Jiaozhi

transl. Vietnamese Giao Chỉ (Han character: 交趾 or 交阯; pinyin: Jiaozhi) is a name of entire or part of Vietnam's territory in the history, from the Hùng Vương era to the First Chinese domination.

The Triệu dynasty

After annexing Âu Lạc (179 BC), The Triệu dynasty divided the Âu Lạc into two divisions: Giao Chỉ and Cửu Chân.

The Giao Chỉ district in the first Chinese domination

The Han dynasty destroyed the Triệu dynasty on 111 BC and annexed its terrioty, including Âu Lạc. Similar to the Triệu, the Han divided Âu Lạc into 2 districts: Giao Chỉ, Cửu Chân. The head of the district was a Chinese thái thú. The Giao Chỉ district (Giao Chỉ quận) was an administrative unit in the Giao Chỉ bộ, whose head was thứ sử (the first one was Thạch Đái). The capital city of the Giao Chỉ was firstly Mê Linh, then was changed to Liên Lâu (a region is now at Thuận Thành suburban district, Bắc Ninh provision).

According to the book Tiền Hán thư, địa lý chí, the Giao Chỉ district contained 10 suburban districts (huyện): Liên Lâu, An Định, Câu Lậu, Mê Linh, Khúc Dương, Bắc Đái, Kê Từ, Tây Vu, Long Biên và Chu Diên. And the historian Đào Duy Anh stated that the Giao Chỉ's territory contain all the Tonkin, exclude the upstream of Đà river and Mã river. Interestingly, the southwestern area of Guangxi was also a part of the former Giao Chỉ district. And southwest area of current Ninh Bình province was the border area of the Cửu Chân district (behind Giao Chỉ, its territory now belongs to Thanh Hóa, Nghệ An, Hà Tĩnh). Afterwards the Han dynasty created another district named Nhật Nam, located at the south of Cửu Chân (located from the Ngang_Pass to Quảng Nam).

See also

• Giao Châu