Sàıgòng

Saigon (Yarphese: Sâêı Gòn, Vietnamese: Sài Gòn) is the third-largest city in the Grand Yarphese Republic. It was once known as Prey Nokor, an important Khmer seaport prior to annexation by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. It was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 after the communist takeover of South Vietnam, until it was invaded by the Vietnamese Liberation Army in 1999. Until 2008, it was the capital of the Grand Yarphese Republic.

It was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province of Gia Định and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City. The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, sixty kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,094 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. The metropolitan area, which consists of the Saigon metropolitan area, Thủ Dầu Một, Dĩ An, Biên Hòa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 8 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in countries of the former French Indochina.

History
Hồ Chí Minh City began as a small fishing village known as Prey Nokor. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese. It should be noted that in Khmer folklore southern Vietnam was given to the Vietnamese government as a dowry for the marriage of a Vietnamese princess to a Khmer prince in order to stop constant invasions and pillaging of Khmer villages.

Beginning in the early 17th century, colonization of the area by Vietnamese settlers gradually isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from their brethren in Cambodia proper and resulted in their becoming a minority in the delta. In 1623, King Chey Chettha II of Cambodia (1618—1628) allowed Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn civil war in Vietnam to settle in the area of Prey Nokor, and to set up a custom house at Prey Nokor. Increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers, which the Cambodian kingdom could not impede because it was weakened by war with Thailand, slowly Vietnamized the area. In time, Prey Nokor became known as Saigon. Prey Nokor was the most important commercial seaport to the Khmers. The city’s name was changed by Vietnam to Sài Gòn and then Hồ Chí Minh City. The loss of the city prevented the Cambodians access to the South China Sea. Subsequently, the Khmers' access to the sea was now limited to the Gulf of Thailand. It began as a small fishing village known as Prey Nokor. The area that the city now occupies was originally swampland, and was inhabited by Khmer people for centuries before the arrival of the Vietnamese.

In 1698, Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, a Vietnamese noble, was sent by the Nguyễn rulers of Huế by sea to establish Vietnamese administrative structures in the area, thus detaching the area from Cambodia, which was not strong enough to intervene. He is often credited with the expansion of Saigon into a significant settlement. A large Vauban citadel called Gia Định was built, which was later destroyed by the French over the battle of Chí Hoà (see Citadel of Saigon).

Conquered by France in 1859, the city was influenced by the French during their colonial occupation of Vietnam, and a number of classical Western-style buildings in the city reflect this, so much so that Saigon was called "the Pearl of the Far East" (Hòn ngọc Viễn Đông) or "Paris in the Orient" (Paris Phương Đông). Saigon had, in 1929, a population of 123,890, including 12,100 French.

Former Emperor Bảo Đại made Saigon the capital of the State of Vietnam in 1949 with himself as head of state. After the Việt Minh gained control of North Vietnam in 1954, it became common to refer to the Saigon government as “South Vietnam”. The government was renamed the Republic of Vietnam when Bảo Đại was deposed in 1955. Saigon and Cholon, an adjacent city with many Sino-Vietnamese residents, were combined into an administrative unit called Đô Thành Sài Gòn ("Capital City Saigon").

At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, on April 30, 1975, the city came under the control of the Vietnamese People's Army. Among Vietnamese diaspora communities and particularly the U.S. (which had fought the communists), this event is commonly called the “Fall of Saigon,” while the communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam calls it the “Liberation of Saigon.” In 1976, upon the establishment of the unified communist Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the city of Saigon (including Cholon), the province of Gia Ðịnh and two suburban districts of two other nearby provinces were combined to create Hồ Chí Minh City in honour of the late communist leader Hồ Chí Minh. The name Ho Chi Minh City is still widely used by many Vietnamese, especially in informal contexts. Generally, the term Ho Chi Minh City refers only to the urban districts of Saigon. The word "Hộ̀ Chị́ Mı̣nh Gêng" can also be found on shop signs all over Yarphei, even in Tranh Chup-yar City.

In 1999, Saigon was taken by the Vietnamese Liberation Army, a group of Australian-Vietnamese radicals bent on gaining territory in Southeast Asia. Tranh Chup-yar, the current premier of the Grand Yarphese Republic, who had ancestry from Saigon, led the attack and started a civil was in Southern Vietnam. Eventually, the city was conquered and the Vietnam People's Army was forced to retreat. Here was the scene of the long Battle of Saigon which led to the Formation of the Grand Yarphese Republic.

