Da Lat or Dalat ( Vietnamese : Đà Lạt ; Vietnamese pronunciation: [ɗâː làːt̚] ), is the capital of Lâm Đồng Province and the largest city of the Central Highlands region in Vietnam . The city is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbian Plateau . Da Lat is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.
46-419: Da Lat's specific sights are pine woods and twisting roads full of marigold (Vietnamese: hoa dã quỳ ) and mimosa blossom in the winter. The city's temperate weather stands in contrast to Vietnam's otherwise tropical climate. Mist covering the valleys almost year-round leads to its name " City of Eternal Spring ". Residents and tourists have often said that Da Lat has all four seasons in one day: spring in
92-450: A backcronym . Đà Lạt or Đạ Lạch got its name from Koho daa (“water”) + Laac (the indigenous people of Da Lat). During the 1890s, explorers in the area (including the noted bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin , protégé of the renowned French chemist Louis Pasteur ), which was then part of the French colony of Cochinchina , asked the French governor-general, Paul Doumer , to create
138-496: A subtropical highland climate under the Köppen climate classification ( Cwb ) and is mostly mild year round. Da Lat's year-round temperate weather, standing in contrast to central & southern Vietnam's otherwise-tropical climate, has led it to be nicknamed the “City of Eternal Spring”. The average temperature is 14 to 23 °C (57 to 73 °F). The highest temperature ever in Da Lat
184-451: A PhD in architecture from Moscow State University , has acknowledged the inspiration of Catalan Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí in the building's design. Visitors have variously drawn parallels between the guesthouse and the works of artists such as Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney . Since its opening in 1990, the building has gained recognition for its unique architecture, having been highlighted in numerous guidebooks and listed as one of
230-580: A forum to strengthen relations between these elites and the authorities. The GFC replaced the IFC in 1943 by introducing 23 French representatives (from the economy's principal sectors, making it, according to Decoux, more representative) and adding five local members, thereby ensuring that the Indochinese presence outnumbered the European. Decoux believed that would reverse the reluctance of the local population to accept
276-564: A means to evaluate soil fertility and vigour of the trees. The bark of most pines is thick and scaly, but some species have thin, flaky bark. The branches are produced in "pseudo whorls", actually a very tight spiral but appearing like a ring of branches arising from the same point. Many pines are uninodal, producing just one such whorl of branches each year, from buds at the tip of the year's new shoot , but others are multinodal, producing two or more whorls of branches per year. Pines have four types of leaf : Pines are monoecious , having
322-447: A resort center in the highlands, and the governor agreed. The original intended site for the hill station was Dankia, but Étienne Tardif, a member of the road-building expedition of 1898–99, proposed the current site instead. In 1907, the first hotel was built. Urban planning was carried out by Ernest Hébrard . Many Europeans used to travel up to Da Lat to escape the heat of the lower coastal areas and Mekong delta. The French endowed
368-440: A wide range of mứt , a kind of fruit preserve that closely resembles varenie , made from strawberry , mulberry , sweet potato , and roselle . Da Lat is also known as an area for scientific research in the fields of biotechnology and nuclear physics . Da Lat is known regionally for avocado ice-cream, bánh tráng nướng , and its large garment market, with a broad selection of cool-weather clothing. According to some sources,
414-742: Is also the most favorite honeymoon location in Vietnam. Hoa Binh Area is in the center downtown of Da Lat and attracts numerous visitors. Some popular sites located in the Hoa Binh Area are Coi Xay Gio bakery, Lien Hoa bakery, Windmills coffeehouse and Tung coffeehouse. Coi Xay Gio was known as a perfect selfie spot thanks to its remarkable yellow wall, though in 2021 the wall was repainted to discourage selfies due to danger from road vehicles. Pine See List of Pinus species for complete taxonomy to species level. See list of pines by region for list of species by geographic distribution . A pine
