Prior to the

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

Bảo Đại Bảo Đại (, vi-hantu, , lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 191331 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was em ...

on 30 August 1945 in the aftermath of the

August Revolution The August Revolution ( vi, Cách-mạng tháng Tám), also known as the August General Uprising (), was a revolution launched by the Việt Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against the Empire of Vietnam and the Empire of Japan in ...

, Vietnam was ruled by a series of

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

of either local or Chinese origin. The following is a list of major dynasties in the

history of Vietnam The history of Vietnam can be traced back to around 20,000 years ago, as the first modern humans arrived and settled on this land, known as the Hoabinhians, which can be traced to modern-day Negritos. Archaeological findings from 1965, which are ...

Background

Naming convention

In Vietnamese historiography, dynasties are generally known to historians by the family name of the monarchs. For example, the

Đinh dynasty Dinh is a Vietnamese surname. In Vietnam, the surname is spelled Đinh or Đình but ''Đình'' is very rare in Vietnamese. Notable people * Andy Dinh, Team SoloMid owner, player * Dan Dinh, ''League of Legends '' player, brother of Andy Dinh * � ...

(; ) is known as such because the ruling clan bore the family name (). Similar to Chinese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasties would adopt a (; "name of the state") upon the establishment of the realm. However, as it was common for several dynasties to share the same official name, referring to regimes by their official name in historiography would be potentially confusing. For instance, the "" () was used by the

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 and ...

(since the reign of

Lý Thánh Tông Lý Thánh Tông (30 March 1023 – 1 February 1072), personal name Lý Nhật Tôn , temple name Thánh Tông, was the third emperor of the Lý dynasty and the 8th ruler of the Vietnamese kingdom Đại Việt. In his reign, Lý Thánh Tông ...

), the

Trần dynasty The Trần dynasty, ( Vietnamese: Nhà Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹陳）also known as the House of Trần, was a Vietnamese dynasty that ruled over the Kingdom of Đại Việt from 1225 to 1400. The dynasty was founded when emperor Trần Thái ...

, the

Later Trần dynasty The Later Trần dynasty ( vi, Nhà Hậu Trần, chữ Nôm: 茹後陳； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hậu Trần'' triều, chữ Hán: 後陳朝) was a Vietnamese dynasty, the continuous line of the Tran dynasty that led Vietnamese rebellions agains ...

, the

Later Lê dynasty Later may refer to: * Future, the time after the present Television * ''Later'' (talk show), a 1988–2001 American talk show * '' Later... with Jools Holland'', a British music programme since 1992 * ''The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts'', or ...

, the

Mạc dynasty The Mạc dynasty ( vi, Nhà Mạc / ''Mạc triều''; Hán Nôm: 茹莫 / 莫朝) (1527-1627), as known as House of Mạc ruled the whole of Đại Việt between 1527 and 1540 and the northern part of the country from 1540 until 1593, and t ...

, and the

Tây Sơn dynasty The Tây Sơn dynasty (, vi, Nhà Tây Sơn (Chữ Nôm: 茹西山); vi, Tây Sơn triều ( Hán tự: 西山朝) was a ruling dynasty of Vietnam, founded in the wake of a rebellion against both the Nguyễn lords and the Trịnh lords befor ...

. In the Vietnamese language, the word for "dynasty" may be written as either () or () depending on the context. The former is generally used to denote the ruling family whereas the latter refers to the dynastic regime. For instance, the Mạc dynasty can be rendered as "" () or "" ().

Origin of dynasties

Apart from over one millennium of direct Chinese rule, Vietnam was ruled by a series of "local" dynasties, although some of which could have their origins traced to China. The founder of the legendary

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 Dươn ...

, Lộc Tục, was recorded as a descendant of the mythical Chinese ruler

Shennong Shennong (), variously translated as "Divine Farmer" or "Divine Husbandman", born Jiang Shinian (), was a mythological Chinese ruler known as the first Yan Emperor who has become a deity in Chinese and Vietnamese folk religion. He is vene ...

. According to two historical Vietnamese texts, the ''

Complete Annals of Đại Việt Complete may refer to: Logic * Completeness (logic) * Completeness of a theory, the property of a theory that every formula in the theory's language or its negation is provable Mathematics * The completeness of the real numbers, which implies t ...

