Hue, the ancient imperial city of the Nguyen Kings is located seven miles from the coast on a narrow stretch of land not more than 50 miles wide in Binh Tri Thien Province, which shares a border with Laos in the West.
The Nguyen Lords administered the whole region with the agreement of the Trinh Lords.
In the beginning everything went more or less smoothly, but rivalry flared up as the
territory was extended southwards and bloody battles broke out between the two rival
families. Eventually the Nguyen family gained the upper and hence Hue became a new
Kingdom, independent of the North under the reign of Lord Vu Vuong.
Hue can be depicted as the most vibrant of Vietnam's natural architecture (with no influence from the French) as it sits beside the Song Huong (River of Perfume). Always an important cultural, intellectual and historical city, Hue remains one of Vietnam's main attractions.
