Hanoi ( han-OY; Vietnamese: Hà Nội, pronounced [haː˨˩ noj˧˨ʔ] ) is the capital and second-most populous municipality of Vietnam. It encompasses an area of 3,358.6 km2 (1,296.8 mi2), and as of 2025 has a population of 8,807,523. Hanoi had the second-highest gross regional domestic product of all Vietnamese provinces and municipalities at US$48 billion in 2023, behind Ho Chi Minh City. It hosts 78 foreign embassies, the headquarters of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA), its Vietnam National University system, and other governmental organizations. Hanoi had 18.7 million domestic and international visitors in 2022. It hosts the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hoàn Kiếm Lake, West Lake, and Ba Vì National Park near the outskirts of the municipality. Hanoi's urban area has architectural styles, including French colonial architecture, brutalist apartments and disorganized alleys and tube houses stemming from the city's growth in the 20th century. In 1010, under the Lý dynasty, emperor Lý Thái Tổ established the capital of the imperial nation Đại Việt in what would later become central Hanoi, naming the city Thăng Long ([tʰɐŋ loŋ], 'ascending dragon'). In 1428, king Lê Lợi renamed the city to Đông Kinh ([ɗoŋ kīŋ̟], 'eastern capital'), with the city using this name until 1789. In 1802, the Nguyễn dynasty moved the national capital to Huế and the city was renamed Hanoi in 1831. Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1945 and of the French protectorate of Tonkin from 1883 to 1949. After the August Revolution and the fall of the Nguyễn dynasty, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) designated Hanoi as the capital of the newly independent country. From 1949 to 1954, Hanoi was part of the State of Vietnam. It was again part of the DRV from 1954 to 1976. In 1976, Hanoi became the capital of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. [URL=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=56667]View More On Wikipedia.org[/URL]