Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh), formerly Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài G̣n), is the largest city in Vietnam. It is situated on the western bank of the Saigon River.
Emperor Bao Dai set up Saigon as his capital in 1950. South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam), under President Ngo Dinh Diem, was established in 1954 retaining Saigon as capital.
In 1975, forces from North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and their allies in the Viet Cong overran the city. Some Americans refer this event as the Fall of Saigon, while some Vietnamese refer to it as the Liberation of Saigon.
The victorious Communists then renamed the city after the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh. The former name Saigon is still used by many of the city's inhabitants. Officially, the term Saigon refers only to District One of Ho Chi Minh City.