460-530: Is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus Pinus ( / ˈ p aɪ n ə s / ) of the family Pinaceae . Pinus is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae . World Flora Online accepts 187 species names of pines as current, with additional synonyms, making it the largest family among the conifers. The American Conifer Society (ACS) and the Royal Horticultural Society accept 121 species. The highest species diversity of pines
506-527: Is buried in the Domaine de Marie Church convent in Da Lat. Decoux enforced the discriminatory Vichy laws against Gaullists and Freemasons , as well as the Vichy anti-Jewish legislation , but he decried the impact on the French colonial regime and society. One writer claims that Decoux remained unconcerned by the famine of 1945 . Over one million Vietnamese died of starvation in the countryside and urban cities and
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#1732844264528552-421: Is currently open for tourists who wish to have a look back in time when Queen Nam Phuong resided during her lifetime. Da Lat is one of the famous tourist cities of Vietnam which was included in the list of Asia's most overlooked places by CNN in 2017. Da Lat attracts both domestic tourists and foreign tourists, with more than 1,500,000 tourists and about 300,000 foreign tourists visiting the city every year. It
598-777: Is found in Mexico. Pines are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere ; they occupy large areas of boreal forest , but are found in many habitats, including the Mediterranean Basin . The timber from pine trees is called "pine"; it is one of the most extensively used types of timber. There are currently 818 named cultivars (or trinomials ) recognized by the ACS. It is a well-known type of Christmas tree . Pine trees are evergreen , coniferous resinous trees (or, rarely, shrubs ) growing 3–80 metres (10–260 feet) tall, with
644-449: Is now restricted to fir ( Abies ) and Douglas-fir ( Pseudotsuga ). Pines are gymnosperms . The genus is divided into two subgenera based on the number of fibrovascular bundles in the needle. The subgenera can be distinguished by cone, seed, and leaf characters: Phylogenetic evidence indicates that both subgenera have a very ancient divergence from one another. Each subgenus is further divided into sections and subsections. Many of
690-785: Is one of the world's oldest living organisms at around 4,800 years old. This tree can be found in the White Mountains of California. An older tree, now cut down, was dated at 4,900 years old. It was discovered in a grove beneath Wheeler Peak and it is now known as " Prometheus " after the Greek immortal . The spiral growth of branches, needles, and cones scales are arranged in Fibonacci number ratios. The new spring shoots are sometimes called "candles"; they are covered in brown or whitish bud scales and point upward at first, then later turn green and spread outward. These "candles" offer foresters
736-629: Is the largest genus of the Pinaceae , the pine family, which first appeared in the Jurassic period. Based on recent Transcriptome analysis, Pinus is most closely related to the genus Cathaya , which in turn is closely related to spruces . These genera, with firs and larches , form the pinoid clade of the Pinaceae. Pines first appeared during the Early Cretaceous, with the oldest verified fossil of
782-556: The Cao Nguyen communal buildings of Vietnam's Central Highlands. The three gables represent an art deco version of Normandy's Trouville-Deauville Station . The station's unique design — with its roofs, arching ceiling, and colored glass windows — earned it recognition as a national historical monument in 2001. They designed the Lycée Yersin , which opened in 1927. The Dominion of Mary Church and Convent , home to Roman Catholic nuns of
828-700: The Việt Cộng (VC) forces. Defeats and victories alternated between the two during the sporadic-yet-intense battles. South Vietnam eventually fell under communist rule and was merged with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam , where the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was constructed and also experienced the Đổi Mới reforms along with the rest of the country. During the communist era of Vietnam (the Socialist Republic of Vietnam), places like Da Lat as well as Hoi An and Da Nang were regularly regarded as amongst
