Vietnam

The name of a country on the Indochina Peninsula. The successive dynasties of Vietnam, which gained independence from China in the 10th century, called the country in Chinese characters as Dai Viet or Dai Viet, but for a long time the Chinese called it Annam, its former name from the colonial period. However, after unifying the country that had been in the midst of civil war, Nguyen Phuoc Anh, the founder of the Nguyen Dynasty, asked the Qing Dynasty to grant him a fief and change the country's name to Nan Viet. The Qing Emperor Jiaqing did not allow this, and in 1804 brought a seal and fief Nguyen Phuoc Anh as King of Vietnam, so the Nguyen Dynasty changed the country's name to Vietnam, which is pronounced as Vietnam in Chinese characters, and later called it Dai Nam, an abbreviation of Dai Viet Nam. During the French colonial period, the kingdom was called Annam, but after independence following the socialist revolution in 1945, the country was called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam again, using the pronunciation of Viet Nam, and in 1976 this was changed to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

[Kunie Kawamoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

インドシナ半島の国名。10世紀に中国から独立したベトナムの歴代王朝は国名を漢字で大瞿越(だいくえつ)、大越などと称したが、中国人からは長い間、属領時代の旧称「安南」でよばれていた。しかし阮(げん)朝（グエン朝）の創始者阮福映（グエン・フク・アイン）は、内乱の続いた国内を統一したのち、清(しん)朝に封(ほう)を請い国号を南越に改めることを求めた。清の嘉慶(かけい)帝はこれを許さず、1804年に封冊をもたらして阮福映を越南国王に封じたため、阮朝は国号を字音でベトナムと読む越南に改め、のちには大越南を略した大南を称した。フランス領時代にはその王国がアンナンとよばれたが、1945年の社会主義革命による独立後はふたたび越南の字音を国号としてベトナム民主共和国といい、76年にこれをベトナム社会主義共和国に改めた。

［川本邦衛］

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