The Nguyễn dynasty or House of Nguyễn is the final imperial family of Vietnam.

Their ancestral line can be traced back to the beginning of the Common Era.

However, only by the mid-sixteenth century had the most ambitious family branch, the Nguyễn Lords, isen to conquer, control and establish feudal rule over large territory.

Imperial rule lasts for 0one hundred and forty-three years, when Gia Long ascends the throne in 1802, after putting an end to the rise of the Tây Sơn and uniting the country.

Emperor Bảo Đại, the dynasty's last representative, abdicates the throne and transfers sovereign power to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945.

Nguyễn dynastic rule is obtained by the support of the French, who compromise its authority from the beginning.

Sovereignty is eventually lost to French colonialism as the nation is divided into three administrative entities of French Indochina: Cochinchina becomes a French colony, and Annam and Tonkin become nominally-independent protectorates.