Hanoi (written in Vietnamese as Hà Nội) is the capital of Vietnam and the country’s second largest city by population. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam. From 1802, it was eclipsed by Huế, the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1945). From 1883 to 1945, the city was the administrative centre of the colony of French Indochina, the French building a modern administrative city south of Old Hanoi. From 1940 to 1945 Hanoi was occupied by the Japanese. On September 2, 1945, Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and on 6 January 1946, it was made the capital of the DRV by the Vietnamese National Assembly under Hồ Chí Minh. From 1954 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam, and it became the capital of a reunified Vietnam in 1976, after the North’s victory in the Second Indochina War (1955-1975).