874-644: The Indo-European base *pīt- ‘resin’ (source of English pituitary ). Before the 19th century, pines were often referred to as firs (from Old Norse fura , by way of Middle English firre ). In some European languages, Germanic cognates of the Old Norse name are still in use for pines — in Danish fyr , in Norwegian fura/fure/furu , Swedish fura/furu , Dutch vuren , and German Föhre — but in modern English, fir
920-704: The Mission of Charity, were built in 1938 with a similar pointed-roof style. Of particular note is the unconventional architecture of the Hằng Nga guesthouse , popularly known as the “Crazy House”. Described as a “fairy tale house”, its overall design resembles a giant banyan tree, incorporating sculptured design elements representing natural forms such as animals, mushrooms, spider webs and caves. Its architecture, consisting of complex, organic, non-rectilinear shapes, has been described as expressionist . Its creator, Vietnamese architect Dang Viet Nga (also known as Hằng Nga), who holds
966-694: The Vietnam War and has been located in Penang , Malaysia , since the 1970s. There were seminaries of Jesuits (such as Pius X Pontifical College ) as well as other orders. In the 1920s and 1930s, there were ideas of making Da Lat the 'summer capital', 'administrative capital', and 'federal capital' of French Indochina . During the World War II , Governor-general Jean Decoux (r. 1940–1945) supported this project. The South Vietnamese National Military Academy graduated its first class of future leaders in 1950. There
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#17328442645281012-554: The author asserts that the Decoux government did nothing to help the Vietnamese peasants, farmers, and poor, despite soliciting and courting the Vietnamese elite. However, archival records show that Allied bombardment of railways and the requisitioning of boats by the Japanese made it impossible to transport rice from Cochinchina to Tonkin. On 9 March 1945, the Japanese took direct control of
1058-516: The city with villas and boulevards, and its Swiss charms remain today. Hébrard included the requisite health complex, golf course, parks, schools, and homes but no industry. The legacy of boarding schools where children from the whole of Indochina were taught by French priests, nuns, and expatriates still existed as late as 1969. In 1929, the Christian and Missionary Alliance established a school which later shortly relocated to Bangkok, Thailand, due to
1104-473: The dry season lasts from November through April of the next year. The average annual precipitation is 1,750 mm. The architecture of Da Lat was mostly influenced by the style of the French during colonial period. Da Lat Railway Station , built in 1938, was designed in the Art Deco architectural style by French architects Moncet and Reveron, although it incorporates the high, pointed roofs characteristic of
1150-550: The genus being Pinus yorkshirensis from the Hauterivian - Barremian boundary (~130-125 million years ago) from the Speeton Clay , England. The evolutionary history of the genus Pinus has been complicated by hybridization . Pines are prone to inter-specific breeding. Wind pollination, long life spans, overlapping generations, large population size, and weak reproductive isolation make breeding across species more likely. As
1196-556: The government and ousted Decoux, establishing the Empire of Vietnam . Arrested, Decoux was tried by Justice High Court and placed under house arrest. There, he was tortured for two days by former French Communist partisans and left for dead. Cared for in the Val de Grâce Military Hospital in Paris, he was declared innocent of all charges in 1949 and restored to his former rank and privileges. He later wrote
1242-593: The loss of all hands in the South China Sea during a training exercise on 15 June 1939, he ordered the light cruiser Lamotte-Picquet to put to sea to join the submarine L'Espoir in searching for her. On 16 June he embarked on L'Espoir to take personal command of the search, and Phénix ′s wreck was discovered on the sea bed later that day. From 25 June 1940 he served as interim Vichy French Governor-General of Indochina , succeeding General Georges Catroux . His functions were established on 29 August
1288-570: The majority of species reaching 15–45 m (50–150 ft) tall. The smallest are Siberian dwarf pine and Potosi pinyon , and the tallest is an 83.45 m (273.8 ft) tall sugar pine located in Yosemite National Park . Pines are long lived and typically reach ages of 100–1,000 years, some even more. The longest-lived is the Great Basin bristlecone pine ( P. longaeva ). One individual of this species, dubbed " Methuselah ",
