Lê dynasty
Economic development

Before 1527, the Imperial court restricted people from foreign trade, mainly focused on agriculture and the local market trade. The period from 1505 to 1527 was politically unstable which disrupted the economy. There were a series of severe famines in Hải Dương prefecture and Kinh Bắc prefecture (Bắc Ninh, Bắc Giang) that occurred in 1517 to 1521 during the reign of Lê Tương Dực. The 16th century political crisis caused severe damage to Vietnam's agriculture and conscription was required by incessant military campaigns; this was compounded by natural disasters, largely contributed to regular crop failures. The number of landless peasants grew quickly, causing a disproportionate surplus of unemployed labourers in Northern Vietnam. After Mạc Đăng Dung gained power in 1527, he sought to restore the economy by encouraging these unemployed peasants into the city and factories, pursuing massive handicraft and industrial manufacture as well as sea trading. This caused a shift in the economy from one mainly on farming to sea trading from the Red River Delta on the Eastern coast.

Vietnamese merchants and sailors formed together and built medium-size ships in Hai Mon port (now Hai Phong) and quickly gained dominance in the South China sea trade route, which mostly sailed from Japan to Malacca to sell silk and ceramics. Some of them eventually reached Egypt and Greece under the Ottoman 's rule around the 1570s. After the recapture of Đông Kinh in 1592, the Lê-Trịnh court acknowledged the benefits of oversea trading, and continued to encourage handicraft and industrial manufacture and opened several ports such as Hoi An and Đông Kinh to foreign merchants. About 80% of the population were farmers and peasants; they worked on lands mostly held by địa chủ (landlords). The economy was devastated in some regions of the country due to two long civil wars, however, in most parts of the country which were unaffected, peace were maintained for a long time, which saw a rise of urbanization and a pre-capitalism society in Vietnam around the late 16th to 18th century.

In contrast to the overpopulation of the Red River Delta, the Thuan Hoa and Quang Nam region were not as dense. Vietnamese people had begun settling in the conquered Cham region at least since the 15th century. After Nguyễn Hoàng was appointed as governor of the southern provinces in 1572, millions migrated south, resulting in new cities and harbors along the coastline. For centuries the Nguyễn dynasty's economy mostly depended on handicraft and industrial manufacture but also international trade. Until the later 18th century, due to an epidemic, severe flooding in the Red River Delta, the immense corruption of the government and the rise of the Tây Sơn rebellion in Southern Vietnam that later spread to the entire country, devastated most of the economy and international trading, it played an important role in the collapse of the dynasty.
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