Isuzu Forums - Isuzu Enthusiasts Forum

Saigon City was originally founded as Prey Nokor, a small fishing village and main port of Cambodia under the Khmer, in the 16th century. The name Prey Nokor means “forest city” or “forest land” and reffered to the swampy forests upon which it was founded. In the 17th century, Vietnamese settlers flocked to Prey Nokor and by 1698, Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble was sent to expand Prey Nokor into a Vietnamese settlement. By that time, Prey Nokor had became known as Gia Dinh officially, but Sai Gon more popularly (Sai Gon coming from obscure etymology but most assuredly reffering to the foresty area of the city).
In 1859, the French conquered Saigon and encorporated it as the capital into the newly-formed French colony of Cochinchina, which later became French Indochina and subsequently South Vietnam. There, the French labeled Prey Nokor Saigon. The French architectural style is visible in many of the remaining nineteenth century buildings, for example the Museum of Fine Arts and the Saigon City Museum.
During the Vietnam-American War, Saigon was the capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) until its unification with the North Vietnamese in 1975 which united the two halves. It was subsequently renamed Saigon City in honor of the pseudonym of the Vietnamese guerilla leader-Saigon (real name Nguyen Tat Thanh).
Today, Saigon City is the largest city in Vietnam, larger than even the capital Hanoi, with more than 8 million people, and hosts the largest number of businesses in Vietnam – over 300,000. It is climbing, slowly but surely, into the new millennium.

source : HO CHI MINH CITY