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Nguyễn lords | |||||||||||
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| 1558–1777 1780–1802 | |||||||||||
 Heirloom seal "Đại Việt quốc Nguyễn chủ vĩnh trấn chi bảo" (大越國阮𪐴永鎮之寶, "Seal of the eternal government of the Nguyễn Lords of the state of Great(er) Viêt") (from 1709) | |||||||||||
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| Status | Subordinates ofTrịnh lords (1558–1627) De jurelordship (fief) withinLê dynasty ofĐại Việt (1558–1777, 1780–1789) De factoindependent state (1789–1802) Rump state (1775–1785) Government in exile (1785–1788) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Ái Tử (1558–1570) Trà Bát (1570–1600) Dinh Cát (1600–1626) Phước Yên (1626–1636) Kim Long [vi] (1636–1687) Phú Xuân (1687–1712), (1738–1775) Bác Vọng (1712–1738) Quảng Nam (1775) Gia Định (1775–1777, 1780–1783, 1788–1802) | ||||||||||
| Capital-in-exile | Bangkok (1785–1788)[a] | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Vietnamese | ||||||||||
| Religion | Neo-Confucianism,Buddhism,Taoism,Vietnamese folk religion,Catholicism | ||||||||||
| Government | Feudaldynastic hereditarymilitary dictatorship (1558–1775) Absolute monarchy (1789–1802) | ||||||||||
| Dukes/Kings | |||||||||||
• 1558–1613 | Nguyễn Hoàng (first) | ||||||||||
• 1738–1765 | Nguyễn Phúc Khoát (as King) | ||||||||||
• 1780–1802 | Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (last) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1800 | 1,770,000 | ||||||||||
| Currency | Copper-alloy and zinc cash coins | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
TheNguyễn lords (Vietnamese: Chúa Nguyễn,chữ Hán:主阮; 1558–1777, 1780–1802), also known as theNguyễn clan (Vietnamese: Nguyễn thị;chữ Hán:阮氏), wereNguyễn dynasty's forerunner and a feudalnoble clan ruling southernĐại Việt in theRevival Lê dynasty. The Nguyễn lords were members of theHouse of Nguyễn Phúc. The territory they ruled was known contemporarily asĐàng Trong (Inner Realm) and by the exonyms theKingdom of Cochinchina and theKingdom of Quảng Nam (Vietnamese: Quảng Nam Quốc;chữ Hán:廣南國), in opposition to theTrịnh lords, who ruled northern Đại Việt asĐàng Ngoài (Outer Realm), known as the "Kingdom of Tonkin" by Europeans and "Kingdom of An Nam" (Vietnamese: An Nam Quốc;chữ Hán:安南國) by Imperial China in bilateral diplomacy.[1] They were officially entitled, inSino-Vietnamese, theNguyễn Vương (chữ Hán:阮王) in 1744 when lordNguyễn Phúc Khoát self-proclaimed himself to elevate his status equally to Trịnh lords's title known as theTrịnh Vương (Vietnamese:Trịnh Vương;chữ Hán:鄭王). Both Nguyễn and Trịnh clans werede juresubordinates andfief of theLê dynasty. However, thede jure submission of the Nguyễn lords to the Trịnh lords ended in 1627 sparked the war between them.
While they recognized the authority of and claimed to be loyal subjects of the revival Lê dynasty, they were de facto rulers of southern Đại Việt. Meanwhile, theTrịnh lords ruled northern Đại Việt in the name of the Lê emperor, who was in reality apuppet ruler.[2][3] They foughta series of long and bitter wars that pitted the two halves of Vietnam against each other. The Nguyễn were finally overthrown in theTây Sơn wars, butone of their descendants would eventually come to unite all of Vietnam. Their rule consolidated earliersouthward expansion intoChampa and pushed southwest intoCambodia.[4]
The Nguyễn lords traced their descent from a powerful clan originally based inThanh Hóa Province. The clan supportedLê Lợi in his successful war of independence against theMing dynasty. From that point on, the Nguyễn were one of the major noble families in Vietnam. Perhaps the most famous Nguyễn of this time wasNguyễn Thị Anh, the queen-consort for nearly 20 years (1442–1459).
