List of monarchs of Vietnam in the context of Minh Mạng

Fu (Chinese: 府; pinyin: fǔ) is a traditional administrative division of Chinese origin used in the East Asian cultural sphere, translated variously as commandery, prefecture, urban prefecture, or city. They were first instituted as a regular form of administrative division of China's Tang Empire, but were later adopted in Vietnam, Japan and Korea. At present, only two fu still remain: the prefectures of Kyoto and Osaka in Japan.

The term fu is currently also used in Chinese to translate the provinces of Thailand, but not those of mainland China, Taiwan or other countries.

Temple names are posthumous titles accorded to monarchs of the Sinosphere for the purpose of ancestor worship. The practice of honoring monarchs with temple names began during the Shang dynasty in China and had since been adopted by other dynastic regimes in the Sinosphere, with the notable exception of Japan. Temple names should not be confused with era names (年號), regnal names (尊號) or posthumous names (謚號).

Modern academia usually refers to the following rulers by their temple names: Chinese monarchs from the Tang to the Yuan dynasties, Korean rulers of the Goryeo (until AD 1274) and Joseon dynasties, and Vietnamese rulers of the Lý, Trần, and Later Lê dynasties (with the Hồ and Later Trần dynasties as exceptions).

Bảo Đại (Vietnamese: [ɓa᷉ːw ɗâːjˀ], chữ Hán: 保大, lit. "keeper of greatness", 22 October 1913 – 31 July 1997), born Nguyễn Phúc (Phước) Vĩnh Thụy (chữ Hán: 阮福永瑞), was the 13th and final emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last ruling dynasty of Vietnam. From 1926 to 1945, he was de jure emperor of Annam and Tonkin, which were then protectorates in French Indochina, covering the present-day central and northern Vietnam. Bảo Đại ascended the throne in 1932.

The Japanese ousted the Vichy French administration in March 1945 and ruled through Bảo Đại, who proclaimed the Empire of Vietnam. He abdicated in August 1945 after Japan surrendered.

The Treaty of Huế or Protectorate Treaty (Vietnamese: Hòa ước Giáp Thân 1884, or Hòa ước Patenotre, or Hòa ước Patơnốt) was concluded on 6 June 1884 between France and Đại Nam (Vietnam/Nguyễn dynasty). It restated the main tenets of the punitive Harmand Treaty of 25 August 1883, but softened some of the harsher provisions of this treaty. The treaty created the protectorates of Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (northern Vietnam). It formed the basis of French colonial rule in Vietnam during the next seven decades and was negotiated by Jules Patenôtre, France's minister to China; it is often known as the Patenôtre Treaty. The treaty was signed on the Vietnamese side by Phạm Thận Duật and Tôn Thất Phan, representatives of the emperor Tự Đức’s court. The treaty marked the Nguyễn dynasty's second acceptance of French protectorate in central and northern Vietnam, but it was canceled when the Élysée Accords was signed on 8 March 1949.

Despite the government of the Nguyễn dynasty canceling the treaty with the Japanese help in 1945, the French didn't recognise the end of the protectorates until the signing of the Élysée Accords on 8 March 1949. The treaty officially transferred sovereignty over Vietnam to former emperor Bảo Đại and the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam. The treaty also recognized Vietnamese sovereignty over Cochinchina in the South, which would return to Vietnam on June 4. The formal end of the Patenôtre Treaty was proclaimed during a ceremony at the Saigon-Cholon City Hall attended by the high commissioner of French Indochina Léon Pignon, Chief of State Emperor Bảo Đại, and delegates of the government of the State of Vietnam. During this ceremony Pignon officially renounced French sovereignty over Vietnam and recognised the independence of Vietnam, as an associated state within the French Union on June 14. The treaty led to the establishment of the State of Vietnam and would be completed on 2 February 1950.

The mianguan (Chinese: 冕冠; pinyin: miǎnguān; lit. 'ceremonial headdress'), also called benkan in Japan, myeonlyugwan in Korea, and Miện quan in Vietnam, is a type of crown traditionally worn by the emperors of China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, as well as other kings in East Asia.

Originating in China, the mianguan was worn by the emperor, his ministers, and aristocrats. The mianguan was the most expensive Chinese headware, reserved for important sacrificial events. Regulations on its shape and its making were issued under the Eastern Han dynasty and applied in the succeeding dynasties only to be ended at the fall of the Ming dynasty in the 16th century AD.

The Elysée Accords were an agreement signed at the Élysée Palace on 8 March 1949 by ex-emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, Bảo Đại, which gave the State of Vietnam greater independence from France within the French Union.

The Accords received final ratification by the French National Assembly on 29 January 1950, and were signed by French President Vincent Auriol on 2 February. The agreement was intended to increase U.S. support for France's actions in Indochina as well as to convince Bảo Đại that France would give Vietnam greater independence. The accords stated that Vietnam could conduct its own foreign affairs, control its finances and have an army; although, the agreements fell short of granting complete independence.