View source for Minh Mạng

{{Short description|Second emperor of the Vietnamese Nguyễn dynasty in the 19th century}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{for|the district of Shanghai|Minhang District}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Emperor Minh Mạng<br />明命帝
| image        = Minh Mang.gif
| caption      = Portrait of Minh Mạng by [[John Crawfurd]], 1822.
| father       = [[Gia Long]]
| mother       = Empress [[Thuận Thiên (Nguyễn dynasty empress)|Thuận Thiên]]
| birth_name   = Nguyễn Phúc Đảm
| birth_date   = {{birth date|1791|5|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Gia Định]], [[Việt Nam]]
| death_date   = {{death date and age |1841|01|20|1791|05|25|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Imperial City, Huế]]
| place of burial = 20 August 1841 - Hiếu Lăng, [[Imperial City, Huế]]
| full name    = Nguyễn Phúc Đảm ({{linktext|阮|福|膽}}) <br /> Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu ({{linktext|阮|福|晈}})
| succession   = [[List of Vietnamese monarchs|Emperor of Việt Nam]]
| reign        = 14 February 1820 – 15 February 1839
| predecessor  = [[Gia Long]]
| successor    = ''Việt Nam renamed to Đại Nam''
| succession1  = [[List of Vietnamese monarchs|Emperor of Đại Nam]]
| reign1       = 15 February 1839 – 20 January 1841
| predecessor1 = ''Việt Nam renamed to Đại Nam''
| successor1   = [[Thiệu Trị]]
| succession2  = [[List of Vietnamese monarchs|Emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty]]
| reign2       = 14 February 1820 – 20 January 1841
| predecessor2 = [[Gia Long]]
| successor2   = [[Thiệu Trị]]
| house        = [[House of Nguyễn Phúc|Nguyễn Phúc]]
| era name     = Minh Mạng ({{linktext|明|命}})
| era dates    = 1820–1841
| temple name  = Thánh Tổ ({{linktext|聖|祖}})
| posthumous name = Thể thiên Xương vận Chí hiếu Thuần đức Văn vũ Minh đoán Sáng thuật Đại thành Hậu trạch Phong công '''Nhân Hoàng đế''' (體天昌運至孝純德文武明斷創述大成厚澤豐功'''仁皇帝''')
| religion     = [[Confucianism]]
| signature    = Personal Flag of Emperor Minh Mang.svg
}}
'''Minh Mạng''' ({{IPA|vi|mïŋ˧ maːŋ˧˨ʔ|label=Hanoi:}}), also known as '''Minh Mệnh''' ({{IPA|vi|mïŋ˧ məjŋ̟˧˨ʔ|label=Hanoi:}}, {{lang-vi-hantu|[[wikt:明|明]] [[wikt:命|命]]}}, lit. "the bright [[Mandate of Heaven|favour of Heaven]]";<ref>Derived from ''[[Book of Documents]]'': "He received (in consequence) the bright favour of Heaven" (受天明命, translated by [[James Legge]])</ref> 25 May 1791&nbsp;– 20 January 1841; born '''Nguyễn Phúc Đảm''', also known as '''Nguyễn Phúc Kiểu'''), was the second [[List of monarchs of Vietnam|emperor]] of the [[Nguyễn dynasty]] of [[Vietnam]], reigning from 14 February 1820 until his death, on 20 January 1841.<ref>Choi Byung Wook ''Southern Vietnam under the reign of Minh Mệnh (1820–1841)'' 2004</ref> He was the fourth son of Emperor [[Gia Long]], whose eldest son, [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh]], had died in 1801. He was well known for his opposition to French involvement in Vietnam, completing the final Vietnamese conquest of [[Principality of Thuận Thành|Champa]], temporary annexation of [[Tây Thành province|Cambodia]], and his rigid [[Confucianism|Confucian]] [[orthodoxy]].

==Early years==
{{Nguyễn Dynasty monarchs}}
Born Nguyễn Phúc Đảm at [[Ho Chi Minh City|Gia Định]] in the middle of the Second Tây Sơn – Nguyễn War, Minh Mạng was the fourth son of lord [[Nguyễn Phúc Ánh]] – future Emperor Gia Long. His mother was Gia Long's second wife [[Trần Thị Đang]], later known as the empress [[Thuận Thiên (Nguyễn dynasty empress)|Thuận Thiên]]. At the age of three, under the effect of a written agreement made by Gia Long with his first wife the Empress [[Thừa Thiên (empress)|Thừa Thiên]], she took Đảm in and raised him as her own son.<ref name="b">{{in lang|vi}} {{cite book|author=Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn (Nguyễn dynasty National History Office)|year=1997|title= Đại Nam liệt truyện |volume= I|publisher=Thuận Hóa Publishing House}}</ref>
Following Thừa Thiên's death in 1814, it was supposed that her grandson, [[Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh|Crown Prince Cảnh]]'s eldest son [[Nguyễn Phúc Mỹ Đường|Mỹ Đường]], would be responsible for conducting the funeral.  Gia Long however, brought out the agreement to insist that Phúc Đảm, as Thừa Thiên's son, should be the one fulfilling the duty. Despite opposition from mandarins, such as [[Nguyễn Văn Thành]], Gia Long was decisive with his selection.<ref name="a">{{in lang|vi}} {{cite book|author=Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn (Nguyễn dynasty National History Office)|year=2007|title= [[Đại Nam thực lục]] |volume= I|publisher=Publishing House of Education|page=801}}</ref>

