Vietnam / Ho Chi Minh City / The City

Ho Chi Minh City is the economic center of Vietnam. Until the reunification of North and South Vietnam in April 1975 the city's name was Saigon. The Communist government of Hanoi renamed it in honour of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Communist forces during the Vietnam War.

But the inhabitants of the city have never quite gotten accustomed to the new name and thus still prefer the old name, Saigon. In official publications, however, only Ho Chi Minh City is used.

As the old name Saigon could not be abolished, the authorities conceded to a compromise and kept the name Saigon for the center of Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore the entire city officially is called Ho Chi Minh City, while the center officially is Saigon.

At the peak of the Vietnam War the city counted some 4.5 million inhabitants. After the reunification of Vietnam the Communist masters reduced the number of inhabitants. However, these measures were by far not as drastic as the according steps taken by the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh. By 1996, the population of Ho Chi Minh City has again grown to more than 4 millions.

Saigon and the Mekong delta were inhabited by the Vietnamese only from the 17th century onwards. Before the arrival of the Vietnamese, the region was settled by the Khmer (Cambodians).

In 1859 the French conquered Saigon, and in 1862 they made it the capital of their colony Cochin China. Saigon was extended and rebuilt in French style, with broad boulevards and elegant architecture.

Ho Chi Minh City is home to a large Chinese minority. As anywhere in the world, many of the Chinese migrants run their own small businesses. The name of Saigon's traditional Chinatown is Cholon.

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