The Nguyá» n lords (, ; 1558âÂÂ1777, 1780âÂÂ1802), also known as the Nguyá» n clan (; ), were Nguyá» n dynasty's forerunner and a feudal noble clan ruling southern ÃÂại Viá»Ât in the Revival Lê dynasty. The Nguyá» n lords were members of the House of Nguyá» n Phúc. The territory they ruled was known contemporarily as ÃÂàng Trong (Inner Realm) and by the exonyms the Kingdom of Cochinchina and the Kingdom of Quảng Nam (; ), in opposition to the Trá»Ânh lords, who ruled northern ÃÂại Viá»Ât as ÃÂàng Ngoài (Outer Realm), known as the "Kingdom of Tonkin" by Europeans and "Kingdom of An Nam" (; ) by Imperial China in bilateral diplomacy. They were officially entitled, in Sino-Vietnamese, the ' () in 1744 when lord Nguyá» n Phúc Khoát self-proclaimed himself to elevate his status equally to Trá»Ânh lords's title known as the ' (; ). Both Nguyá» n and Trá»Ânh clans were de jure subordinates and fief of the Lê dynasty. However, the de jure submission of the Nguyá» n lords to the Trá»Ânh 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 ÃÂại Viá»Ât. Meanwhile, the Trá»Ânh lords ruled northern ÃÂại Viá»Ât in the name of the Lê emperor, who was in reality a puppet ruler. They fought a series of long and bitter wars that pitted the two halves of Vietnam against each other. The Nguyá» n were finally overthrown in the Tây Sán wars, but one of their descendants would eventually come to unite all of Vietnam. Their rule consolidated earlier southward expansion into Champa and pushed southwest into Cambodia.
The Nguyá» n lords traced their descent from a powerful clan originally based in Thanh Hóa Province. The clan supported Lê Lợi in his successful war of independence against the Ming dynasty. From that point on, the Nguyá» n were one of the major noble families in Vietnam. Perhaps the most famous Nguyá» n of this time was Nguyá» n Thá» Anh, the queen-consort for nearly 20 years (1442âÂÂ1459).
In 1527, Mạc ÃÂÃÂng Dung overthrew the emperor Lê Cung Hoàng and established a new dynasty (Mạc dynasty). The founders of both clan Nguyá» n Kim and his son-in-law Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm fled to Thanh Hóa province and refused to accept the rule of the Mạc. All of the region south of the Red River was under their control, but they were unable to dislodge the Mạc from ÃÂông Kinh (the capital of state) for many years. During this time, the Nguyá» nâÂÂTrá»Ânh alliance was led by Nguyá» n Kim; his daughter Nguyá» n Thá» Ngá»Âc Bảo was married to the Trá»Ânh clan leader, Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm. After several unsuccessful revolts, they had to exile in Xam Neua (Kingdom of Lan Xang) and settle the exile government at there to reorganize arm forces to fight back Mạc 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 emperor Lê Trang Tông was installed as figurehead, while true authority lay in the hands of Nguyá» n Kim. In 1543, Nguyá» n Kim captured Thanh Hóa from Mạc loyalists. Dðáng Chấp Nhất, commander of Mạc forces in the region, decided to surrender his troops to the advancing Nguyá» n forces. When Kim seized Tây ÃÂô citadel and was on route to attack Ninh Bình, in 20 May 1545, Dðáng Chấp Nhất invited Kim to visit his military camp. In the hot temperature of summer, Dðáng Chấp Nhất treated Kim with a watermelon. After the party, Kim felt ill after returning home and died the same day. Dðáng Chấp Nhất later returned to the Mạc dynasty. The records of the ÃÂại Viá»Ât sá» ký toàn thð and ÃÂại Nam thá»±c lục both suggest that Dðáng Chấp Nhất tried to assassinate the emperor Lê Trang Tông by pretending to surrender. However, the plot was unsuccessful, and then he changed his target to Nguyá» n 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 Nguyá» n Uông initially took power, but he was soon secretly assassinated by his brother-in-law Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm who assumed control of the government.
