Haiphong or Hai Phong (Vietnamese: Hải Phòng, pronounced [hǎːj fɔ̀ŋ͡m] ) is the third-largest city in Vietnam and is the principal port city of the Red River Delta. The municipality has an area of 1,526.52 km (589.39 sq mi). The city includes Bạch Long Vĩ and Cát Hải islands in the Gulf of Tonkin. It has a population of 2,130,898 in 2023. The city's economy has strength in manufacturing, as evidenced by large industrial parks and numerous smaller traditional handicraft villages. Historically, Haiphong was the first place in Vietnam and Mainland Southeast Asia to get electricity.
In the imperial era of Đại Việt, the Bạch Đằng River in Haiphong was a place of many legendary victories, led by now-legendary commanders Ngô Quyền and Trần Hưng Đạo. In the 16th century, Mạc dynasty promoted the coastal settlement as a secondary capital, growing to become an important port town of Đàng Ngoài. After the French conquest of Vietnam, in 1888, the president of the French Third Republic, Sadi Carnot, promulgated a decree to establish Haiphong as one of the principal cities of French Indochina. From 1954 to 1975, Haiphong served as the most important maritime city of North Vietnam. It was one of the directly controlled municipalities of a reunified Vietnam with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in 1976.
