, emigrated to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous population. A new kingdom,
Âu Lạc
Âu Lạc ( Hán tự: 甌貉 (Peripheral Records/Volume 1:6a): "王既併文郎國,改國號曰甌貉國。""The King then annexed the Văn Lang nation, changed the nation's name to Âu Lạc nation."/甌駱; (Volume 113): "且南方卑濕, ...
, emerged as the union of the Âu Việt and the Lạc Việt, with Thục Phán proclaiming himself
An Dương Vương
An Dương Vương () was the king and the only ruler of the kingdom of Âu Lạc, a classical antiquity state centered in the Red River Delta. As the leader of the Âu Việt tribes, he defeated the last Hùng king of the state of Văn Lang an ...
.
Âu Lạc was annexed into
Nam Việt
Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was establishe ...
kingdom of
Triệu Đà. After the
Triệu dynasty
The Triệu dynasty or Zhao dynasty (; vi, Nhà Triệu, links=no; 茹趙) ruled the kingdom of Nanyue, which consisted of parts of southern China as well as northern Vietnam. Its capital was Panyu, in modern Guangzhou. The founder of the dynas ...
, this region started to be officially
under Chinese rule. In pre-
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
times Tonkin was the port of call for ships on the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
, though the center of commerce later moved north to
Guangdong
Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
.
The victory of
Ngô Quyền
Ngô Quyền ( vi-hantu, 吳權) (April 17, 898 – February 14, 944), often referred to as Tiền Ngô Vương (前吳王; "First King of Ngô"), was a warlord who later became the founding king of the Ngô dynasty of Vietnam. He reigned from ...
at the
Battle of Bạch Đằng in 938 ushered a new era of independence of Vietnam. The
Ngô dynasty
The Ngô dynasty (; Chữ Nôm: 茹吳) was a dynasty that ruled Tĩnh Hải quân (Jinghai) in northern Vietnam from 939 to 968. The dynasty was founded by Ngô Quyền, who led Vietnamese forces in the Battle of Bạch Đằng River against t ...
was followed by the
Đinh,
Early Lê,
Lý,
Trần
Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen.
History
The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...
, and
Hồ.
15th and 16th centuries
Lê Lợi
Lê Lợi (, Chữ Hán: 黎利; c. 10 September 1384/1385 – 5 October 1433), also known by his temple name as Lê Thái Tổ (黎太祖) and by his pre-imperial title Bình Định vương (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietnam ...
(reigned 1428–1433), a notable land owner in the Lam Sơn region, had a following of more than 1,000 people before rising up against the Chinese
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
. Following his victory he mounted the throne and established himself in the city of Thăng Long ('Ascending Dragon'), present
Hà Nội
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
. Thăng Long was also called ''Đông Kinh''
東 京, meaning 'Eastern Capital' (東京 is identical in meaning and written form in Chinese characters to that of
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
).
17th and 18th centuries
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Westerners commonly used the name Tonkin (from ''Đông Kinh'') to refer to ''
Đàng Ngoài
Đàng Ngoài ( vi-hantu, 唐外, lit. "Outer Land"), also known as Tonkin, Bắc Hà (北河, "North of the River") or '' Kingdom of Annam'' (安南國) by foreigners, was an area in northern Đại Việt (now Vietnam) during the 17th and 18th ...
'' in the North, ruled by the
Trịnh lords
The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...
. ''Đàng Ngoài'', or ''Bắc Hà'', included not only the delta of the Red River, but also the deltas of the
Mã River
The Ma River ( vi, Sông Mã, links=no, Lao language, Lao: ''ນ້ຳມ້າ / Nam Ma'') is a river in Asia, originating in northwestern Vietnam. It flows 400km through Vietnam, Laos, and then back through Vietnam, meeting the sea at the Gulf o ...
and
Cả River
The Cả River ( Laotian: Nam Khan, Vietnamese: Sông Cả or better known as sông Lam or Lam River wikt:藍) is a river in mainland Southeast Asia. Etymology
The name ''Cả'' means "first" in Vietnamese language, possibly alluding to the rive ...
. Meanwhile,
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
or Quinan was used to refer to ''
Đàng Trong
Đàng Trong ( vi-hantu, , lit. "Inner Circuit"), also known as Nam Hà (, "South of the River"), was the South region of Vietnam, under the rule of the Nguyễn lords, later enlarged by the Nam tiến, Vietnamese southward expansion. The word '' ...
'' in the South, ruled by the
Nguyễn lords
Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元)is a different word and surname.
By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this su ...
; and
Annam, from the name of the
former Chinese province, was used to refer to Vietnam as a whole.
19th and 20th centuries
![France & Colonies-1894-delta du Song-Koï](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/France_%26_Colonies-1894-delta_du_Song-Ko%C3%AF.jpg)
After
French assistance to Nguyễn Ánh to unify Vietnam under the
Nguyễn dynasty
The Nguyễn dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyễn; chữ Hán: 阮朝, vi, Nguyễn triều) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...
