In 1792, Nguyen Hue suddenly died. His son, Quang
Toan, succeeded the throne at the age of 11. Being a child, he
was unable to rule the court properly. Neither could he curb the
rising threat by Nguyen Anh. Nguyen Anh resisted against the Tay
Son brothers and extended control over the country with the aid
of a French missionary, Monsignor Pigneau de Behaine, Bishop of
Adran.
In 1792, Nguyen Hue suddenly died. His son, Quang
Toan, succeeded the throne at the age of 11. Being a child, he
was unable to rule the court properly. Neither could he curb the
rising threat by Nguyen Anh. Nguyen Anh resisted against the Tay
Son brothers and extended control over the country with the aid
of a French missionary, Monsignor Pigneau de Behaine, Bishop of
Adran.
Anh ascended the throne in 1802 with the title
Gia Long. In the same year, he sent an envoy to China. It was
to ask for approval from the Manchou Dynasty for his throne and
the country name of Nam Viet. But the Manchou changed it to Viet
Nam. A power struggle between the French and Chinese factions
began within the court. Although Nguyen Anh owed his victory to
the French training and weapons his troops acquired, he was suspicious
of their designs on his country. He came to rely more on his Confucian
mandarins than the Catholic missionaries in the consolidation
of his empire.
The reunified Viet Nam extended from the Camau
Peninsula in the south to the Chinese frontier. Laos and Cambodia
were incorporated into the empire as new vassal states. Serious
efforts were made to codify the law and develop the national administration
along Confucian principles. Hue became the country's new administrative
capital.
Fearing that the opening of the kingdom and expansion
of trade links would undermine the structure of monarchy, they
isolated themselves from the world. They did not bother about
acquiring new skills such as mathematics, science, physics and
modern warfare, concentrating only on Confucian ideas. The scholars
spent their time composing poems instead of spearheading scientific
discoveries. Meanwhile, Prince Canh, Nguyen Anh's eldest son accompanied
the Bishop of Adran to France. The Prince was educated at a missionary
school in Malacca and converted to Catholicism. This made Canh
the first Viet prince to be educated under Western ideas and teachers.
Soon after Gia Long's death, a successor was sought.
The French faction preferred Canh as he would bring modernisation
to the country. However, the Chinese faction backed Canh's younger
brother, Prince Mien Tong. Canh reportedly died of measles at
the age of 21. The Chinese faction won and with the crowning of
Mien Tong, the French-Chinese divide ended. Most of Prince's Canh's
followers were either executed or demoted.
In 1858, France started their plans of invading
Vietnam. With the poor economy and a outdated army, the Nguyen
Dynasty could not resist against the French military force and
had to make a number of concessions one after another. In 1861,
the French took Saigon. Six years later, the entire southern part
of the country was renamed Cochin China, annexed as a French colony.
The French extended their influence to the north in 1883. The
centre of Viet Nam was renamed Annam and the north or Tokin, became
French protectorates.
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