Nguyen Cochinchina: Southern Vietnam in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Studies on Southeast Asia)

Western histories inevitably view Vietnam as a two thousand year old territorial and political entity which fell under the French colonial yoke due to a political alliance between a young prince in exile (Nguyen Anh) and a soon to expire French monarchy. The presumption is that Western technology outclassed a backward Southeast Asian kingdom, which was bound to submit until the natives could find some means of liberating themselves, and that if liberation was only partial, war would continue until Vietnam was reunified. Li Tana outlines the split of Vietnam into two warlord states. Both the Trinhs in the North, and the Nguyens in the South (today's Central Vietnam), professed loyalty to a common king. But it was the Nguyen armies who defeated the Cham and pushed South over the next two hundred years, allowing a vassal Cham state to survive until the 1830s, but continually expanding south until they linked up with a Chinese settlement at Ha Tien in the 1600s, triggering Vietnamese settlement of the Mekong Delta. Nguyen military power rested upon a southern cash economy that was closely tied in to regional/international trade, and these "new Vietnamese" were Buddhist, rather than Confucian. Their new found strength allowed the Nguyens to defeat the Trinh, but changing economic conditions triggered the Tay Son rebellion, which was finally defeated by Nguyen Anh, who became emperor Gia Long. It was his grandson, Minh Mang, who set about erasing the Cham, re-casting the government in a Confucian mold, and re-writing history to present his dynasty as pan-Vietnamese. His 19th century campaigns against the Catholics triggered French intervention. Professor Li's point is that two Vietnamese states existed prior to the early arrival of the French, and their differing cultural, religious, and political outlooks colored the two Vietnamese states that came into existence in the post-1945 period. Her work does a lot to explain fundamental differences between Northern and Southern Vietnamese outlooks that continue to color Vietnamese affairs today. It is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in Vietnam's development and history.

Good book.