In 1816, Gia Long appointed Đảm as his heir apparent. After the ceremony, Crown Prince Đảm moved to Thanh Hòa Palace and started assisting his father in processing documents and discussing country issues.<ref name="c">{{in lang|vi}} {{cite book|author=Quốc sử quán triều Nguyễn|year=2007|title= [[Đại Nam thực lục]]|publisher=Publishing House of Education}}</ref>

Gia Long's death coincided with the re-establishment of the Paris Missionary Society's operations in Vietnam, which had closed in 1792 during the chaos of the power struggle between Gia Long and the Tây Sơn brothers before Vietnam was unified. In the early years of Minh Mạng's government, the most serious challenge came from one of his father's most trusted lieutenants and a national hero in Vietnam, [[Lê Văn Duyệt]], who had led the Nguyễn forces to victory at [[Qui Nhơn]] in 1801 against the [[Tây Sơn dynasty]] and was made regent in the south by Gia Long with full freedom to rule and deal with foreign powers.

==Policy towards missionaries and Christianity==
{{See also|Paris Foreign Missions Society|Vietnamese Martyrs}}

In February 1825, Minh Mạng banned Christian missionaries from entering Vietnam. French vessels entering Vietnamese harbours were ordered to be searched with extra care. All entries were to be watched "lest some masters of the European religion enter furtively, mix with the people and spread darkness in the kingdom." In an imperial edict, Christianity was described as the "perverse European" (practice) and accused of "corrupting the hearts of men".<ref>"Phan Châu Trinh and His Political Writings"  ''Chu Trinh Phan, Sính Vĩnh'' 2009 – Page 3 "Deeply embedded in the East Asian traditional way of thinking, Emperor Minh Mạng saw the West as "barbarian", and thus from his perspective the most effective response was to exclude the West and repress Christianity."</ref>

Between 1833 and 1838, seven missionaries were sentenced to death, amongst them [[Pierre Borie]], [[Joseph Marchand]], and [[Jean-Charles Cornay]]. He first attempted to stifle the spread of Christianity by attempting to isolate Catholic priests and missionaries from the populace. He asserted that he had no French interpreters after Chaigneau's departure and summoned the French clergy to Hue and appointed them as mandarins of high rank to woo them from their proselytising. This worked until a priest, Father Regereau, entered the country and began missionary work. Following the edict which forbade further entry of missionaries into Vietnam, arrests of clerics began. After strong lobbying by [[Lê Văn Duyệt|Duyệt]], the governor of Cochin China, and a close confidant of Gia Long and [[Pigneau de Behaine]], Minh Mạng agreed to release the priests on the condition that they congregate at [[Da Nang|Đà Nẵng]] and return to France. Some of them obeyed the orders, but others disobeyed the order upon being released, and returned to their parishes and resumed preaching. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}
<gallery>
File:Martyrdom of Joseph Marchand.jpg|Martyrdom of [[Joseph Marchand]] in 1835.
File:Matyrdom of Saint Pierre Borie 1838 Vietnam.jpg|Martyrdom of [[Pierre Borie]] on 24 November 1838.
File:Jean-Charles Cornay.jpg|Martyrdom of [[Jean-Charles Cornay]], 1837.
File:Vietnam martyrs Paul Mi Pierre Duong Pierre Truat 18 December 1838.jpg|Martyrdom of Paul Mi, Pierre Duong and Pierre Truat on 18 December 1838.
File:Arrest of three martyrs, Ninh Bình, trial.png|Painting depicts the trial of three Catholics in [[Ninh Bình]] in 1838, where they were forced to step on the cross.
</gallery>