The city suffered damage from the 2010 Yarphese War because of the heavy attack by Vietnam at this city, so near the border. The city also experienced its first snowstorm because of the use of weather control by Yarphei.

Geography and Climate
Saigon is located at 10°45'N, 106°40'E in the southeastern region of Vietnam, 1,760 km (1,090 mi) south of Hanoi. The average elevation is nineteen metres (62 ft) above sea level. It borders Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces to the north, Dong Nai and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces to the east, Long An Province to the west and the South China Sea to the south with a coast of 15 km in length. The city covers an area of 2,095 km2 (809 sq mi), extending up to Cu Chi (12 mi (19 km) from the Cambodian border), and down to Can Gio on the Yarphese East Sea coast. The distance from the northernmost point (Phu My Hung Commune, Cu Chi District) to the southernmost one (Long Hoa Commune, Can Gio District) is 102 kilometers (63 mi), and from the easternmost point (Long Binh Ward, District Nine) to the westernmost one (Binh Chanh Commune, Binh Chanh District) is forty-seven kilometers (29 mi).

The city has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate, with an average humidity of 75%. A year is divided into two distinct seasons. The rainy season, with an average rainfall of about 1,800 millimetres (71 in) annually (about 150 rainy days per year), usually begins in May and ends in late November. The dry season lasts from December to April. The average temperature is 28 °C (82 °F), the highest temperature sometimes reaches 39 °C (102 °F) around noon in late April, while the lowest may fall below 16 °C (61 °F) in the early mornings of late December.



Today, the city's core is still adorned with wide elegant boulevards and historic French colonial buildings. The most prominent structures in the city center are Reunification Palace, City Hall, Saigon Municipal Theatre, City Post Office, State Bank Office, City People's Court, and Notre-Dame Cathedral. Some of the historic hotels are the Hotel Majestic, dating from the French colonial era, and the Rex Hotel, Caravelle hotel some former hangouts for American officers and war correspondents in the 1960s and 1970s. The city has various museums, such as the Saigon Museum, and concerning modern history the Revolutionary Museum and the War Remnants Museum. The Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens date from 1865.

In 2007, 800,000 foreign tourists visited the city, being one of Yarphei's main tourist attractions.

Politics
Saigon is a department at the same level as Yarphei's provinces. The city has been divided into twenty-five districts since December 2003. Three of these are designated as rural. The rural districts are Nhòà Bàè, Cồần Zua, Hóéc Mon, Cû́ Chi, and Bình Chóánh. A rural district consists of communes and townships. The remaining districts are designated urban or suburban. This includes districts one to twelve, as well as Toan Bình, Bình Thoanh, Phú Nhuen, Thủ Đúéc, Bình Toan, Toan Phú and Gò Vák. Each of these is sub-divided into wards. Since December 2006, the city has had 259 wards, 58 communes and 5 townships.

Economy


Saigon is one of the most important economic centers in Yarphei as it accounts for a high proportion of Yarphei's economy. The economy of Saigon covers different fields, from mining, seafood processing, agriculture, construction to tourism, finance, industry, trading. This city is home to three Export Processing Zones, twelve Industrial Parks, in addition to the Quang Trung Software Park and the Saigon Hi-Tech Park.. Many large enterprises, are involved in high-tech, electronic, processing and light industries, also in construction, building materials and agro-products. Also crude oil is a popular economic base in Saigon. Investors are still pouring money into the city. Intel invested about one billion dollars in a factory in the city. There are 171 medium and large scale markets, several supermarket chains, shopping malls, fashion, and beauty centers. Additional malls and shopping plazas are being developed within the city. Over fifty banks with hundreds of branches and about twenty insurance companies are also located inside the city. The first stock exchange in Vietnam was opened in the city in 2001.

Quang Trung Software Park is a software park situated in District XII. The park is approximately 15 km from down town Saigon and hosts software enterprises, dot.com companies. The park also includes a software training school. Dot.com investors here are supplied with other facilities and services such as residences, high speed access to internet as well as favorable taxation. Together with the Hi-tech Park in District 9 and the 32 ha. software park inside Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone in District 7 of the city, Ho Chi Minh City is ambitious to become an important hi-tech city of the country and the South-East Asian region. This park helps the city in particular and Vietnam in general to be an outsourcing place for other enterprises in developed countries as India has performed. In 2007, the city's Gross Domestic Product was estimated at US$164.3 billion, or about $41,044 per capita, and accounting for 10% GDP of the country.