Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City
South Vietnamese flee in a U.S. helicopter on a rooftop in Saigon as the North Vietnamese army closes in (1975).
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese	Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam.^[1] The city is located on the Saigon River near the South China Sea, called the "East Sea" by Vietnamese.^[2] It is named after North Vietnamese Communist figurehead Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh City has 8.2 million inhabitants.^[3]

Saigon became the capital of South Vietnam when French Indochina was divided in 1954. The city played an important role during the Vietnam War. The US embassy of Saigon was attacked by the Vietcong on January 31, 1968.^[4] In 1975, the Communists took the control over the city.

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia, bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and the South China Sea to the east and south.^[5]

References[edit]

1. ↑ http://www.vietscape.com/travel/saigon/index.html
2. ↑ http://www.saigon-news.ch/docs-en/english.htm
3. ↑ http://www.pso.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/web/guest/nam-2013?p_p_id=EXT_ARTICLEVIEW&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_col_id=center-banner&p_p_col_count=1&_EXT_ARTICLEVIEW_groupId=18&_EXT_ARTICLEVIEW_articleId=419698&_EXT_ARTICLEVIEW_version=1.0&_EXT_ARTICLEVIEW_redirect=/web/guest/home
4. ↑ http://www.rjsmith.com/info_pages/saigon-us-embassy-info.html
5. ↑ http://www.vietnamtourism.com/