Đại La (), means ''the Citadel of the Great Dike'', or La Thành (羅城, means ''the Citadel of the Dike'') was an ancient fortified city in present-day
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...
during the
third Chinese domination of the 7th and 8th centuries, and again in the 11th-century under
Lý dynasty.
[Viet Nam social sciences Ủy ban khoa học xã hội Việt Nam - 2008 4/6 - Page 15 "The outer rampart: An earth rampart was raised in 1014, then rebuilt in 1078 and named Đại La Citadel. The name Đại La appeared many times in the historical chronicles, in 1078, 1154, 1165, 1170, 1230 and 1243."]
Đại La was constructed by ''
jiedushi
The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate ...
''
Gao Pian in 866. It was the seat of
Songping County during the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...
, and was capital of the
Tĩnh Hải quân. In 1010,
Lý Công Uẩn decided to move his capital away from the cramped
Hoa Lư
Hoa Lư was the capital of Vietnam from 968 to 1009. It lies in Trường Yên Thượng village, Hoa Lư District, Ninh Bình Province. The area is one of ricefields broken by limestone mountains, and is approximately 90 km south of Hano ...
(present-day
Ninh Bình). Đại La was favored because of its central and convenient location, defensible terrain and relatively dry climate. According to the ''
Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'', a Yellow Dragon appeared near
Lý Công Uẩn's boat when he passed by Đại La. The sighting was considered as greatly auspicious by his ministers. Subsequently, the city was renamed Thăng Long ("rising dragon").
Archaeology
Dai La's wall had a perimeter of 6,334 meters and was about 7,5 meters high. The city had enclosed guard posts, courtyards, some thousand buildings, a water sewerage system, and a 4,5-meter high
dike. Excavations from 2002 to 2009 in an area covered 19,000 square meters recovered large quantities of artifacts, probably dated through the period of occupation, i.e. 7th–10th century. Various tiles masoned with human faces, lotus motif, and flat tiles with human and animal faces were found. Local produced ceramics, Chinese ceramics and West Asian ceramics were also being recovered from the site.
See also
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Long Biên
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Đại La
History of Hanoi