(2002 pop 125,000). Dalat is a small city located in the central highlands of Vietnam 205 kilometers (127 miles) southwest of Nha Trang and 308 kilometers (191 miles) north of Ho Chi Minh City. Named for the "River of the Lat Tribe" after the native Lat ethnic group who live in the area, Dalat, with its cool climate, has been used by the Vietnamese and eventually the Europeans in Vietnam as a vacation spot that allowed an escape from the extreme heat of the cities and the Mekong Delta area. The Frenchman Dr. Alexander Yersin (1863–1943), a protégé of Louis Pasteur, is credited with "discovering" Dalat for such purposes. During Vietnam's war with the United States, high-ranking North and South Vietnamese officials used Dalat as a nonpartisan resting locale before it was captured officially by the North Vietnamese on 3 April 1975. Dalat's most famous former resident was the last Nguyen emperor, Bao Dai, whose summer palace exists today as a tourist attraction. Today Dalat is used by Vietnamese as a favorite honeymoon destination and, with its many former colonial villas as guest houses, nice restaurants, and eighteen-hole golf course, is in the process of being transformed by the Vietnamese government into an international tourist destination.
Further Reading
Admiralty, Naval Intelligence Divison, Great Britain. (1943) Indo-China. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Geographical Handbook Series, B.R. 510.
Cima, Ronald J., ed. (1989) Vietnam: A Country Study. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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