Matthew Laurence

After the region was part of the Nam Viet Empire before Christ and under the kingdom of Champa for seventeen centuries, in the 1300’s the king of Champa gave the region to the Vietnamese. Hue was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty in the 19th century. The region was under French protectorate since 1883. In 1945, Hue was the center of the August Revolution when Communist and National forces overthrew the last Nguyen king. As part of South Vietnam after the division of the country and due its strategic position, Hue was a central battleground during Vietnam War.