Da Nang Vietnam

Danang is the largest city in Vietnam's central region and is one of the country's most important ports. Ringed by mountains on one side and the East Sea on the other, Danang has numerous sites of natural beauty and historical interest. Danang traces its origins to the ancient Champa Kingdom, established by Indonesian settlers in 192 AD. At its peak, the Champa Kingdom stretched from Hue to Vung Tau. The expansion of the Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer peoples led to the decline of Champa by the mid-15th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, French and Spanish traders and missionaries made landfall at Hoi An, just south of Danang. By the 19th century, Danang superceded Hoi An as the most important seaport in the central region. The presence of the French in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and the Americans in the 1960s, led to continued growth of Danang, and it is now Vietnam's fourth largest city.