Kim's second son Nguyá» n 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 sister Nguyá» n Thá» Ngá»Âc Bảo (wife of Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm) to ask Kiá»Âm to appoint him to be the governor of ÃÂại Viá»Ât's southern frontier province of ThuáºÂn Hóa in what is modern-day Southern of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trá» to Quảng Nam provinces, land that once belonged to kingdom of Champa. Back then, ThuáºÂn Hóa was still regarded as uncivilised land, and simultaneously, Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm also sought to remove remaining power and influence of Nguyá» n Hoàng in the capital city; so, he agreed to a deal in order to keep Nguyá» n Hoàng away from capital city. In 1558, Nguyá» n Hoàng and family, relatives and his loyal generals moved to ThuáºÂn Hóa to take his position. Arriving at Triá»Âu Phong District, he made the place his new capital and constructed a new palace. In March 1568, Emperor Lê Anh Tông summoned Hoàng for a meeting at Tây ÃÂô and met Trá»Ânh Kiá»Âm at his personal mansion. He arranged for the emperor to additionally appoint Hoàng governor of Quảng Nam province to keep him faithful to Kiá»Âm to join an alliance against Mạc dynasty in the north. In 1636, Nguyá» n Hoàng moved his base to Phú Xuân (modern Huế). Nguyá» n Hoàng slowly expanded his territory further south, while the Trá»Ânh lords continued their war with the Mạc dynasty to control over northern Vietnam.
In 1592, ÃÂông ÃÂô (Hanoi) was recaptured by the Trá»ÂnhâÂÂNguyá» n army by lord Trá»Ânh Tùng and the Mạc emperor Mạc Kinh Chi was executed. The remnant Mạc clan fled to Cao Bằng and would survive there until finally conquered in 1677 by the Trá»Ânh lords (though they had surrendered the imperial dignities in 1627 to the Trá»Ânh-controlled imperial court). The next year, Nguyá» n Hoàng came north with an army and money to help defeat the remainder of the Mạc clan.
In 1600, Lê KÃÂnh Tông ascended the throne. Just like the previous Lê emperors, the new emperor was a powerless figurehead under the control of Trá»Ânh Tùng. Apart from this, a revolt broke out in Ninh Bình province, possibly instigated by the Trá»Ânh. As a consequence of these events, Nguyá» n Hoàng formally broke off relations with the court in the north, rightly arguing that it was the Trá»Ânh who ruled, not the Lê emperor. This uneasy state of affairs continued for the next 13 years until Nguyá» n Hoàng died in 1613. He had ruled the southern provinces for 55 years. His successor, Nguyá» n Phúc Nguyên, continued Nguyá» n Hoàng's policy of essential independence from the court in Hanoi. He initiated friendly relations with the Europeans who were now sailing into the area. A Portuguese trading post was set up in Há»Âi An. By 1615, the Nguyá» n were producing their own bronze cannons with the aid of Portuguese engineers. In 1620, the emperor was removed from power and executed by Trá»Ânh Tùng. Nguyá» n 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 Trá»Ânh, Trá»Ânh Tráng.
The war lasted until 1673, when peace was declared. The Nguyá» n not only fended off Trá»Ânh attacks but also continued their expansion southwards along the coast, although the northern war slowed this expansion. Around 1620, Nguyá» n Phúc Nguyên's daughter married Chey Chettha II, a Khmer king. Three years later, in 1623, the Nguyá» n formally gained permission for Vietnamese to settle in Prey Nokor, which would later be known as the city of Saigon.
In 1673, the Nguyá» n concluded a peace with the Trá»Ânh lord Trá»Ânh Tạc, beginning a long era of relative peace between north and south.
When the war with the Trá»Ânh ended, the Nguyá» n were able to put more resources into suppressing the Champa kingdoms and conquest of lands which used to belong to the Khmer Empire.
The Dutch brought Vietnamese slaves they captured from NguyỠn territories in Quảng Nam Province to their colony in Taiwan.
The Nguyá» n lord Nguyá» n Phúc Chu referred to Vietnamese as "Han people" 漢人 (Hán nhân) in 1712 when differentiating between Vietnamese and Chams. The Nguyen Lords established frontier colonies, known as ÃÂá»Ân ÃÂiá»Ân after 1790. It was said "Hán di hữu hạn" 漢夷æÂÂé ("the Vietnamese and the barbarians must have clear borders") by Gia Long, unifying emperor of all Vietnam, when differentiating between Khmer and Vietnamese.