1334-507: The male and female cones on the same tree. The male cones are small, typically 1–5 cm long, and only present for a short period (usually in spring, though autumn in a few pines), falling as soon as they have shed their pollen . The female cones take 1.5–3 years (depending on species) to mature after pollination , with actual fertilization delayed one year. At maturity the female cones are 3–60 cm long. Each cone has numerous spirally arranged scales, with two seeds on each fertile scale;
1380-521: The morning, summer at noon, autumn in the afternoon and winter at night, from the sunset to the sunrise. With its year-round cool weather, Da Lat supplies huge amounts of temperate agriculture products for all over Vietnam, for example: cabbage , cauliflower , artichoke , tea , wine , persimmon , and coffee . Its flower industry produces three characteristic flowers: hydrangea (Vietnamese: cẩm tú cầu ), Da Lat rose , and golden everlasting (Vietnamese: hoa bất tử ). The confectionery industry offers
1426-755: The most romantic tourist places in Vietnam. Da Lat has also become a hub for nuclear research and biotechnology. Da Lat is located 1,500 m (4,900 ft) above sea level on the Langbian Plateau in the southern parts of the Central Highlands (in Vietnamese: Tây Nguyên ). Da Lat is a source area for pyroxene from meteorites from the Australasian strewnfield . Da Lat is divided into 11 wards numbered from 1 to 11, and 4 communes: Tà Nung, Xuân Trường, Xuân Thọ and Trạm Hành. Da Lat features
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1472-503: The name is derived from the acronym of the Latin phrase 'Dat Aliis Laetitiam Aliis Temperiem' ("It Gives Pleasure to Some, Freshness to Others"), which the French colonial government used in their official emblem of Da Lat. In reality, however, the name Đà Lạt is derived from the language of the local ethnic group Lạt and its original meaning is "Stream of the Lạt", and the above acronym is in fact
1518-850: The pines have diversified, gene transfer between different species has created a complex history of genetic relatedness. P. nelsonii P. aristata P. balfouriana P. longaeva P. pinceana P. maximartinezii P. rzedowskii P. quadrifolia P. monophylla P. culminicola P. discolor P. remota P. edulis P. cembroides P. bungeana P. squamata P. gerardiana P. krempfii P. peuce P. lambertiana P. strobus P. chiapensis P. monticola P. flexilis P. strobiformis P. ayacahuite P. albicaulis P. koraiensis P. sibirica P. cembra P. parviflora P. wallichiana Jean Decoux Jean Decoux ( French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ d(ə)ku] ; 5 May 1884 – 21 October 1963)
1564-513: The politics of collaboration. In addition, he apparently wished to show goodwill toward the Indochinese peoples after Roosevelt's public statement that maintaining French sovereignty in Indochina was not a principal objective of the United States. The French colonial authorities learnt of the policy through BBC broadcasts. Decoux's first wife, Suzanne Humbert, died in a traffic accident in 1944. She
1610-543: The same year. Like his predecessor, Decoux initially wished to continue the fight against the Axis powers, but he swore allegiance to Pétain's regime after realizing that his meager armed forces were no match for the Japanese. Decoux reportedly received demands from the Japanese in early August for permission to move troops through Tonkin (later Vietnam ) in order to build air bases and block Allied supply routes to China . Decoux cabled his Vichy superiors for aid, but when no help
1656-453: The scales at the base and tip of the cone are small and sterile, without seeds. The seeds are mostly small and winged, and are anemophilous (wind-dispersed), but some are larger and have only a vestigial wing, and are bird -dispersed. Female cones are woody and sometimes armed to protect developing seeds from foragers. At maturity, the cones usually open to release the seeds. In some of the bird-dispersed species, for example whitebark pine ,
1702-469: The seeds are only released by the bird breaking the cones open. In others, the seeds are stored in closed cones for many years until an environmental cue triggers the cones to open, releasing the seeds. This is called serotiny . The most common form of serotiny is pyriscence, in which a resin binds the cones shut until melted by a forest fire, for example in P. rigida . The modern English name "pine" derives from Latin pinus , which some have traced to