'' and the '' Imperially-commissioned Annotated Text Reflecting the Complete History of Việt'', Thục Phán of the Thục dynasty was from

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

, China, which was previously under the rule of the ancient Chinese State of Shu. 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 dyn ...

, established by

Zhao Tuo Zhao Tuo () or Triệu Đà (Chữ Hán: 趙佗); was a Qin dynasty Chinese general and first emperor of Nanyue. He participated in the conquest of the Baiyue peoples of Guangdong, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam. After the fall of the Qin, he ...

from the Chinese

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

, was considered an orthodox local regime by traditional Vietnamese historiography. However, modern Vietnamese historians generally regard the Triệu dynasty to be a foreign regime that ruled Vietnam.Yoshikai Masato, "Ancient Nam Viet in historical descriptions",
Southeast Asia: a historical encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor
', Volume 2, ABC-CLIO, 2004, p. 934. The founder of the Early Lý dynasty,

Lý Bôn 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 ...

, was descended from Chinese refugees who fled

Wang Mang Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later seized the thro ...

's seizure of power in the final years of the

Western Han The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

in China. The first emperor of the

, Lý Công Uẩn, could have his paternal bloodline traced to modern-day

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its c ...

, China.千年前泉州人李公蕴越南当皇帝越南史上重要人物之一
/ref> Lý Công Uẩn's father, Lý Thuần An, escaped to

Quanzhou Quanzhou, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metropolitan region, with an area of and a populat ...

from

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and ...

after Lý Công Uẩn's grandfather, Li Song, was wrongly accused of treason and executed by the Emperor Yin of Later Han. The origin of the

was traced to modern Fujian, where the ancestor of the Trần imperial clan, Trần Kính, migrated from in the 11th century CE. The

was ruled by the same imperial clan as the earlier Trần dynasty. The

Hồ dynasty The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡； Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second son ...

was ruled by the Hồ family which migrated from present-day

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

, China to Vietnam under the leadership of Hồ Hưng Dật during the 10th century CE. The

claimed descent from the Duke Hu of Chen, the founder of the ancient Chinese

State of Chen Chen () was a state founded by the Duke Hu of Chen during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. It existed from c. 1045 BC–479 BC. Its capital was Wanqiu, in present-day Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province. Chen, the 4th mos ...

. The Duke Hu of Chen was in turn descended from the legendary

Emperor Shun Emperor Shun () was a legendary leader of ancient China, regarded by some sources as one of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors being the last of the Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he lived sometime between 2294 and 2184 BC. Tradition al ...

, who was recognized by

Hồ Quý Ly Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...

as the progenitor of the Hồ imperial family. Accordingly, the Hồ dynasty adopted the official "" (; "Great Ngu"); "Ngu" () was derived from the Emperor Shun's lineage name, ''

Youyu Youyu County, also known by its Chinese name Youyuxian, is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shuozhou, in the northwest of Shanxi Province, China. It borders Inner Mongolia to the north and west. History Shanw ...

'' (). Rulers of the

, initially surnamed , were descended from the same line as the Hồ dynasty.

Familial relations among dynasties

Several Vietnamese dynasties were related: * Dương Vân Nga was originally an empress consort of

Đinh Tiên Hoàng Dinh is a Vietnamese surname. In Vietnam, the surname is spelled Đinh or Đình but ''Đình'' is very rare in Vietnamese. Notable people * Andy Dinh, Team SoloMid owner, player * Dan Dinh, ''League of Legends '' player, brother of Andy Dinh * Đ ...

, the founder of the

; she later became an empress consort of Lê Hoàn, the founder of the

Early Lê dynasty The Early Lê dynasty or the Former Lê dynasty ( vi, Nhà Tiền Lê; Hán Nôm: ; ) was a dynasty of Vietnam that existed from 980 to 1009. It followed the Đinh dynasty and was succeeded by the Lý dynasty. It comprised the reigns of thr ...

* Lê Thị Phất Ngân, the empress consort of

Lý Thái Tổ Lý Thái Tổ ( vi-hantu, , 8 March 974 – 31 March 1028), personal name Lý Công Uẩn, temple name Thái Tổ, was a Vietnamese emperor, the founder of the Lý dynasty of Vietnam and the 6th ruler of Đại Việt; he reigned from 100 ...

