Warring Societies of Pre-colonial Southeast AsiaPo Binasor (Viet., Che Bong Nga). His fleets, according to Maspero,
numbered over 100 vessels.^14
By the late fifteenth century, however, the Vietnamese started their
dramatic journey to the south, annexed the Cham kingdoms, and gradu-
ally staked claim over the lower Mekong. To move across such terrain
meant engagement with water. Central Vietnam’s topography had been
a great challenge for overland transportation. The further south the
Vietnamese entered, the more significant coastal logistics were, includ-
ing profound dependence upon naval operations. Given the physical
terrain of a very narrow coastline divided by numerous mountain
passes, and almost no overland passages, travel by coastal vessels and
riverboat was the only viable choice. Nguyen dynastic records suggest
that the first overland communication network in Gia Dinh, known as
the “One thousand mile” Road (thien ly cu), only appeared in 1748.^15 A
Chinese monk who visited Hue in 1695 also observed that “there is no
overland travel among prefectures, (however) each has a river mouth,
and therefore, communication among prefectures can be conducted
through the sea.”^16
Expansion along that waterscape thus required the employment of a
navy. Since the late fifteenth century, warfare in Vietnam largely operated
on coastal and riverine waters, especially in the center where Nguyen
Cochinchina was established in 1600. As a result, the coastal waters
gradually became a centre of commerce and naval operations. With a
3,200-kilometer coastline, almost the entire population of Vietnam can
access the sea along riverine networks. It is therefore not surprising that
the areas stretching from Quang Binh to the lower Mekong were a major
field of naval battles between the Tayson and Nguyen Phuc Anh. The
central corridor from Nha Trang to Nghe An was of particular strategic
importance. Running 1,000 kilometers along the Annamite Range
with a narrow strip of land of 40–120 kilometers in width, it could be
effectively controlled from the sea, along many estuaries, lagoons, and
- Georges Maspero, The Champa Kingdom: The History of an Extinct Vietnamese
Culture (Bangkok: White Lotus, 2002): 17. - DNTL, vol. 1, quyen 10, 141.
- Thich Dai San, Hai ngoai ky su [Diary of Travel Abroad] (Hue: Uy Ban Phien Dich
su Lieu Viet Nam, Vien Dai hoc Hue, 1963): 230.