Thanh Hóa

Thanh Hóa lies on the plain of the Mã River, where low hills rise above fertile alluvial land. At Đông Sơn on the river's southern bank, bronze drums and other objects recall a civilisation that flourished in the centuries around the beginning of the Common Era. The Mã and its tributaries join the inland valleys to the coast, making the plain a meeting place of river routes.

In the fifteenth century the Lam Sơn uprising began in the western hills of Thanh Hóa and grew into a campaign against Ming rule. The Lê dynasty founded by Lê Lợi maintained close ties to this homeland. In 1804 the Nguyễn government established a provincial seat at Thanh Hóa, strengthening its role as a centre for the surrounding country. The hills of Hàm Rồng beside the river preserve inscriptions and poems by earlier rulers and scholars, including Nguyễn Trãi and Lê Thánh Tông.