, the founder of the

, was the daughter of Lê Hoàn and thus originally a princess of the Early Lê dynasty * The final monarch of the Lý dynasty, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, was the spouse of

Trần Thái Tông Trần Thái Tông (17 July 1218 – 5 May 1277), personal name Trần Cảnh or Trần Nhật Cảnh, temple name Thái Tông, was the first emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigned Đại Việt for 33 years (1226–58), being Retired Emperor ...

, the founder of the

, was the maternal grandfather of

Trần An 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 ...

, the last emperor of the Trần dynasty *

Giản Định Đế Emperor Giản Định ( vi, Giản Định Đế, vi-hantu, 簡定帝, 1375–1410), real name Trần Ngỗi (陳頠), was the leader of the Vietnamese Trần royalist forces who rebelled against the Ming Chinese rules. Giản Định was the s ...

, the founder of the

, was a son of the ninth Trần monarch, Trần Nghệ Tông; he was also an older brother of the 12th emperor of the Trần dynasty,

Trần Thuận Tông Trần Thuận Tông (1378 – April 1399), given name Trần Ngung, was the eleventh emperor of the Trần dynasty who reigned in Đại Việt from 1388 to 1398. He was chosen to succeed to this position by his father, the Retired Emperor T ...

* The Primitive Lê dynasty and the Revival Lê dynasty are collectively called the

; the founder of the Revival Lê dynasty, Lê Trang Tông, was a son of Lê Chiêu Tông, the 11th Primitive Lê emperor * The ruling house of the

was descended from the same paternal ancestor as the Hồ dynasty * Gia Long Đế, the founder of 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, ...

, was a paternal grandson of Nguyễn Phúc Khoát, the eighth Nguyễn lord

Champa

Champa Champa ( Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd ...

(; ) existed as an independent polity until its annexation by the

in 1832 CE, thereby laying the foundation for the territories of the modern Vietnamese state. Most of the rulers of Champa were of

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albania ...

descent, an

Austronesian Austronesian may refer to: *The Austronesian languages *The historical Austronesian peoples The Austronesian peoples, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples in Taiwan, Maritime Southeast Asia, M ...

ethnic group distinct from the majority

Kinh The Vietnamese people ( vi, người Việt, lit=Viet people) or Kinh people ( vi, người Kinh) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day Northern Vietnam and Southern China (Jing Islands, Dongxing, Guangxi). The native la ...

ethnicity of Vietnam. There were 15 dynasties in the

history of Champa The history of Champa begins in prehistory with the migration of the ancestors of the Cham people to mainland Southeast Asia and the founding of their Indianized maritime kingdom based in what is now central Vietnam in the early centuries AD, and ...

. According to Chinese historical sources, Champa officially used the "" () from the 1st to 4th dynasties, "" () during the 5th dynasty, and "" () from the 6th to 15th dynasties.

List of dynasties in Vietnamese history

This list includes the various dynasties in the history of Vietnam, of both local and Chinese origins. Dynasties of China that ruled Vietnam are highlighted in orange. The

is highlighted in light orange due to its disputed status.

Timeline of dynasties in Vietnamese history

ImageSize = width:1600 height:auto barincrement:15 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:30 right:180 left:20 AlignBars = early DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-2900 till:2000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:100 start:-2900 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:VN value:rgb(1,0.55,0.1) id:CV value:rgb(0.29,0.91,0.91) id:CN1 value:rgb(0.09,0.74,0.74) id:CN2 value:rgb(0.74,0.78,0.20) id:CN3 value:rgb(0,0.8,0) id:CN4 value:rgb(1,0.4,0.6) Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:Regimes PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:Regimes from: -2879 till: -258 color:VN text:"

(2879–258 BCE)" from: -257 till: -207 color:VN text:" Thục dynasty (257–207 BCE)" from: -204 till: -111 color:CV text:"

(204–111 BCE)" from: -111 till: 9 color:CN1 text:"

(111 BCE–9 CE)" from: 9 till: 23 color:CN1 text:"

Xin dynasty The Xin dynasty (; ), also known as Xin Mang () in Chinese historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty which lasted from 9 to 23 AD, established by the Han dynasty consort kin Wang Mang, who usurped the throne of the Emperor Ping ...

(9–23 CE)" from: 25 till: 40 color:CN1 text:"

Eastern Han The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a wa ...