==Isolationist foreign policy==
[[File:D-dao-duc-chuong-van-dung-nhan-ngay-cu-lich-su.jpg|thumb|right|Letter of The US president [[Andrew Jackson]] to emperor Minh Mạng for requesting of diplomatic relationship establishment in 1832]]
Minh Mạng continued and intensified his father's isolationist and conservative Confucian policies. At the start of his rule, Vietnam was of no interest to the European powers, since most of the continent was engaged in the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Nevertheless, Napoleon had seen it as a strategically important objective in the Anglo-French power struggle in Asia, as he felt that it would make an ideal base from which to contest the [[East India Company]]'s [[Company rule in India|foothold]] in the [[Indian subcontinent]]. With the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and the final exile of Napoleon in 1815, the military scene in Europe quieted and French interest in Vietnam was revived. [[Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau]], one of the volunteers of [[Pigneau de Behaine]] who had helped Gia Long in his quest for power, had become a mandarin and continued to serve Minh Mạng, upon whose ascension, Chaigneau and his colleagues were treated more distantly. He eventually left in November 1824. In 1825, he was appointed as French consul to Vietnam after returning to his homeland to visit his family after more than a quarter of a century in Asia. Upon his return, Minh Mạng received him coldly. The policy of isolationism soon saw Vietnam fall further behind the pace of technology and become more vulnerable to outside encroachment as political stability returned to continental Europe, allowing European powers free hand to once again direct their attention towards increasing their influence in Asia. With his Confucian orthodoxy, Minh Mạng shunned all Western influence and ideas as hostile and avoided all contact. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

In 1819, [[Lieutenant]] John White of the [[United States Navy]] was the first American to make contact with Vietnam, arriving in [[Saigon]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nadel|first1=Ira Bruce|last2=White|first2=John|date=April 1976|title=A Voyage to Cochin China|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=96|issue=2|pages=347|doi=10.2307/599872|jstor=599872|issn=0003-0279}}</ref> Minh Mạng was willing to sign a contract, but only to purchase artillery, firearms, uniforms and books. White was of the opinion that the deal was not sufficiently advantageous and nothing was implemented. In 1821, a trade agreement from [[Louis XVIII]] was turned away, with Minh Mạng indicating that no special deal would be offered to any country. That same year, East India Company agent [[John Crawfurd]] made another attempt at contact, but was allowed to disembark only in the northern ports of [[Tonkin]]; he gained no agreements, but concluded relations with France posed no threat to Company trade.<ref name = "Crawfurd">{{cite book
|last= Crawfurd |first= John |author-link= John Crawfurd
|title= Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-general of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=sAUPAAAAYAAJ |volume= 1 |date= 21 August 2006 |orig-year= First published 1830 |publisher= H. Colburn and R. Bentley |location= London |oclc= 03452414 |pages= 473–4  |no-pp= <!-- 0 hides automatic 'p' or 'pp'.-->  |access-date= 2 February 2012 |edition= 2nd }} [https://archive.org/details/journalanembass04crawgoog Alt URL]</ref> In 1822, the French frigate ''La Cleopatre'' visited Tourane (present day [[Da Nang|Đà Nẵng]]). Her captain was to pay his respects to Minh Mạng, but was greeted with a symbolic dispatch of troops as though an invasion had been expected. In 1824 Minh Mạng rejected the offer of an alliance from Burma against Siam, a common enemy of both countries.  In 1824 Henri Baron de Bougainville was sent by [[Louis XVIII]] to Vietnam with the stated mission "of peace and protection of commerce. Upon arriving in [[Tourane]] in 1825, it was not allowed ashore. The royal message was turned away on the pretext that there was nobody able to translate it. It was assumed that the snub was related to an attempt by Bougainville to smuggle ashore a Catholic missionary from the [[Paris Foreign Missions Society|Missions étrangères de Paris]]. [[Jean-Baptiste Chaigneau]]'s nephew, Eugène Chaigneau, was sent to Vietnam in 1826 as the intended consul but was forced to leave the country without taking up his position.

Further fruitless attempts to start a commercial deal were led by de Kergariou in 1827 and Admiral Laplace in 1831. Another effort by Chaigneau in 1829 also failed. In 1831 another French envoy was turned away. Vietnam under Minh Mạng was the first East Asian country with whom the United States sought foreign relations. President [[Andrew Jackson]] tried twice to contact Minh Mạng, sending [[Edmund Roberts (diplomat)|Edmund Roberts]] in 1832, and Consul [[Joseph Balestier]] in 1836, to no avail. In 1837 and 1838, ''La bonite'' and ''L'Artémise'' were ordered to land in Tourane to attempt to gauge the situation in Vietnam with respect to missionary work. Both were met with hostility and communication was prevented. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Later, in 1833 and 1834, [[Siamese–Vietnamese War (1831–34)|a war with Siam]] was fought over control of [[Cambodia]] which for the preceding century had been reduced to impotence and had fallen under the control of its two neighbours.

