Huế

Huế, formerly Thừa Thiên Huế province,'''''' is a municipality in central Vietnam, located approximately at the center of the country, and an educational, medical, and cultural hub. It borders Quảng Trị to the north, Đà Nẵng to the south, the Laos provinces of Salavan and Sekong to the west and the South China Sea to the east. As one of the country's six direct-controlled municipalities, Huế falls under the administration of the central government. It has 128 km of coastline, 22,000 ha of lagoons and over 200,000 ha of forest. The city is located in the middle of the North Central and South Central regions (including the South Central Coast and Central Highlands), and is transitional in geology, climate, administrative division, and local culture.

Huế was historically part of Thuận Hóa, a territory ceded by Champa to Đại Việt in 1306 as a wedding dowry. Huế (then known as Phú Xuân) became the provincial capital in 1687, the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775, and the capital of Vietnam under the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the Imperial Citadel and administrative capital of the Nguyễn dynasty, and later also functioned as capital of the protectorate of Annam during the colonial French Indochina period.