HCMC, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam. Under the name Prey Nokor it was the main port of Cambodia, before being annexed by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the independent state of South Vietnam from 1954 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province of Gia Định and was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City (although the name Sài Gòn - formally known as District 1 - is still commonly used.
The city center is situated on the banks of the Saigon River, 60 kilometers (37 mi) from the South China Sea and 1,760 kilometers (1,094 mi) south of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.

The metropolitan area, which consists of Hồ Chí Minh City metro area, Thủ Dầu Một, Di An, Bien Hoa and surrounding towns, is populated by more than 9 million people, making it the most populous metropolitan area in Vietnam and Indochina. The Greater Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, a metropolitan area covering most part of Dong Nam Bo plus Tien Giang and Long An provinces under planning will have an area of 30,000 square kilometers with a population of 20 million inhabitants by 2020.

The General Post Office

Notre Dame in Saigon

French Indochina was the part of the French colonial empire in Indochina in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina, as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893. The capital was moved from Saigon to Hanoi in 1902. During World War II, the colony was administered by Vichy France and was under Japanese occupation. Beginning in 1945, Ho Chi Minh led a communist revolt against French rule known as the French Indochina War. An anti-Communist Vietnamese government led by former Emperor Bao Dai was granted independence in 1949. The term of the last French high commissioner for Indochina, Jean Letourneau, expired in April 1953. Following the Geneva Accord of 1954, Ho's group became the government of North Vietnam, although the Bao Dai government continued to rule in the South.