Le Loi Founds the Later Le Dynasty

1428

With the last Ming garrisons retreating north, the rebel leader assumed the throne as Emperor Le Thai To of Dai Viet. He issued a famous proclamation declaring Vietnam's cultural independence from China, paid careful tribute to Beijing anyway, and set about rebuilding a kingdom that would last three centuries. His Great Proclamation declared that north and south had different customs, establishing cultural independence as the bedrock of Vietnamese identity.