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.
