Place
Nhat Nam
Of the seven Han commanderies of the Viet lands, the one furthest from the capital at Luoyang by the distances in Sima Biao's treatise on commanderies, and the least populous of the three in the south. The Han thu's treatise on geography sets its name at the head of a sea road measured in months.
At a glance
- Location
- 13,400 li from the capital at Luoyang by Sima Biao's treatise on commanderies — further than any other commandery of the Viet lands1
- Type
- A Han commandery of 5 districts, among them Tuong Lam. The table for the year two gives 15,460 households and 69,485 mouths; the table for around the year 140 in Sima Biao's treatise gives 18,263 households and 100,676 mouths21
- Dates
- According to the Han thu's chapter on the destruction of Nam Viet, set up in 111 BC, at the same time as the other eight commanderies3
About the place
The old chronicles say
Nhat Nam had the fewest people of the three southern commanderies, but its name stands at the head of a strange passage in the Han thu's treatise on geography: from the frontier posts of Nhat Nam, Tu Van and Hop Pho, a voyage of about five months reaches the country of Do Nguyen; then on past the countries of Ap Lo Mot, Tham Ly and Phu Cam Do Lo, and more than two months more by ship at last to the country of Hoang Chi. The road is measured not in li, but in months. On it went a chief interpreter attached to the Yellow Gate, with men who answered the call, carrying gold and silks out to sea to buy bright pearls, bich luu ly, rare stones and strange things.2
The book even records one voyage it can put a name and a time to. Around the Yuanshi era, when Wang Mang was regent and wished to make a show of his majesty and virtue, he sent rich gifts to the king of Hoang Chi, and that king sent envoys to present one live rhinoceros. Then the book describes the way back: from Hoang Chi about eight months by ship to Bi Tong, and eight months more to reach the borders of Nhat Nam and Tuong Lam — Tuong Lam being one of Nhat Nam's five districts. Where Hoang Chi or Bi Tong lie today, the Han thu does not help; it gives only the months at sea. But the point of departure and the point of return both bear the name of Nhat Nam.2
The household table for the year two in the treatise on geography gives Nhat Nam 15,460 households and 69,485 mouths, the fewest of the three southern commanderies; that comes to about four and a half people to a household, no different from the general level. Around the year 140, a second table, in the treatise on commanderies by Sima Biao of the Jin attached to the Book of the Later Han, gives Nhat Nam 18,263 households and 100,676 mouths, more than in the year two. The same treatise measures the road from the capital at Luoyang down to Nhat Nam as 13,400 li, while every other commandery of the Viet lands lay nearer the capital.21
In the year forty, when Trung Trac rose in Giao Chi, the Book of the Later Han records that the Man and Ly peoples of Cuu Chan, Nhat Nam and Hop Pho all rose in answer, and sixty-five walled towns in all were taken; the regional inspector of Giao Chi and the governors could barely hold their own ground. Man and Ly were the names the Han histories used for the people of those commanderies. The Vietnamese histories keep the figure of sixty-five, but the list of places that answered differs: the Viet su luoc names only Cuu Chan and Nhat Nam.45
Mentioned in
- Episode 1The Han destroy Nam Viet, 111 BC14 min
- Episode 2Giao Chi, Cuu Chan, Nhat Nam15 min
- Episode 4The Trung sisters rise up, AD 4015 min
- Episode 4Giao Chau under the Jin and the Southern and Northern Dynasties16 min
Sources for this page
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