In 1824, a Burmese envoy dispatched by the Burmese king, presenting a proposal of a Burmese–Vietnamese alliance against Siam, which was immediately declined by Minh Mang. Minh Mang saw a risky war against Siam, the former ally, might have jeopardized Vietnamese hegemony in Cambodia, which had been acquired by his father Gia Long. Second, he had carefully watched the British seizure of Singapore in 1819 and who were waging war in Burma, thus he saw Britain as the new rising threat, and urged that the Chakri dynasty of Siam should focus alongside Burma in their struggle against the British expansion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ngaosyvathn |first=Mayoury |author2=Pheuiphanh Ngaosyvathn |year=1998 |title=Paths to Conflagration: Fifty Years of Diplomacy and Warfare in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, 1778–1828 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-87727-723-0|pages=98–99}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Goscha|first=Christopher|author-link=Christopher Goscha|year=2016|title=Vietnam: A New History|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-46509-436-3|pages=50–51}}</ref>

After Vietnam under Gia Long gained control over Cambodia in the early 19th century, a Vietnamese-approved monarch was installed. Minh Mạng was forced to put down a Siamese attempt to regain control of the vassal, as well as an invasion of southern Vietnam which coincided with rebellion by [[Lê Văn Khôi]]. The Siamese planned the invasion to coincide with the rebellion, putting enormous strain on the Nguyễn armies. Eventually, Minh Mạng's forces were able to repel the invasion, as well as the revolt in Saigon, and he reacted to Western encroachment by blaming Christianity and showing hostility, leading to the European powers' asserting that intervention was needed to protect their missionaries. This resulted in missed opportunities to avert the colonisation of Vietnam through having friendly relations, since strong opposition was raised in France against an invasion, due to the costs of such a venture. After the outbreak of the [[First Opium War]] in 1839, Minh Mạng attempted to build an alliance with European powers by sending a delegation of two lower rank mandarins and two interpreters in 1840. They were received in Paris by [[Prime Minister of France|Prime Minister]] [[Marshal Soult]] and the Commerce Minister, but they were shunned by King [[Louis-Philippe]]. This came after the [[Paris Foreign Missions Society|Society of Foreign Missions]] and the [[Holy See]] had urged a rebuke for an "enemy of the religion". The delegation went on to London, with no success. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

==Domestic program==
The beginning of Minh Mang rule over Vietnam was vastly unsettling. Vietnam was divided into autonomous domains governed independently by Viceroys under Gia Long. The [[1817–1824 cholera pandemic|first cholera pandemic]] reached Vietnam in summer 1820 removed 206,835 tax payers from royal tax registers,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nguyen |first1=Duy Thien |title=Migration and Change in the Way of Life: An Anthropological Introduction to the Vietnamese Community in Laos |date=2008 |publisher=Thế Giới Publishers|location=University of Michigan |pages=45}}</ref> while political scientist Samuel Popkin suggested that around one million people might have been perished due to the disease, out of Vietnam's total population of around eight million.<ref>{{cite book |last=Popkin |first=Samuel L. |title=The Rational Peasant:the Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam |year=1979|page=113}}</ref>

On the domestic front, Minh Mạng continued his father's national policies of reorganising the administrative structure of the government. These included the construction of highways, a postal service, public storehouses for food, monetary and agrarian reforms. He continued to redistribute land periodically and forbade all other sales of land to prevent wealthy citizens from reacquiring excessive amounts of land with their money. In 1840 it was decreed that rich landowners had to return a third of their holdings to the community. Calls for basic industrialisation and diversification of the economy into fields such as mining and forestry were ignored. He further centralised the administration, introduced the definition of three levels of performance in the triennial examinations for recruiting mandarins. In 1839, Minh Mạng introduced a program of salaries and pensions for princes and mandarins to replace the traditional assignment of fief estates. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

Diseases, disasters and rebellions against oppression and misery were very frequent, undermining the king's strength. Vietnam was at its low point of coherence in history. About 200 rebellions were recorded during his twenty-year reign.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kleinen|first1=John|title=Facing the Future, Reviving the Past: A Study of Social Change in a Northern Vietnamese Village|date=1999 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|page=25}}</ref>

<gallery>
File:Thân Văn Nhiếp (1804 - 1872).jpg|[[Thân Văn Nhiếp]], [[Sinology|Sinologist]] and Law prosecutor in the Ming Mạng's reign
File:Deputy Governor of Kamboja in his dress of ceremony by John Crawfurd book Published by H Colburn London 1828.jpg|[[Trương Tấn Bửu]] the Viceroy  of [[Hanoi]] in 1802 and vieroy of [[Gia Định]] in 1823 under [[Gia Long]] and Minh Mạng's reigns respectively

