History of Ninh Binh, the oldest capital of kingdom Viet Nam

History

Unlike other modern city where the location should be best in a flat and wide land, Hoa Lu capital was created with a similar military circumstance as Venice in Italy, defense. interestingly the two cities was established within a very close time period as one another, approximately 9th to 10th century, by the warlords to defend themselves against surrounding empires, the Song empire in Vietnam case.

Dinh Tien Hoang was one of the warlords with his own fortress and army fending off the central government in Hanoi. After Hanoi was lost to the Song Empire, Dinh Tien Hoang successfully retained his own independence from Song Empire, consequently established himself as the first king of Viet Kingdom, whose population used to be both Tang's colonist and subjects. Some historical record may suggest Dinh Tien Hoang was a bilingual warlords speaking both Song accented Chinese and old Vietnamese, very much like William the Conquerer in England at the same period.

Geography

The fortress where Dinh Tien Hoang proclaimed himself the new ruler of Vietnam was built betwen a large river with scattered islets and a range of moutain, making it secured from the North where the Chinese were, and the South where the Champa Empire was. Who would have imagine this newly created kingdom soon to engulfed its opponent in the South, expand itselfe to the North into today Vietnam. I guess all of its success was due to geography.

Where is the fortress now?

Unfortunately we've completely lost the fortress to time and desolation. A few decades after its culmination, Hanoi, then called Thang Long, was chosen to be a new capital. The reason being although Hoa Lu could have been a great fortification, its own unique geography was the fatal hindrance for a much more flourish capital. Soon after its establishment, Vietnam could focus more on building its own identity and culture when the Chinese accepted the fact that this nation was on its own, a subjugating nation however independent from China.

Upon the foundation of the fortress are temples and mausoleum of the ancient dynasties/