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Tonkin, also spelled ''Tongkin'', ''Tonquin'' or ''Tongking'', is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Äàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the
Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...
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 TrỠ...
. 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 æ±äº¬ ''Äông 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 triá»u, chữ Hán: å¾Œé»Žæœ or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Äại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...
(present-day Hanoi). Locally, Tonkin is nowadays known as ''miá»n Bắc'', or ''Bắc Bá»™'' (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.


Geography

It is south of Yunnan (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 (, ''LÄo'' )), 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 re ...
area of the Red River, Tonkin is rich in rice production.


History

The area was called Văn Lang from around 2000−200 BC. Evidence of the earliest established society in northern Vietnam, along with the Äông SÆ¡n culture, was discovered in the Cổ Loa Citadel area, located near present-day Hanoi, 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é¾å›; "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 DÆ°Æ¡ng VÆ°Æ¡ng, the king of Xích Quá»·. 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 kings of the Hồng Bàng dynasty. The country was called Văn Lang and its people were referred to as the Lạc Việt. By the 3rd century BC, another Viet group, the Âu Việt, emigrated to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous population. A new kingdom, Âu Lạc, 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 kingdom of
Triệu Äà , temple name = , house = Triệu dynasty , birth_date = 240 BC , birth_place = Zhengding County, Shijiazhuang, China , death_date = 137 BC (aged 103) , death_place = Nanyue , place of burial = Guangzhou Zhao Tuo () or T ...
. After the Triệu dynasty, 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 (å”) b ...
times Tonkin was the port of call for ships on the South China Sea, though the center of commerce later moved north to Guangdong. The victory of Ngô Quyá»n at the Battle of Bạch Äằng in 938 ushered a new era of independence of Vietnam. The Ngô dynasty was followed by the Äinh, 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 Äịnh vÆ°Æ¡ng (平定王; "Prince of Pacification"), was a Vietname ...
(reigned 1428–1433), a notable land owner in the Lam SÆ¡n region, had a following of more than 1,000 people before rising up against the Chinese Ming dynasty. Following his victory he mounted the throne and established himself in the city of Thăng Long ('Ascending Dragon'), present Hà Ná»™i. Thăng Long was also called ''Äông Kinh'' æ±
京 京 is the Han character meaning "capital (city)," and the simplified form of the older way of writing the character, 亰. The character is predominantly used in the names of current and former capital cities within the East Asian cultural spher ...
, meaning 'Eastern Capital' (æ±äº¬ is identical in meaning and written form in Chinese characters to that of Tokyo).


17th and 18th centuries

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Westerners commonly used the name Tonkin (from ''Äông Kinh'') to refer to '' Äàng Ngoài'' in the North, ruled by the Trịnh lords. ''Äàng 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: ''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 of Tonkin. ...
and Cả River. Meanwhile, Cochinchina or Quinan was used to refer to '' Äàng Trong'' 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

After
French assistance to Nguyá»…n Ãnh French assistance to Nguyá»…n Phúc Ãnh (commonly known by his era name as the Gia Long Emperor), the future founding emperor of the Nguyá»…n dynasty, covered a period from 1777 to 1820. From 1777, Mgr Pigneau de Behaine, of the Paris Foreign Mi ...
to unify Vietnam under the
Nguyá»…n dynasty The Nguyá»…n dynasty (chữ Nôm: 茹阮, vi, Nhà Nguyá»…n; chữ Hán: 阮æœ, vi, Nguyá»…n triá»u) was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which ruled the unified Vietnamese state largely independently from 1802 to 1883. During its existence, ...
, the French Navy 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. It was colonized as the French protectorate of Tonkin, and was gradually separated from the
French protectorate of Annam ) , image_flag = Flag of Colonial Annam.svg , image_flag2 = Long tinh flag.svg , flag_type = Top: Protectorate flag Bottom: Civil flag , image_coat = Coat of arms of Annam - S.M. Bao Daï, Le ...
, with Vietnam being effectively separated into three parts. During French colonial rule within French Indochina, Hanoi 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
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 The Empire of Vietnam (; Literary Chinese and Contemporary Japanese: ; Modern Japanese: ja, ベトナムå¸å›½, Betonamu Teikoku, label=none) was a short-lived puppet state of Imperial Japan governing the former French protectorates of Annam ...
. Tonkin became a site of the Vietnamese famine of 1945 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. Hanoi was later reoccupied by the French and conflict between the Viet Minh and France broke out into the First Indochina War. 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å—; 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 of the French Union. After the French defeat at the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu The Battle of Dien Bien Phu (french: Bataille de Diên Biên Phu ; vi, Chiến dịch Äiện Biên Phủ, ) was a climactic confrontation of the First Indochina War that took place between 13 March and 7 May 1954. It was fought between the Fr ...
in western Tonkin in 1954, the communist nation of North Vietnam 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 Äịnh, 1883 File:Tonkin Zouave officer.png, French
zouave The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa; as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves were among the most decorated unit ...
officer in Tonkin, Spring 1885 File:Viet Nam - Tonkin Hanoi Election d´un Chef de Rue.jpg, Hanoi 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 *
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 * Names of Vietnam * North Vietnam *
Northern, Central and Southern Vietnam Northern Vietnam, Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam are the three main historical, geographical and cultural regions within Vietnam. Each region consists of subregions, with considerable cultural differences originating from each subregions. ...


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