</gallery>

===Conquests and ethnic minority policy===
[[File:Maps of Vietnam during the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng (1820-1841).png|thumb|Map of the extent of the Vietnamese empire's power under Minh Mạng's rule]]
Despite ongoing intra-turmoil, Minh Mang exhibited his admiring to Confucian rule and classical Chinese culture, while imposing ethnic assimilation at home<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Marrison|first=G. E.|author-mask=|date=1985|title=The Cham and their literature|journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society|volume=58|issue=2|pages=45–70|doi=|s2cid=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia |last=Scott |first=James C. |author-link=James C. Scott |series=Yale Agrarian Studies |year=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven & London|isbn=978-0-300-15228-9|page=117}}</ref> and pursuing territorial expansion and interference in neighboring Laos. Minh Mang put his support to [[Kingdom of Vientiane|Vientiane]]'s king [[Anouvong|Chao Anou]], his close ally, to wage [[Lao rebellion (1826–1828)|war]] against [[Rattanakosin Kingdom (1782–1932)|Siam]]. But the outcome did not go for their plan. Anou was defeated and then was detaining to the Siamese in late 1828 by [[Nôy|Chao Noi]], ruler of [[Muang Phuan]], also a tributary of Minh Mang.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ngaosyvathn |first=Mayoury |author2=Pheuiphanh Ngaosyvathn |year=1998 |title=Paths to Conflagration: Fifty Years of Diplomacy and Warfare in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, 1778–1828 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=0-87727-723-0|page=235}}</ref> Chao Noi was arrested by the Vietnamese for betraying, then being executed in Hue by Minh Mang. Muang Phuan was annexed into Vietnam in 1832 as Tran Ninh prefecture.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dommen|first=Arthur J. |title=Laos: Keystone of Indochina|year=1985|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-42972-580-7}}</ref>

Minh Mạng enacted the final conquest of the [[Champa]] Kingdom after the [[History of the Cham–Vietnamese wars|centuries long Cham–Vietnamese wars]]. He aggressively repressed culture of the Cham and indigenous highland peoples. The [[Chams|Cham]] Muslim leader [[Katip Sumat]] was educated in [[Kelantan]] and came back to [[Champa]] to declare a [[Jihad]] against the Vietnamese after Emperor Minh Mạng's annexation of Champa.<ref name="Hubert2012">{{cite book|author=Jean-François Hubert|title=The Art of Champa|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3oMqrqSp1W4C&pg=PA25|year=2012|publisher=Parkstone International|isbn=978-1-78042-964-9|pages=25–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=The Raja Praong Ritual: A Memory of the Sea in Cham–Malay Relations |url=http://chamunesco.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110:the-raja-praong-ritual-a-memory-of-the-sea-in-cham-malay-relations&catid=45:van-hoa&Itemid=120 |website=Cham Unesco |access-date=25 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206042152/http://chamunesco.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=110%3Athe-raja-praong-ritual-a-memory-of-the-sea-in-cham-malay-relations&catid=45%3Avan-hoa&Itemid=120 |archive-date=6 February 2015 }}</ref><ref>(Extracted from Truong Van Mon, "The Raja Praong Ritual: a Memory of the sea in Cham- Malay Relations", in ''Memory And Knowledge Of The Sea In South Asia'', Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences, University of Malaya, Monograph Series 3, pp, 97–111. International Seminar on Maritime Culture and Geopolitics & Workshop on Bajau Laut Music and Dance", Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Malaya, 23–24/2008)</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Dharma|first1=Po|title=The Uprisings of Katip Sumat and Ja Thak Wa (1833–1835)|url=http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/78-the-uprisings-of-katip-sumat-and-ja-thak-wa-1833-1835|website=Cham Today|access-date=25 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626122653/http://www.chamtoday.com/index.php/history-l-ch-s/78-the-uprisings-of-katip-sumat-and-ja-thak-wa-1833-1835|archive-date=26 June 2015}}</ref> The Vietnamese coercively fed lizard and pig meat to Cham Muslims and cow meat to Cham Hindus against their will to punish them and assimilate them to Vietnamese culture.<ref name="Wook2004 p141">{{cite book|author=Choi Byung Wook|title=Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820–1841): Central Policies and Local Response|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=foZAdRgB-nwC&pg=PA141|year=2004|publisher=SEAP Publications|isbn=978-0-87727-138-3|pages=141–}}</ref>

The Chinese or Hoa particularly concentrated in urbanized areas such as Saigon, Cho Lon, and Hanoi. They organized themselves into ''bang'' or  'congregations.' Two groups of Chinese that people tended to distinct, known as ''[[Minh Hương]]'' and ''Thanh nhân.'' The Minh hương were South Chinese refugees of the Ming dynasty that had migrated and settled down in South Vietnam earlier during the 17th century, who married with Cambodian women, had been substantially assimilated to local Vietnamese and Khmer populaces, and loyal to the Nguyen, compared to the Thanh nhân, Chinese immigrants of the Qing dynasty that recently arrived in Southern Vietnam, who dominated the [[grain trade]]. During the reign of Minh Mạng, a restriction against the Thanh nhân was issued in 1827, which prohibits the Thanh nhân access to the state bureaucracy, rice monopoly and foreign trade. Their alternate option was having themselves to be adjusted and integrated into Vietnamese society like the Minh Hương.<ref>{{citation|surname1=Choi|given1=Byung Wook| author-mask=|chapter=The Nguyen dynasty's policy toward Chinese on the Water Frontier in the first half of the Nineteenth Century|pages = 85–99|title=The Water Frontier|editor-given1=Cooke|editor-surname1=Nola|publisher=Singapore University Press|year=2004}}</ref>

