Tuyen Quang Province - History

History

Further information: Tuyen Quang, Battle of Yu Oc, and Battle of Hoa Moc

Tuyên Quang, the capital city of the province has a rich history of the battles fought in the region. The earliest history is to the First Indochina War when it served as a garrison. During this war the Viet Minh made the Legionnaires surrender at the memorial to the Battle of Tuyên Quang. Another historical event is the Siege of Tuyên Quang, commemorated in the first verse of Le Boudin, its principal marching song. The French garrison posted at Tuyên Quang defended the town for four months against 12,000 troops of the Yunnan Army and the Black Flag Army. Two companies of the French Foreign Legion were involved during the Sino-French War (August 1884 to April 1885).

Tuyên Quang was once entirely settled by Thai people, but from the 13th century onwards were integrated into the Tran dynasty, who named it Quốc Oai before naming it Châu Tuyên Quang. Under the rule of Emperor Trần Hiến Tông (reigned 1329–1341), Tuyên Quang was given the status of a trấn, before being categorised a thành phủ when the Ming Dynasty of China briefly annexed Vietnam at the start of the 15th century. After Le Loi expelled the Chinese and started the Lê Dynasty, he made Tuyên Hóa a part of Tây Đạo. During the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông, Tuyên Quang comprised one phủ and five districts (huyện) and became the province of Minh Quang under the rule of Emperor Lê Uy Mục. During the reign of Lê Trang Tông, Minh Quang became An Tại, and control of the region was given to the Vũ family, ethnic Thai people.

By the end of 17th century, the Lê Dynasty sent ethnic Vietnamese officials to the area to supervise the Thais. After Gia Long started the Nguyen Dynasty, he changed the region to the trấn of Tuyên Quang, and it became a province under the rule of his successor Emperor Minh Mạng. When the French carried out their colonial conquest, the phủ of Yên Bình was at the forefront of the resistance movement. People from the Thái, Mường, Mèo, Thổ, Nùng and another ethnic groups engaged the French in many battles in the area in 1884–85. The Black Flags were also prominent. It was not until 1894 that the French had pacified the region. Prior to 1975, the province comprised the districts of Yên Sơn, Yên Bình, Hàm Yên, Sơn Dương, Chiêm Hóa and Đại Thi.

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