In 1527,Mạc Đăng Dung overthrew the emperorLê Cung Hoàng and established a new dynasty (Mạc dynasty). The founders of both clanNguyễn Kim and his son-in-lawTrịnh Kiểm fled to Thanh Hóa province and refused to accept the rule of the Mạc. All of the region south of theRed River was under their control, but they were unable to dislodge the Mạc fromĐông Kinh (the capital of state) for many years. During this time, the Nguyễn–Trịnh alliance was led byNguyễn Kim; his daughterNguyễn Thị Ngọc Bảo was married to the Trịnh clan leader,Trịnh Kiểm. After several unsuccessful revolts, they had to exile inXam Neua (Kingdom of Lan Xang) and settle the exile government at there to reorganize arm forces to fight backMạc dynasty.
In 1533,Lê dynasty was restored and managed to recaptured the southern part of country. However, The authority of Lê emperor was not fully restored as restored emperorLê Trang Tông was installed as figurehead, while true authority lay in the hands ofNguyễn Kim. In 1543, Nguyễn Kim capturedThanh Hóa from Mạc loyalists. Dương Chấp Nhất, commander of Mạc forces in the region, decided to surrender his troops to the advancing Nguyễn forces. When Kim seized Tây Đô citadel and was on route to attackNinh Bình, in 20 May 1545, Dương Chấp Nhất invited Kim to visit his military camp. In the hot temperature of summer, Dương Chấp Nhất treated Kim with a watermelon. After the party, Kim felt ill after returning home and died the same day. Dương Chấp Nhất later returned to the Mạc dynasty. The records of theĐại Việt sử ký toàn thư andĐại Nam thực lục both suggest that Dương Chấp Nhất tried to assassinate the emperorLê Trang Tông by pretending to surrender. However, the plot was unsuccessful, and then he changed his target to Nguyễn Kim, who was in charge of power and the military.
After the death of Kim, the imperial government was plunged into chaos. Kim's eldest son Nguyễn Uông initially took power, but he was soon secretly assassinated by his brother-in-lawTrịnh Kiểm who assumed control of the government.
Kim's second sonNguyễn Hoàng feared that he would face same fate as his brother; hence, he attempted to flee the capital to avoid further assassination aimed at him. Later, he asked his sisterNguyễn Thị Ngọc Bảo (wife of Trịnh Kiểm) to ask Kiểm to appoint him to be the governor of Đại Việt's southern frontier province ofThuận Hóa in what is modern-day Southern ofQuảng Bình,Quảng Trị toQuảng Nam provinces, land that once belonged to kingdom ofChampa. Back then,Thuận Hóa was still regarded as uncivilised land, and simultaneously,Trịnh Kiểm also sought to remove remaining power and influence of Nguyễn Hoàng in the capital city; so, he agreed to a deal in order to keep Nguyễn Hoàng away from capital city.In 1558, Nguyễn Hoàng and family, relatives and his loyal generals moved toThuận Hóa to take his position. Arriving atTriệu Phong District, he made the place his new capital and constructed a new palace.In March 1568, EmperorLê Anh Tông summoned Hoàng for a meeting atTây Đô and met Trịnh Kiểm at his personal mansion. He arranged for the emperor to additionally appoint Hoàng governor ofQuảng Nam province to keep him faithful to Kiểm to join an alliance against Mạc dynasty in the north.In 1636, Nguyễn Hoàng moved his base toPhú Xuân (modern Huế). Nguyễn Hoàng slowly expanded his territory further south, while the Trịnh lords continued their war with the Mạc dynasty to control over northern Vietnam.
In 1592, Đông Đô (Hanoi) was recaptured by the Trịnh–Nguyễn army by lordTrịnh Tùng and the Mạc emperor Mạc Kinh Chi was executed. The remnant Mạc clan fled toCao Bằng and would survive there until finally conquered in 1677 by the Trịnh lords (though they had surrendered the imperial dignities in 1627 to the Trịnh-controlled imperial court). The next year, Nguyễn Hoàng came north with an army and money to help defeat the remainder of the Mạc clan.