Minh Mang sent troops to crushed a [[Cambodian rebellion (1820)|rebellion]] in Cambodia in 1820, then incorporated Cambodia into Vietnam in 1834 as the new [[Tây Thành province]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Chandler|first=David|author-link=David P. Chandler|year=2018|orig-year =1986|title=A History of Cambodia|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-429-97514-1|pages=146–149}}</ref> Since then, until his death, Minh Mang had been trying to force the Cambodians to adopt Vietnamese culture by the cultural assimilation progress of what historian [[David P. Chandler]] dubbed ''The Vietnamization of Cambodia.''<ref>{{cite book|last=Chandler|first=David|author-link=David P. Chandler|year=2018|orig-year =1986|title=A History of Cambodia|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-429-97514-1|pages=150–156}}</ref> Siamese accounts describe that Khmer nobles in [[Phnom Penh]] was forced to dress like Vietnamese, abide to Vietnamese laws, and were called "the new Yuon (Viet)". Cambodian revolts were put down brutally. [[Douglas Johnson (historian)|Douglas Johnson]] recalled year 1836 as the momentum marked the greatest territorial extent of the Vietnamese empire, also high point of its stability which most revolts in Minh Mang's realm had been suppressed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Douglas|year=1971|title=The Making of the Modern World: The world of empires|publisher=Benn|page=270}}</ref> However, continuous uprisings in Cambodia, Tonkin, and wars with Siam put Minh Mang's expansion to an query, as all sides became exhausted.

===Rebellions===
{{main|Lê Văn Khôi revolt}}
Minh Mạng was regarded as being in touch with the concerns of the populace. Frequent local rebellions reminded him of their plight. Descendants of the old [[Lê dynasty]] fomented dissent in the north, appealing not only to the peasantry but to the Catholic minority. They attempted to enlist foreign help by promising to open up to missionaries. Local leaders in the south were upset with the loss of the relative political autonomy they enjoyed under Duyệt. With Duyệt's death in 1832, a strong defender of Christianity passed. Catholics had traditionally been inclined to side with rebel movements against the monarchy more than most Vietnamese and this erupted after Duyệt's death. Minh Mạng ordered Duyệt posthumously indicted and one hundred lashes were applied to his grave. This caused indignation against southerners who respected Duyệt. In July 1833, [[Lê Văn Khôi revolt|a revolt]] broke out under the leadership of his adopted son, Lê Văn Khôi. Historical opinion is divided with scholars contesting whether the grave desecration or the loss of southern autonomy after Duyệt's death was the main catalyst. Khôi's rebels brought Cochinchina under their control and proposed to replace Minh Mạng with a son of Prince Cảnh. Khôi took into hostage French missionary [[Joseph Marchand]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archives.mepasie.org/notices/notices-biographiques/marchand|title=Joseph Marchand: Biography (MEP)}}</ref> within the citadel, thinking that his presence would win over Catholic support. Khôi enlisted Siamese support, which was forthcoming and helped put Minh Mạng on the defense for a period.

Eventually, however, the Siamese were defeated and the south was recaptured by royalist forces, who besieged Saigon. Khôi died during the siege in December 1834 and Saigon fell nine months later in September 1835 and the rebel commanders put to death. In all the estimates of the captured rebels was put between 500 and 2000, who were executed. The missionaries were rounded up and ordered out of the country. The first French missionary executed was Gagelin in October 1833, the second was Marchand, who was put to death along with the other leaders of the Saigon citadel which surrendered in September 1835. From then until 1838 five more missionaries were put to death. The missionaries began seeking protection from their home countries and the use of force against Asians.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

Minh Mạng pursued a policy of cultural assimilation of non-Viet ethnic groups which from 1841, through 1845, led to southern Vietnam experiencing a series of ethnic revolts.<ref>Choi Byung Wook ''Southern Vietnam Under the Reign of Minh Mạng (1820–1841)'' 2004  p. 151 "Insurrections – The court's radical assimilation policy led to an outbreak of resistance by non-Viet ethnic groups in southern Vietnam. Towards the end of Minh Mạng's reign in 1841, through 1845, southern Vietnam was swept by a series of ..."</ref>

==Ruling style==
[[Image:Philong Minh Mang CdM.jpg|thumb|right|Coin bearing the flying dragon (''phi long'') issued by Minh Mạng, 1833]]
[[File:Minh Mạng thông bảo, 1820-1840 AD - Museum of Vietnamese History - Ho Chi Minh City - DSC05936.JPG|thumb|left|220 px|Coin bearing the flying dragon (''phi long'') issued by Minh Mạng, 1833]]

