The civil war of Trịnh – Nguyễn lasted nearly half a century (1627-1672). Trịnh and Nguyễn Lords agreed "to take Gianh river as the border line. The South of the river is Nam Hà and the North is Bắc Hà. Both sides got ceasefire since then" (MVNH, 2004: 88). | Vietnam Social Sciences, No. 3(167) - 2015 Nguyen Lords’ Policies on Ethnic Minorities in Cochinchin Nguyen Minh Tuong * Abstract: The civil war of Trịnh – Nguyễn lasted nearly half a century (1627-1672). Trịnh and Nguyễn Lords agreed "to take Gianh river as the border line. The South of the river is Nam Hà and the North is Bắc Hà. Both sides got ceasefire since then" (MVNH, 2004: 88). In old history documents, Bắc Hà was called Đàng Ngoài (Tonkin), Nam Hà was Đàng Trong (Cochinchin) which formed Đại Việt. Once settled, Nguyễn Lords paid much attention to policies for ethnic minorities. The author focuses on Nguyễn Lords’ policies in this period, namely suppressing minorities’ rebels to accelerate Southwards movement and strengthening South permanence of Cochin, protecting and using surrenders and ethnic minority talents, expelling discrimination and allowing ethnic minorities live in their cultural traditions and customs. Key words: Cochinchin, Nguyễn Lords, Đại Việt, ethnic minorities. 1. Introduction Nguyễn Hoàng was assigned to administrate Thuận Hóa town in 1558, then in 1570, Lê Trịnh appointed him to take care Quảng Nam province. The Southern land of Quảng Nam then was Tuy Viễn district, Hoài Nhân metropolis (now Quy Nhơn city, Bình Định province). Across the Cù Mông Pass, the boundary between Bình Định and Phú Yên province was the Champa country. It could be said that, since being assigned proconsul of Thuận Hóa, Chúa Tiên (Nguyễn Hoàng) had a big ambition to divide the country into 2 parts and developed his power to the South to confront the Trịnh family in Tonkin. In 1611, Nguyễn Hoàng sent Văn Phong attacked Champa, took the land from opposite Cù Mông Pass to Thạch Bi mountain (named Đá Bia mountain by Lê Thánh Tông King in 1471) to form Phú Yên province consisting of two districts: Đồng Xuân và Tuy Hòa, and assigned Văn Phong ruled the land (MVNH, 2004: 36). When dying in 1613, Nguyễn Hoàng 64 told Prince Nguyễn Phúc Nguyên that: "In Thuận Quảng .
