Names of Ho Chi Minh City conquest in the 1860s, when the occupying force adopted the name "Saïgon" for the city, a westernized form of the traditional Vietnamese name. The current name was given after the Fall of Saigon in 1975, and honors Hồ Chí Minh, the first leader of North Vietnam. Even today, however, the informal name of "Sài Gòn" remains in daily speech both domestically and internationally, especially among the Vietnamese diaspora and local southern Vietnamese. The area where present-day Ho Chi Minh City is located was likely inhabited long since prehistory; the empire of Funan and later Chenla maintained a presence in the
Order of Ho Chi Minh one. Currently, the Ho Chi Minh Order is the second highest national order of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (after the Gold Star). The Order is bestowed on citizens who have rendered outstanding services to the State, or members of the Vietnamese People's Armed Forces for acts of bravery in action against an enemy force. The decoration may also be awarded to cities, regions, collectives, military units and ships for the same reasons. Order of Ho Chi Minh The Order of Ho Chi Minh () is a decoration of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that was first instituted on 6