Gia Long
Emperor of Vietnam
Died when: 57 years 360 days (695 months)Star Sign: Aquarius
Gia Long (Vietnamese: [za? law?] (North), [ja? law?] (South); 8 February 1762 – 3 February 1820), born Nguy?n Phúc Ánh (???) or Nguy?n Ánh, was the founding emperor of the Nguy?n dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam.
His dynasty would rule the unified territories that constitute modern-day Vietnam until 1945.A nephew of the last Nguy?n lord who ruled over south Vietnam, Nguy?n Ánh was forced into hiding in 1777 as a fifteen-year-old when his family was slain in the Tây Son revolt.
After several changes of fortune in which his loyalists regained and again lost Saigon, he befriended the French Catholic Bishop Pierre Pigneau de Behaine.
Pigneau championed his cause to the French government and managed to recruit volunteers when that fell through to help Nguy?n Ánh regain the throne.
From 1789, Nguy?n Ánh was once again in the ascendancy and began his northward march to defeat the Tây Son, reaching the border with China by 1802, which had previously been under the control of the Tr?nh lords.
Following their defeat, he succeeded in reuniting Vietnam after centuries of internecine feudal warfare, with a greater landmass than ever before, stretching from China down to the Gulf of Siam.
Gia Long's rule was noted for its Confucian orthodoxy.He overcame the Tây Son rebellion and reinstated the classical Confucian education and civil service system.
He moved the capital from Hanoi south to Hu? as the country's populace had also shifted south over the preceding centuries, and built up fortresses and a palace in his new capital.
Using French expertise, he modernized Vietnam's defensive capabilities.In deference to the assistance of his French friends, he tolerated the activities of Roman Catholic missionaries, something that became increasingly restricted under his successors.
Under his rule, Vietnam strengthened its military dominance in Indochina, expelling Siamese forces from Cambodia and turning it into a vassal state.
