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Illustration by the Austrian artist Friedrich Schiff, who lived in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. His images exemplify the 'anything goes' atmosphere and indulgence amidst poverty that characterised Old Shanghai and which would soon be brought to an abrupt end by Japanese invasion (1937) and Communist revolution (1949).
The area around Hanoi—the name means ‘within the waters’, a reference to the city’s close relationship with the Song Hong, or ‘Red River’ and numerous surrounding lakes—has been the site of Vietnam’s capital, on and off, for more than two millennia.<br/><br/> In the third century BC King Thuc Pan established the earliest Vietnamese capital at the citadel of Co Loa just north of the present-day city. Over a thousand years later, when the Chinese were driven out and independence restored, General Ngo Quyen symbolically chose Hanoi as the site of the reborn Vietnamese nation.<br/><br/> In 1802 the first Nguyen Emperor, Gia Long, transferred the capital to Hue—but this proved to be a short-lived move. In 1902 France established Hanoi as the capital not just of Vietnam, but of all French Indochina.<br/><br/> In 1954 the city became the capital of the communist north, and in 1976, following the defeat of the non-communist south, it was proclaimed capital of the reunited Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The area around Hanoi—the name means ‘within the waters’, a reference to the city’s close relationship with the Song Hong, or ‘Red River’ and numerous surrounding lakes—has been the site of Vietnam’s capital, on and off, for more than two millennia.<br/><br/> In the third century BC King Thuc Pan established the earliest Vietnamese capital at the citadel of Co Loa just north of the present-day city. Over a thousand years later, when the Chinese were driven out and independence restored, General Ngo Quyen symbolically chose Hanoi as the site of the reborn Vietnamese nation.<br/><br/> In 1802 the first Nguyen Emperor, Gia Long, transferred the capital to Hue—but this proved to be a short-lived move. In 1902 France established Hanoi as the capital not just of Vietnam, but of all French Indochina.<br/><br/> In 1954 the city became the capital of the communist north, and in 1976, following the defeat of the non-communist south, it was proclaimed capital of the reunited Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Sri Lanka had always been an important port and trading post in the ancient world, and was increasingly frequented by merchant ships from the Middle East, Persia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Southeast Asia. The islands were known to the first European explorers of South Asia and settled by many groups of Arab and Malay merchants.<br/><br/> A Portuguese colonial mission arrived on the island in 1505 headed by Lourenço de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida. At that point the island consisted of three kingdoms, namely Kandy in the central hills, Kotte at the Western coast, and Yarlpanam (Anglicised Jaffna) in the north. The Dutch arrived in the 17th century. The British East India Company took over the coastal regions controlled by the Dutch in 1796, and in 1802 these provinces were declared a crown colony under direct rule of the British government, therefore the island was not part of the British Raj. The annexation of the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 by the Kandyan convention, unified the island under British rule.<br/><br/> European colonists established a series of cinnamon, sugar, coffee, indigo cultivation followed by tea and rubber plantations and graphite mining. The British also brought a large number of indentured workers from Tamil Nadu to work in the plantation economy. The city of Colombo was developed as the administrative centre and commercial heart with its harbor, and the British established modern schools, colleges, roads and churches that introduced Western culture.<br/><br/> On 4 February 1948 the country gained its independence as the Dominion of Ceylon. It changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.