Hà Tiên
Hà Tiên is a provincial city in An Giang Province, Mekong Delta in Vietnam. Its area is and the population as of 2019 is 81,576. The city borders Cambodia to the west. Hà Tiên is a tourist site of the region thanks to its beaches and landscapes.
Etymology
The name "Hà Tiên" is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese word: 河僊 or 河仙, meaning "river spirit".History
A settlement and a port seem to have existed at the site of the present town of Hà Tiên from a very early period. Ptolemy's Geography identified a town there as Akadra and that it was the port for the Cambodian district of Pithonobaste - Banteay Meas, all this being part of the Kingdom of Funan. The local capital of this district, also called Banteay Meas, was not on the coast, but located about a day's journey up the Giang-thành river. The name Banteay Meas,, referred to the bamboo fortifications once used about the town. The town of Hà Tiên was originally known under the Khmer, name of Piem or Peam, the Khmer for "port", "harbour" or "river mouth", while the Vietnamese called it Mang-Kham, from the Vietnamese term for the Khmers, "mang". It was through this port that Buddhism is said to have reached Cambodia, brought there by chance when a ship carrying Buddhaghosa was blown there by a storm in 415 AD.Many works incorrectly referred to Hà-Tiên as “Panthaimas", the early name of the district in which it was located. It was variously spelled as Panday-mas, Ponteamass, Phutthaimat or Banthaimat, Ponthiamas or Pontheaymas, Pontiano, Panthai-mas, Bantaimas, Pontiamas, Pontaimas, Bantay-mas, Banteay M’eas, Pontiamas, Pontiamasse, Po-taimat, and infinite other variations.
Hà Tiên was established by a small group of Chinese people, mostly men who supported the Ming Dynasty and were opposed to the Qing Dynasty, led by Mo Jiu. When they arrived in Đàng Trong, the Nguyễn lords ordered the king of Cambodia to grant land to these Chinese people. These people built markets in this place and turned it into a busy business town. Vietnamese people gradually arrived there. This town later was merged into Vietnamese territory when Mo Jiu delivered its sovereignty to the Nguyễn Lords. Mo Jiu was then conferred the position of ruler of this town. It was at this time that the name Hà Tiên, referring to the guardian deity of the Giang-thành river, was conferred on the town by the lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu.