Long-standing rivalry between Vietnam’s Nguyen and Trinh…

Long-standing rivalry between Vietnam’s Nguyen and Trinh families had become open warfare in 1620, with hostilities continuing intermittently until 1673.

Both families had accepted a de facto division of the Vietnamese state by that date.

Hien Vuong, a member of the Nguyen family that rules the south, has persecuted European Christian missionaries, expanded the territory under his control, and made notable agricultural reforms.

He has encouraged Vietnamese settlement into southern lands formerly occupied by the Chams and the Cambodians, having acquired these lands at the expense of these groups, but this has been done largely by Chinese refugees fleeing the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644.

He has improved the mandarin examination system by which civil-service posts are filled, and established a bureau of agriculture that urges the colonization and development of the newly conquered territories.

He has promulgated needed land reforms, although they failed to alter significantly the social conditions of his lower-class subjects.

Hien Vuong has sought to secure official recognition of his sovereignty from China, but the Chinese continue to uphold the legitimacy of the northern Trinh family.