Minh Mạng was known for his firmness of character, which guided his instincts in his policy making. This accentuated his unwillingness to break with orthodoxy in dealing with Vietnam's problems. His biographer, Marcel Gaultier, asserted that Minh Mạng had expressed his opinions about national policy before Gia Long's death, proposing a policy of greater isolationism and shunning Westerners, and that Long tacitly approved of this. Minh Mạng was regarded as more nuanced and gentle than his father, with less forced labour and an increased perceptiveness towards the sentiment of the peasantry.
[[File:Minh Mạng mausoleum.jpg|thumb|Minh Mạng mausoleum, [[Hue]].|alt=]]
[[File:Lăng Minh Mạng-022.JPG|thumb|right|Burial of Minh Mạng inside]]
[[File:Imperial Tomb of Emperor Minh Mang (12088469713).jpg|thumb|right|Tomb of Minh Mạng.]]

Although he disagreed with European culture and thinking, he studied it closely and was known for his scholarly nature. Ming Mạng was keen in Western technologies, namely mechanics, weaponry and navigation which he attempted to introduce into Vietnam. Upon hearing of the vaccination against [[smallpox]], he organised for a French surgeon to live in a palatial residence and vaccinate the royal family against the disease. He was learnèd in [[Eastern philosophy]] and was regarded as an intellectually oriented monarch.  He was also known for his writings as a poet. He was known for his attention to detail and [[micromanagement]] of state affairs, to a level that "astonished his contemporaries". As a result, he was held in high regard for his devotion to running the country. When Minh Mạng died, he left the throne to his son, Emperor [[Thiệu Trị]], who was more rigidly Confucianist and anti-imperialist than his father. During Thiệu Trị's reign, diplomatic standoffs precipitated by aspiring European imperial powers on the pretext of the "treatment" of Catholic priests gave them an excuse to use [[gunboat diplomacy]] on Vietnam, and led to increasing raids and the eventual colonisation of Vietnam by France. Nevertheless, during his reign, Minh Mạng had established a more efficient government, stopped a Siamese invasion and built many national monuments in the imperial city of [[Hue (city)|Huế]]. {{Citation needed|date=March 2012}}

==Family and succession==
{{wikisourcelang|vi|Đế hệ thi}}
Minh Mạng had a large number of wives and concubines. He is reported to have fathered 142 children from 43 wives.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://chuatriyeusinhly.kiti.vn/p/tan-man-ve-ong-vua-co-nhieu-con-nhat-trong-lich-su-viet-nam.htm |title=Tản Mạn về ông vua có nhiều con nhất trong lịch sử Việt Nam |website=chuatriyeusinhly.kiti.vn |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150516014036/http://chuatriyeusinhly.kiti.vn/p/tan-man-ve-ong-vua-co-nhieu-con-nhat-trong-lich-su-viet-nam.htm |archive-date=16 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His sons included: Miên Tông (Emperor [[Thiệu Trị]]), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Định|Miên Định]] (Prince of Thọ Xuân), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Thẩm|Miên Thẩm]] (Prince of Tùng Thiện), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Trinh|Miên Trinh]] (Prince of Tuy Lý), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Bửu|Miên Bửu]] (Prince of Tương An), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Lâm|Miên Lâm]] (Prince of Hoài Đức), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Triện|Miên Triện]] (Prince of Hoằng Hóa), [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Lịch|Miên Lịch]] (Yên Thành). Three of his daughters, [[Nguyệt Đình]], [[Mai Am]] and [[Huệ Phố]], were famous poets.

Minh Mạng's sons also had a remarkable number of offspring: [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Định|Prince of Thọ Xuân]] fathered 144 children, including 78 sons and 66 daughters, [[Nguyễn Phúc Miên Trinh|Prince of Tuy Lý]], another son, had 77 sons and 37 daughters. He is succeeded by Emperor [[Thiệu Trị]], who himself fathered 29 princes and 35 princesses.

He decided to name his descendants ([[Nguyễn]] Phước or Nguyễn Phúc: all members of the [[Nguyễn dynasty]]) by choosing the [[Generation name]] following the words of the ''Imperial succession poem'' to avoid confusion. For boys, the following poem is shown in Chữ Quốc Ngữ (modern Vietnamese script) and in [[Chữ Nôm|chữ nôm]]:
{{col-begin|width=60%}}
{{col-2}}
:'''''Đế Hệ Thi'''''<ref name="dehethi-ws">{{cite web | url=http://vi.wikisource.org/wiki/Đế_hệ_thi | title=Đế hệ thi – Wikisource tiếng Việt }}</ref>
:''Miên Hường Ưng Bửu Vĩnh''
:''Bảo Quý Định Long Trường''
:''Hiền Năng Kham Kế Thuật''
:''Thế Thoại Quốc Gia Xương''.
{{col-2}}
:'''帝系詩'''
:綿洪膺寶永
:保貴定隆長
:賢能堪繼述
:世瑞國嘉昌
{{col-end}}

Note: Hường replaced Hồng and Thoại replaced Thụy because it was taboo to use the names of passed emperors or fathers.''