1748-422: The smaller groups of Pinus are composed of closely related species with recent divergence and history of hybridization. This results in low morphological and genetic differences. This, coupled with low sampling and underdeveloped genetic techniques, has made taxonomy difficult to determine. Recent research using large genetic datasets has clarified these relationships into the groupings we recognize today. Pinus
1794-546: The world's ten most “bizarre” buildings in the Chinese People's Daily . While superficially amusing, the compound is let down by the construction debris and household refuse behind the facades, and the lack of attention to safety issues. Da Lat is also well known for a series of three Mansions of the Vietnamese Last Emperor. The First Mansion was built in 1940 by the French millionaire Robert Clément Bourgery and
1840-438: Was 31.5 °C (88.7 °F), and the lowest was −0.6 °C (30.9 °F). Mist covers the adjoining valleys almost year-round. Its temperate climate also makes it ideal for agriculture. Indeed, Da Lat is renowned for its orchids , roses , vegetables, and fruits. There are nascent wine-making and flower-growing industries in the region. There are two separate seasons in Da Lat. The rainy season lasts from May to October, and
1886-839: Was a French Navy admiral who was the Governor-General of French Indochina from July 1940 to 9 March 1945, representing the Vichy French government. Decoux was born in Bordeaux , one of three children of a family originally from Upper Savoy . In 1901, at about 16, he entered the École navale . He was promoted to aspirant second class in 1903, to aspirant first class the following year, ship-of-the-line ensign (sub-lieutenant) in 1906, ship-of-the-line lieutenant (lieutenant) in 1913, corvette captain (lieutenant-commander) in 1920, frigate captain (commander) in 1923, ship-of-the-line captain in 1929 and rear admiral (one-star rear admiral) in 1935. He
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1932-617: Was also an aviation school at Cam Ly Airport . In the mid-1950s, the Vietnamese Scout Association established their national training grounds at Da Lat. The only major involvement Da Lat had during the Vietnam War was during the 1968 Tet Offensive . Fierce battles raged from January 31 to February 9, 1968. Most of the fighting took place between the South Vietnamese/American MP units stationed in Da Lat and
1978-559: Was appointed commander of the defence sector at Toulon in 1938 and promoted to vice-admiral (two-star rear admiral). On 13 January 1939, Decoux was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces in the Far East by President Albert Lebrun . He assumed his new appointment, with the rank of squadron vice-admiral (vice admiral), on 12 May. When the French Navy submarine Phénix sank with
2024-647: Was bought by Emperor Bao Dai in 1949. It was used as a summer mansion for President Ngo Dinh Diem and following presidents of the Republic of Vietnam until 1975. The Second Mansion was built in 1933 as the summer mansion for the Governor of French Indochina Jean Decoux. Built in 1933–1938, the Third Mansion was the residence of Emperor Bao Dai and his family. The mansion has attributes typical European style since both its front and backyard have flower gardens. The Third Mansion
2070-649: Was composed only of Indochinese, and later the Grand Federal Council were the formal structures that Decoux felt he needed to build to develop the Indochinese federal consciousness simultaneously with the elevation of the elite. Rather than a legislative or executive body, the Federal Council in both its forms was a body consisting of non-elected indigenous elites. They gave their opinions to the Governor General to assist him in his decision-making and served as
2116-474: Was forthcoming, he signed a treaty on 20 September 1940 that opened Haiphong Harbour to the Japanese and gave them the right to station troops in the region. Decoux worked to improve relations between French colonists and the Vietnamese. He established a grand federal council containing twice as many Vietnamese members as Frenchmen and installed Vietnamese in civil-service positions with equal pay to that of French officials. The Indochinese Federal Council, which
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