, the
French Navy
The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...
began its heavy presence in
Lower Cochinchina, including
Saigon
, population_density_km2 = 4,292
, population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2
, population_demonym = Saigonese
, blank_name = GRP (Nominal)
, blank_info = 2019
, blank1_name = – Total
, blank1_ ...
, and later colonized the whole of this southern third of Vietnam in 1867.
During the
Sino-French War
The Sino-French War (, french: Guerre franco-chinoise, vi, Chiến tranh Pháp-Thanh), also known as the Tonkin War and Tonquin War, was a limited conflict fought from August 1884 to April 1885. There was no declaration of war. The Chinese arm ...
(1884–1885), Tonkin, then considered a crucial foothold in Southeast Asia and a key to the Chinese market, was invaded by the French in the
Tonkin Campaign
The Tonkin campaign was an armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and en ...
. It was colonized as the
French protectorate of Tonkin, and was gradually separated from the
French protectorate of Annam, with Vietnam being effectively separated into three parts.
During French colonial rule within
French Indochina
French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
,
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
was the capital of Tonkin protectorate, and in 1901 became the capital of all French Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, & Vietnam). French colonial administration ruled until 9 March 1945, with 1941-1945 during the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Japanese occupation of Vietnam
In the European summer of 1940 Germany rapidly defeated the French Third Republic, and colonial administration of French Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) passed to the French State (Vichy France). Many concessions were granted t ...
. French administration was allowed by the Japanese as a puppet government. Japan briefly took full control of Vietnam in March 1945, as the
Empire of Vietnam. Tonkin became a site of the
Vietnamese famine of 1945
The Vietnamese famine of 1945 ( vi, Nạn đói Ất Dậu – famine of the Yiyou Year or ''Nạn đói năm '45'' – the 1945 famine) was a famine that occurred in northern Vietnam in French Indochina during World War II from October 1944 to ...
during this period.
''L'Indochine française pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale''
, Jean-Philippe Liardet
After the end of World War II, French rule returned over French Indochina. The Northern part of Vietnam became a stronghold for the communist Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
. Hanoi was later reoccupied by the French and conflict between the Viet Minh and France broke out into the First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
. In 1949 it came under the authority of the State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam ( vi, Quốc gia Việt Nam; Chữ Nôm: 國家越南; french: État du Viêt-Nam) was a governmental entity in Southeast Asia that existed from 1949 until 1955, first as a member of the French Union and later as a country ...
, a new associated state
An associated state is the minor partner in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some dependent, most fully sovereign states) and a major party—usually a larger nation.
The details of such free association are contain ...
of the French Union
The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subje ...
.
After the French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in western Tonkin in 1954, the communist nation of North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
was formed, consisting of Tonkin and northern Annam. The State of Vietnam's territory was reduced to the southern half of the country, becoming South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
.
Gallery
File:Atlas colonial français Colonies Protectorats (...)Pollacchi Paul bpt6k1100182m.jpg, Administrative divisions of Tonkin 1929
File:Atlas de l'Indochine dressé (...)Indochine française bpt6k11001779 67.jpg, Administrative divisions of Tonkin 1920
File:Tonkingearly20thcentury.jpg, Tonkin in the early 1900s
File:1899 Map of Tonkin.jpg, 1899 Map of Tonkin
File:Golfe du Tonkin1880s.jpg, Tonkin in the 1880s
File:Carte administrative des territoires militaires et postes militaires du Tonkin.jpg, Military territories of Tonkin 1894
File:Campagne du Tonkin Le commandant Riviere entre dans Nam Dinh.jpg, Capture of Nam Định, 1883
File:Tonkin Zouave officer.png, French zouave officer in Tonkin, Spring 1885
File:Viet Nam - Tonkin Hanoi Election d´un Chef de Rue.jpg, Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
around 1910
File:Viet Nam - Tonkin Hanoi Palais du Gouverneur - Façade sur le jardin.jpg, The French General Gouvernor's Palace in Hanoi
File:Tonkin woman.jpg, Tonkin woman with black-painted teeth, ca. 1908
See also
* Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
* Gulf of Tonkin
The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin (northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northern ...
* Jiaozhi
Jiaozhi (standard Chinese, pinyin: ''Jiāozhǐ''), or Giao Chỉ (Vietnamese), was a historical region ruled by various Chinese dynasties, corresponding to present-day northern Vietnam. The kingdom of Nanyue (204–111 BC) set up the Jiaozhi Co ...
* Names of Vietnam
Throughout the history of Vietnam, many names were used in reference to Vietnam.
History
Throughout the history of Vietnam, official and unofficial names have been used in reference to the territory of Vietnam. Vietnam was called Văn Lang dur ...
* North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...
* Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{coord, 21.0000, N, 106.0000, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Geography of Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin
History of North Vietnam
Hong River