(pre-interregnum; 25–40 CE)" from: 43 till: 220 color:CN2 text:"

(rule restored; 43–220 CE)" from: 229 till: 266 color:CN2 text:"

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu o ...

(pre-interregnum; 229–266 CE)" from: 266 till: 271 color:CN2 text:"

Western Jin Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

(pre-interregnum; 266–271 CE)" from: 271 till: 280 color:CN2 text:"

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu o ...

(rule restored; 271–280 CE)" from: 280 till: 316 color:CN2 text:"

(rule restored; 280–316 CE)" from: 317 till: 420 color:CN2 text:"

Eastern Jin Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 * Eastern Air ...

(317–420 CE)" from: 420 till: 479 color:CN2 text:"

Liu Song Song, known as Liu Song (), Former Song (前宋) or Song of (the) Southern Dynasty (南朝宋) in historiography, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the first of the four Northern and Southern dynasties#Southern ...

(420–479 CE)" from: 479 till: 502 color:CN2 text:"

Southern Qi Qi, known in historiography as the Southern Qi ( or ) or Xiao Qi (), was a Chinese imperial dynasty and the second of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties era. It followed the Liu Song dynasty and was succeed ...

(479–502 CE)" from: 502 till: 544 color:CN2 text:"

Liang dynasty The Liang dynasty (), alternatively known as the Southern Liang () in historiography, was an imperial dynasty of China and the third of the four Southern dynasties during the Northern and Southern dynasties period. It was preceded by the South ...

(502–544 CE)" from: 544 till: 602 color:VN text:" Early Lý dynasty (544–602 CE)" from: 602 till: 618 color:CN3 text:" Sui dynasty (602–618 CE)" from: 618 till: 690 color:CN3 text:"

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

(pre-interregnum; 618–690 CE)" from: 690 till: 705 color:CN3 text:" Wu Zhou (690–705 CE)" from: 705 till: 907 color:CN3 text:"

(rule restored; 705–907 CE)" from: 930 till: 938 color:CN3 text:"

Southern Han Southern Han (; 917–971), officially Han (), originally Yue (), was one of the ten kingdoms that existed during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It was located on China's southern coast, controlling modern Guangdong and Guangxi. T ...

(930–938 CE)" from: 939 till: 965 color:VN text:"

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 ...

(939–965 CE)" from: 968 till: 980 color:VN text:"

(968–980 CE)" from: 980 till: 1009 color:VN text:"

(980–1009 CE)" from: 1009 till: 1225 color:VN text:"

(1009–1225 CE)" from: 1225 till: 1400 color:VN text:"

(1225–1400 CE)" from: 1400 till: 1407 color:VN text:"

(1400–1407 CE)" from: 1407 till: 1427 color:CN4 text:"

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 ...

(1407–1427 CE)" from: 1407 till: 1413 color:VN text:"

(1407–1413 CE)" from: 1428 till: 1527 color:VN text:" Primitive Lê dynasty (1428–1527 CE)" from: 1527 till: 1677 color:VN text:"

(1527–1677 CE)" from: 1533 till: 1789 color:VN text:" Revival Lê dynasty (1533–1789 CE)" from: 1778 till: 1802 color:VN text:"

(1778–1802 CE)" from: 1802 till: 1945 color:VN text:"

(1802–1945 CE)" barset:skip Legend: * denotes local Vietnamese dynasties * denotes dynasties during the First Era of Northern Domination * denotes dynasties during the

Second Era of Northern Domination The Second Era of Northern Domination refers to the second period of Vietnam under Chinese rule, Chinese rule in Vietnamese history, from the 1st century to 6th century AD, during which present-day northern Vietnam (Jiaozhi) was governed by vari ...

* denotes dynasties during the Third Era of Northern Domination * denotes dynasty during the

Fourth Era of Northern Domination The Fourth Era of Northern Domination was a period of Vietnamese history, from 1407 to 1427, during which Vietnam was ruled by the Chinese Ming dynasty as the province of Jiaozhi (Giao Chỉ). Ming rule was established in Vietnam following its co ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:History of Vietnam Vietnamese

Background

Naming convention

Origin of dynasties

Familial relations among dynasties

Champa

List of dynasties in Vietnamese history

Timeline of dynasties in Vietnamese history

See also

Notes

References