The meaning of each name is roughly given as follows:<ref name="dehethi-ws" />
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Name !! Meaning !! Example of successor
|-
| Miên || respecting above all the rules of life, such as meeting and parting, life and death (''Trường cửu, phước duyên trên hết'') || Miên Tông, [[Thiệu Trị]] Emperor (1807–1847), son of Minh Mạng
|-
| Hường ''(Hồng)'' || building a harmonious family (''Oai hùng, đúc kết thế gia'') || Hồng Nhậm, [[Tự Đức]] Emperor (1829–1883), son of Thiệu Trị
|-
| Ưng || establishing a prosperous country (''Nên danh, xây dựng sơn hà'') || Ưng Thị, [[Đồng Khánh]] Emperor (1864–1889), adopted son of Tự Đức
|-
| Bửu || being helpful and caring toward the common people (''Bối báu, lợi tha quần chúng'') || Bửu Đảo, [[Khải Định]] Emperor (1885–1925), son of Đồng Khánh
|-
| Vĩnh || having a good reputation (''Bền chí, hùng ca anh tụng'') || Vĩnh Thụy, [[Bảo Đại]] Emperor (1913–1997), son of Khải Định
|-
| Bảo || being courageous (''Ôm lòng, khí dũng bình sanh'') || Nguyễn Phước Bảo Ân (1951–), son of Bảo Đại
|-
| Quý || being elegant (''Cao sang, vinh hạnh công thành'') || Nguyễn Phước Quý Khang (1977–), son of Bảo Ân
|-
| Định || being decisive (''Tiền quyết, thi hành oanh liệt'') || Nguyễn Phước Định Lai, Nguyễn Phước Định Luân (2012–), twin sons of Quý Khang
|-
| Long || having a typically royal appearance (''Vương tướng, rồng tiên nối nghiệp'') ||
|-
| Trường || being long-lasting (''Vĩnh cửu, nối tiếp giống nòi'') ||
|-
| Hiền || being humane (''Tài đức, phúc ấm sáng soi'') ||
|-
| Năng || being talented (''Gương nơi khuôn phép bờ cõi'') ||
|-
| Kham || being hard-working and versatile (''Đảm đương, mọi cơ cấu giỏi'') ||
|-
| Kế || being well-organized (''Hoạch sách, mây khói cân phân'') ||
|-
| Thuật || being truthful in speech (''Biên chép, lời đúng ý dân'') ||
|-
| Thế || being faithful to the family (''Mãi thọ, cận thân gia tộc'') ||
|-
| Thoại ''(Thụy)'' || being wealthy (''Ngọc quý, tha hồ phước tộc'') ||
|-
| Quốc || being admired by the citizens (''Dân phục, nằm gốc giang san'') ||
|-
| Gia || being well-established (''Muôn nhà, Nguyễn vẫn huy hoàng'') ||
|-
| Xương || bringing prosperity to the world (''Phồn thịnh, bình an thiên hạ'') ||
|}
Girls receive also a different name on each generation, for example: ''Công-chúa'', ''Công-nữ'', ''Công Tôn-nữ'', ''Công-tằng Tôn-nữ'', ''Công-huyền Tôn-nữ'', ''Lai-huyền Tôn-nữ'', or shorten to ''Tôn-nữ'' for all generations afterward.

== References ==
{{reflist|4}}
{{commons category|Emperor Minh Mạng}}
* {{cite book|title= A History of South-east Asia| first= D. G. E.|last=Hall |location=London| publisher=Macmillan|orig-year=1955 |year=1981|isbn=0-333-24163-0}}
* {{cite book|title= South East Asia: Its historical development| first= John F.|last=Cady | publisher=McGraw Hill|location=New York |orig-year=1964| year=1976|oclc=15002777}}
* {{cite book|title= The Smaller Dragon: A Political History of Vietnam |url= https://archive.org/details/smallerdragonpol00butt |url-access= registration | author-link=Joseph Buttinger| first= Joseph|last=Buttinger | publisher=Praeger |year=1958| oclc=411659}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[Nguyễn dynasty]]|1791|||1841}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Gia Long]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of monarchs of Vietnam|Emperor of Vietnam]]|years=1820–1840}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Thiệu Trị]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Gia Long}}
{{Emperors of Nguyen Dynasty}}
{{Nguyễn dynasty topics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minh Mang}}
[[Category:1791 births]]
[[Category:1841 deaths]]
[[Category:Emperors of Nguyen Vietnam]]
[[Category:Nguyen dynasty emperors]]
[[Category:Vietnamese reformers]]
[[Category:19th-century Vietnamese monarchs]]
[[Category:19th-century regents]]
[[Category:People from Ho Chi Minh City]]