Hanoi: History

History
Hanoi was established as Thang Long, meaning Ascending Dragon, in 1010 by Emperor Ly Thai To, who moved the capital here based on a vision he reportedly had of a dragon ascending from the site — a founding myth still actively commemorated in the city’s modern identity. The city served as Vietnam’s capital, with some interruptions, for the subsequent millennium.

French colonial rule from the late 19th century through 1954 left a substantial architectural legacy still visible across the city — the Hanoi Opera House, St Joseph’s Cathedral and the wide tree-lined boulevards of the French Quarter all date from this period, a layer of European colonial architecture sitting alongside the older Vietnamese imperial city.

Hanoi became the capital of North Vietnam following the 1954 division of the country and endured significant bombing during the Vietnam War, particularly the Christmas Bombing campaign of December 1972, before becoming the capital of unified Vietnam following the 1975 end of the war and 1976 reunification.

The Old Quarter’s street-by-trade naming system, with streets historically named for silk, silver, paper and dozens of other specific trades, dates to the city’s function as a craft and trading centre serving the royal court, a structure of urban organisation that remains legible in the street names even where the specific trades have shifted over the centuries since.