Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên

Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên (1563 - 1635); ruled the southern provinces of Vietnam from 1613 - 1635.

Nguyen Phuc Nguyen was an early Nguyen Lord who ruled south Vietnam from the city of Phu Xuan (modern-day Hue). During his rule, the Nguyen established a city at modern-day Saigon. Later, his refusal to pay tribute to the court in Hanoi sparked the Trinh-Nguyen War.

Nguyen Phuc Nguyen was the sixth son of Nguyen Hoang. Upon the death of his father, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen took over the rule of the southern provinces of Vietnam. He continued his father's policy of refusing to submit to the authority of the court in Hanoi, dominated at this time by his uncle, Trinh Tung. Unlike his father he did not take the title Vuong but instead called himself "Nhon Quoc-Cong" (roughly Duke of the Southern Provinces).

Starting as early as 1615, Nguyen Phuc Nguyen allowed Portuguese merchants to set up a trading post at Faifo (modern-day Hoi An). The Nguyen began to purchase advanced European cannons from the Portuguese and learned something of European ship design. This would help them enormously in later years. As time passed, Faifo became a major trade port for the south-west pacific. Chinese, Japanese, Europeans, and South Asians all came to trade at Faifo. In order to purchase foreign goods, the Nguyen developed the farming of sugar crops for trade. Traders from Japan came all the way to Vietnam because the Ming and the Manchu Emperors forbade trade with Japan. In order to obtain the highly desirable Chinese silks and ceramics, the Japanese had to come to Faifo.

Sometime around 1620 Nguyen Phuc Nguyen's daughter (Nguyen Thi Ngoc) married the king of Cambodia, Chey Chettha II (the marriage seems to have been contracted years earlier). As a result of this marriage, the Cambodian King allowed the Nguyen to establish a small city at what is now Saigon] in 1623. This settlement was the start of a major expansion by the Vietnamese beyond the borders established by Le Thanh Tong in 1471.

With the death of Trinh Tung in 1623 and the new rule of his son, Trinh Trang, another formal demand was made by the Court in Hanoi for the Nguyen to pay tribute. In 1624, Nguyen Phuc Nugyen formally refused. Three years later, the Royal (Trinh) army marched south and attacked the Nguyen.

The first set of battles lasted for four months but the Nguyen armies were not defeated and Phu Xuan was not taken. The Royal army withdrew north to regroup. The Nguyen immediately began the building of a massive pair of walls to defend their lands. This pair of walls, just south of the Linh River, eventually grew to a length of 11 miles, stretching from the sea to the mountains. The walls were each 20 feet tall and equipped with many cannons of European design.

In 1633, the Trinh tried to outflank the walls with an amphibious invasion but the Nguyen fleet was able to defeat the Royal (Trinh) fleet at the battle of Nhat-Le.

Nguyen Phuc Nguyen died in 1635 with the war still going on. Still, the defensive measures he had put in place served the Nguyen well. Phu Xuan was not taken by the Trinh till 1774. Further, his defensive success in these first battles is a credit to his ability to attract talented men to his cause and make use of expert military advice, even when it came from another country.

ee also

*Le Dynasty
*List of Vietnamese dynasties

ources

*Encyclopedia of Asian History, Volumn 3 ("Nguyen Lords") 1988. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.
* [http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Vietnam/annam2.htm Genealogy of the Royal Nguyen Family]