Diện Bàn

Diện Bàn lies on the northern side of the Thu Bồn River in the coastal plain of central Vietnam. The fertile plain belonged to a borderland that passed from Cham to Vietnamese rule, and later became a stronghold of the Nguyễn lords. Its position near the river and the port of Hội An placed it at the heart of the southern domain of Quảng Nam.

In 1602 Nguyễn Hoàng established a seat of government for Quảng Nam, later located at Thanh Chiêm in Diện Bàn. Two years later he raised Diện Bàn from a district to a prefecture attached to Quảng Nam. The governor's residence became a political and military centre of the Nguyễn domains, where princes could gain experience before taking power. After the Tây Sơn wars, the Nguyễn dynasty restored the Quảng Nam seat at Thanh Chiêm in the early nineteenth century.

The later city of Da Nang lies here.