In 1600,Lê Kính Tông ascended the throne. Just like the previous Lê emperors, the new emperor was a powerless figurehead under the control ofTrịnh Tùng. Apart from this, a revolt broke out inNinh Bình province, possibly instigated by the Trịnh. As a consequence of these events, Nguyễn Hoàng formally broke off relations with the court in the north, rightly arguing that it was the Trịnh who ruled, not the Lê emperor. This uneasy state of affairs continued for the next 13 years until Nguyễn Hoàng died in 1613. He had ruled the southern provinces for 55 years.His successor,Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên, continued Nguyễn Hoàng's policy of essential independence from the court inHanoi. He initiated friendly relations with the Europeans who were now sailing into the area. APortuguese trading post was set up inHội An. By 1615, the Nguyễn were producing their own bronze cannons with the aid of Portuguese engineers. In 1620, the emperor was removed from power and executed by Trịnh Tùng. Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên formally announced that he would not be sending any tax to the central government nor did he acknowledge the new emperor as the emperor of the country. Tensions rose over the next seven years until open warfare broke out in 1627 with the next successor of the Trịnh,Trịnh Tráng.
The war lasted until 1673, when peace was declared. The Nguyễn not only fended off Trịnh attacks but also continued their expansion southwards along the coast, although the northern war slowed this expansion. Around 1620, Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên's daughter marriedChey Chettha II, a Khmer king. Three years later, in 1623, the Nguyễn formally gained permission for Vietnamese to settle in Prey Nokor, which would later be known as the city ofSaigon.
In 1673, the Nguyễn concluded a peace with the Trịnh lord Trịnh Tạc, beginning a long era of relative peace between north and south.
When the war with the Trịnh ended, the Nguyễn were able to put more resources into suppressing theChampa kingdoms and conquest of lands which used to belong to theKhmer Empire.
The Dutch broughtVietnamese slaves they captured from Nguyễn territories inQuảng Nam Province to theircolony in Taiwan.[5]
The Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu referred to Vietnamese as "Han people" 漢人 (Hán nhân) in 1712 when differentiating between Vietnamese and Chams.[6] The Nguyen Lords established frontier colonies, known asđồn điền after 1790. It was said "Hán di hữu hạn" 漢夷有限 ("the Vietnamese and the barbarians must have clear borders") by Gia Long, unifying emperor of all Vietnam, when differentiating between Khmer and Vietnamese.[7]
Nguyễn Phúc Khoát ordered Chinese-style trousers and tunics in 1774 to replace sarong-type Vietnamese clothing.[8] He also ordered Ming, Tang, and Han-style clothing to be adopted by his military and bureaucracy.[9] Pants were mandated by the Nguyen in 1744 and theCheongsam Chinese clothing inspired theáo dài.[10] The current áo dài was introduced by the Nguyễn lords.[11][dead link] Cham provinces were seized by the Nguyễn lords.[12] Provinces and districts originally belonging to Cambodia were taken byVõ Vương.[13][14]
The Nguyễn lords waged multiple wars againstChampa in 1611, 1629, 1653, 1692, and by 1693 the Cham leadership had succumbed to the Nguyen domination. The Nguyễn lords established the protectorate ofPrincipality of Thuận Thành to wield power over the Cham court untilMinh Mạng Emperor abolished it in 1832. The Nguyễn also invaded Cambodia in 1658, 1690, 1691, 1697 and 1713. Inscription on a Nguyễn cannon manufactured by Portuguese engineer and military advisor Juan de Cruz dating from 1670 reads "for the King and grand Lord of Cochinchina, Champa and of Cambodia."[15]
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In 1714, the Nguyễn sent an army intoCambodia to supportAng Em's claim to the throne againstPrea Srey Thomea.Siam sided with Prea Srey Thomea against the Vietnamese claimant. AtBantea Meas, the Vietnamese routed the Siamese armies, but by 1717 the Siamese had gained the upper hand. The war ended with a negotiated settlement, whereby Ang Em was allowed to take the Cambodia crown in exchange for pledging allegiance to the Siamese.[16] For their part, the Nguyễn lords wrested more territory from the weakened Cambodian kingdom.
