Annam (Chinese province)

Annam (; pinyin: Ānnán) or Jiaozhi (; pinyin: Jiāozhǐ; Vietnamese: Giao Chỉ) was the southernmost province of the Chinese Empire. It is now part of present-day Vietnam. [citebook|title=The Cambridge History of China |author= John King Fairbank|year=1978|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=693|id=ISBN 0521214467 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=SuzWL1_qek4C&pg=PA693&ots=l1X6u3zsMG&dq=%22Annam%22Chinese+Province&as_brr=3&ei=d0e-Rv7JIoqa6gKpoLyuAQ&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=BdXJTg8nmA6gTKC9w48-osb-TKQ] The region mostly corresponds to the current Tonkin.

In 111 BCE, the Chinese Han Dynasty , under Emperor Wu of Han, invaded and conquered the former kingdom of Nam Viet. By 108 BCE, the conquest was completed and the Chinese took over the lands. The first name given the land based around Hanoi and the Red River was "Jiaozhi". In 679, Tang Dynasty established Protectorate General to Pacify the South (Chinese: 安南都护府) as their military government in Jiaozhi. The Sino-Vietnamese name of this government is An Nam đô hộ phủ which can be called for short An Nam ("Pacified South") or Annam as in Western documents.

It was to remain Annam for the next 600 years, seemingly living up to its name. A peaceful territory, part of a succession of Chinese kingdoms: Wu, Eastern Jin Dynasty, Song, Southern Qi, Liang, Chen, Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty.

Finally in 939, Ngo Quyen revolted against the Southern Han and turned Annam into the Dai Viet. This was the effective end of Annam as a Chinese province. Several attempts were made by various Chinese governments to retake Vietnam, one succeeded (Ming Rule of Vietnam) but only for 20 years (1407 - 1427).

In the 1860s, the French government under Napoleon III conquered first southern and then central Vietnam. The central portion of the country they ruled as the protectorate of Annam.

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