Đại La (), means ''the Citadel of the Great Dike'', or La Thành (羅城, means ''the Citadel of the Dike'') was an ancient fortified city in 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 ...

during the

third Chinese domination The Third Era of Northern Domination refers to the third period of Chinese rule in Vietnamese history. The era starts from the end of the Early Lý dynasty in 602 to the rise of the local Khúc family and other Viet warlords in the early 10th c ...

of the 7th and 8th centuries, and again in the 11th-century under

Lý dynasty The Lý dynasty ( vi, Nhà Lý, , chữ Nôm: 茹李, chữ Hán: 李朝, Hán Việt: ''Lý triều'') was a Vietnamese dynasty that existed from 1009 to 1225. It was established by Lý Công Uẩn when he overthrew the Early Lê dynasty an ...

.Viet Nam social sciences Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam - 2008 4/6 - Page 15 "The outer rampart: An earth rampart was raised in 1014, then rebuilt in 1078 and named Đại La Citadel. The name Đại La appeared many times in the historical chronicles, in 1078, 1154, 1165, 1170, 1230 and 1243." Đại La was constructed by ''

jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", "legate", ...

Gao Pian Gao Pian (; 821? – 24 September 887Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 257.), courtesy name Qianli (), formally the Prince of Bohai (), was a Chinese military general, poet, and politician of the Tang ...

in 866. It was the seat of

Songping Songping (), or Tống Bình in Vietnamese, was a former imperial Chinese and Vietnamese settlement on the south bank of the Red River within the present-day Từ Liêm and Hoài Đức districts of Hanoi, Vietnam. History A fortified settlement ...

County during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, and was capital of the

Tĩnh Hải quân Tĩnh Hải quân or the Jinghai Military Command ( Chinese: 靜海軍, pinyin: Jìnghǎi Jūn) (literally "Peaceful Sea Army"), also known as Annam (安南), was an administrative division of the Tang dynasty of China administered by Chinese go ...

. In 1010,

Lý Công Uẩn LY or ly may refer to: Government and politics * Libya (ISO 3166-1 country code LY) * Lý dynasty, a Vietnamese dynasty * Labour Youth of Ireland * Legislative Yuan, the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Science and tech ...

decided to move his capital away from the cramped Hoa Lư (present-day

Ninh Bình Ninh Bình () is a small city in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. It is the capital of Ninh Bình Province. Geography Ninh Bình Province is located in northern Vietnam comprising 48 square kilometres; the 2007 city population was 130,517 ...

). Đại La was favored because of its central and convenient location, defensible terrain and relatively dry climate. According to the ''

Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư The ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史記全書; ; ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official national chronicle of the Vietnamese state, that was originally compiled by the royal historian Ngô Sĩ Liên under ...

'', a Yellow Dragon appeared near

's boat when he passed by Đại La. The sighting was considered as greatly auspicious by his ministers. Subsequently, the city was renamed Thăng Long ("rising dragon").

Archaeology

Dai La's wall had a perimeter of 6,334 meters and was about 7,5 meters high. The city had enclosed guard posts, courtyards, some thousand buildings, a water sewerage system, and a 4,5-meter high

dike Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes ...

. Excavations from 2002 to 2009 in an area covered 19,000 square meters recovered large quantities of artifacts, probably dated through the period of occupation, i.e. 7th–10th century. Various tiles masoned with human faces, lotus motif, and flat tiles with human and animal faces were found. Local produced ceramics, Chinese ceramics and West Asian ceramics were also being recovered from the site.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Đại La History of Hanoi

Archaeology

See also

References

Sources