Two decades later, in 1739, the Cambodians attempted to reclaim their lost coastal land. The fighting lasted some ten years, but the Vietnamese fended off the Cambodian raids and secured their hold on the richMekong Delta.[17]
With Siam embroiled in war withBurma, the Nguyễn mounted another campaign against Cambodia in 1755 and conquered additional territory from the ineffective Cambodian court. At the end of the war the Nguyễn had secured a port on theGulf of Siam (Hà Tiên) and were threateningPhnom Penh itself.
Under their new kingTaksin, the Siamese reasserted its protection of its eastern neighbor by coming to the aid of the Cambodian court. War was launched against the Nguyễn in 1769. After some early success, the Nguyễn forces by 1773 were facing internal revolts and had to abandon Cambodia to deal with the civil war in Vietnam itself. The turmoil gave rise to theTây Sơn.
In 1771, as a result of heavy taxes and defeats[citation needed] in the war with Cambodia, three brothers fromTây Sơn began a peasant uprising that quickly engulfed much of southern Vietnam. Within two years, the Tây Sơn brothers captured the provincial capital of Qui Nhơn. In 1774, the Trịnh in Hà Nội, seeing their rival gravely weakened, ended the hundred-year truce and launched an attack against the Nguyễn from the north. The Trịnh forces quickly overran the Nguyễn capital in 1774, while the Nguyễn lords fled south toSaigon. The Nguyễn fought against both the Trịnh army and the Tây Sơn, but their effort was in vain. By 1777, Gia Định was captured and nearly the entire Nguyễn family was killed except one nephew,Nguyễn Ánh, who managed to flee to Siam.
Nguyễn Ánh did not give up, and in 1780 he attacked the Tây Sơn army with a new army from Siam, having allied with the Siamese king Taksin. However, Taksin became a religious fanatic and was killed in a coup. The new king of Siam,Rama I had more urgent affairs to look after than helping Nguyễn Ánh retake Vietnam and so this campaign faltered. The Siamese army retreated, and Nguyễn Ánh went into exile, but would later return.
The Nguyễn were significantly more open to foreign trade and communication with Europeans than the Trịnh. According to Dupuy, the Nguyễn were able to defeat initial Trịnh attacks with the aid of advanced weapons theypurchased from the Portuguese. The Nguyễn also conducted fairly extensive trade with Japan and China.[18]
ThePortuguese set up a trade center at Faifo (present dayHội An), just south ofHuế in 1615. However, with the end of the great war between the Trịnh and the Nguyễn, the need for European military equipment declined. ThePortuguese trade center never became a major European base unlikeGoa orMacau.
In 1640,Alexandre de Rhodes returned to Vietnam, this time to the Nguyễn court at Huế. He began work on converting people to the Catholic faith and building churches. After six years, the Nguyễn Lord,Nguyễn Phúc Lan, came to the same conclusion asTrịnh Tráng had, that de Rhodes and the Catholic Church represented a threat to their rule. De Rhodes was sentenced to death, but was allowed to leave Vietnam with the understanding he was to be executed if he returned.
[19]Quảng Nam Province was the site where fourth rank Chinese brigade vice-commanderdushu Liu Sifu was shipwrecked after suffering a storm. He was taken back to Guangzhou, China by a Vietnamese Nguyễn ship in 1669. The Vietnamese sent the Chinese Zhao Wenbin to led the diplomatic delegation on the ship and requested the establishment of trade relations with the Qing court. Although they thanked the Nguyễn for sending their officer safely home, they rejected the Nguyễn's offer.[20] On Champa's coastal waters in a place called Linlangqian by the Chinese a ship ran aground after departing on 25 Jun 1682 from Cambodia carrying Chinese captain Chang Xiaoguan with a Chinese crew. Their cargo was left in the waters while Chen Xiaoguan went to Thailand (Siam). This was recorded in the log of a Chinese trading junk going to Nagasaki on 25 June 1683.[21][22]
| Preceded by | Rulers of southern Vietnam 1558–1777, 1780–1802 | Succeeded by |
| Nguyễn lords family tree | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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