NguyỠn Phúc Khoát ordered Chinese-style trousers and tunics in 1774 to replace sarong-type Vietnamese clothing. He also ordered Ming, Tang, and Han-style clothing to be adopted by his military and bureaucracy. Pants were mandated by the Nguyen in 1744 and the Cheongsam Chinese clothing inspired the áo dài. The current áo dài was introduced by the NguyỠn lords. Cham provinces were seized by the NguyỠn lords. Provinces and districts originally belonging to Cambodia were taken by Võ Vðáng.
The Nguyá» n lords waged multiple wars against Champa in 1611, 1629, 1653, 1692, and by 1693 the Cham leadership had succumbed to the Nguyen domination. The Nguyá» n lords established the protectorate of Principality of ThuáºÂn Thành to wield power over the Cham court until Minh Mạng Emperor abolished it in 1832. The Nguyá» n also invaded Cambodia in 1658, 1690, 1691, 1697 and 1713. Inscription on a Nguyá» n 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."
In 1714, the Nguyá» n sent an army into Cambodia to support Ang Em's claim to the throne against Prea Srey Thomea. Siam sided with Prea Srey Thomea against the Vietnamese claimant. At Bantea 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. For their part, the Nguyá» n 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 rich Mekong Delta.
With Siam embroiled in war with Burma, the NguyỠn mounted another campaign against Cambodia in 1755 and conquered additional territory from the ineffective Cambodian court. At the end of the war the NguyỠn had secured a port on the Gulf of Siam (HàTiên) and were threatening Phnom Penh itself.
Under their new king Taksin, the Siamese reasserted its protection of its eastern neighbor by coming to the aid of the Cambodian court. War was launched against the NguyỠn in 1769. After some early success, the NguyỠn 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 the Tây Sán.
In 1771, as a result of heavy taxes and defeats in the war with Cambodia, three brothers from Tây Sán began a peasant uprising that quickly engulfed much of southern Vietnam. Within two years, the Tây Sán brothers captured the provincial capital of Qui Nhán. In 1774, the Trá»Ânh in HàNá»Âi, seeing their rival gravely weakened, ended the hundred-year truce and launched an attack against the Nguyá» n from the north. The Trá»Ânh forces quickly overran the Nguyá» n capital in 1774, while the Nguyá» n lords fled south to Saigon. The Nguyá» n fought against both the Trá»Ânh army and the Tây Sán, but their effort was in vain. By 1777, Gia ÃÂá»Ânh was captured and nearly the entire Nguyá» n family was killed except one nephew, Nguyá» n ÃÂnh, who managed to flee to Siam.
Nguyá» n ÃÂnh did not give up, and in 1780 he attacked the Tây Sán 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 Nguyá» n ÃÂnh retake Vietnam and so this campaign faltered. The Siamese army retreated, and Nguyá» n ÃÂnh went into exile, but would later return.
The Nguyá» n were significantly more open to foreign trade and communication with Europeans than the Trá»Ânh. According to Dupuy, the Nguyá» n were able to defeat initial Trá»Ânh attacks with the aid of advanced weapons they purchased from the Portuguese. The Nguyá» n also conducted fairly extensive trade with Japan and China.
The Portuguese set up a trade center at Faifo (present day Há»Âi An), just south of Huế in 1615. However, with the end of the great war between the Trá»Ânh and the Nguyá» n, the need for European military equipment declined. The Portuguese trade center never became a major European base unlike Goa or Macau.
In 1640, Alexandre de Rhodes returned to Vietnam, this time to the Nguyá» n court at Huế. He began work on converting people to the Catholic faith and building churches. After six years, the Nguyá» n Lord, Nguyá» n Phúc Lan, came to the same conclusion as Trá»Ânh 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.
Quảng Nam Province was the site where fourth rank Chinese brigade vice-commander dushu Liu Sifu was shipwrecked after suffering a storm. He was taken back to Guangzhou, China by a Vietnamese NguyỠn 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 NguyỠn for sending their officer safely home, they rejected the NguyỠn's offer. 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.
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