Hue is located in Thua Thien prefecture and is in the central part of Vietnam.
Located 660 km from Ha Noi and 1080 km from Saigon, Hue has always been
considered the fulcrum of Vietnam's two rice baskets, the Red river delta and
the Mekong delta. Hue became the name of Vietnam's most well known ancient
capital because of the local mispronunciation of the word Hoá in Thuâ.n Hoá.
Since the 16th century, Thuan Hoa, due to its strategic location, has been a very prosperous area. The Nguyen Lord chose this area to be their headquarters. Nguyen Anh made it Vietnam's capital city in 1802 after he defeated the Tay Son and ascended to the throne with the name Gia Long. King Gia Long (1762-1819) was credited for building and fortifying Hue from the very beginning. Since then, successive king of the Nguyen Dynasty has added to the foundation set by his predecessors.
