Vietnam's First Capital

After three decades of internal strife following the expulsion of the Chinese by Ngo Quyen in 938, Dinh Bo Linh, also known as Dinh Tien Hoang, unified the country. (A colorful festival on the 12th day of the third lunar month commemorates this successful reunification.) The new king moved the capital to Hoa Lu, in a valley whose maze of narrow streams and inhospitable limestone outcroppings served as natural protection for the fledgling nation; he had numerous fortifications built around his citadel in order to avert another Chinese invasion, and word quickly spread of his ruthless treatment of prisoners. (The king reportedly fed enemies to tigers and then boiled their bones in ceremonial urns.) Despite such tactics, the Dinh dynasty was short-lived; bodyguards assassinated Dinh Tien Hoang in 979. The killers were discovered and put to death, and General Le Dai Hanh ascended to the throne, establishing the Early Le dynasty. Upon Le Dai Hanh's death in 1009, Ly Thai To became the first king of the Ly dynasty and moved the capital to Thang Long, the site of present-day Hanoi.