Hoi An Ancient Town stands beside the Thu Bon River in central Vietnam, where a network of narrow streets still connects timber houses, assembly halls, temples, wells, a market and the old waterfront. UNESCO recognizes it as an exceptionally well-preserved example of a traditional Asian trading port, active from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century. Its value is not a single monument: the street plan, buildings and relationship to the river together preserve the form of a commercial town.
The river helped make the settlement a point of exchange between inland communities and overseas merchants. Local heritage accounts trace trade in the region to earlier periods, while the old town reached particular prominence from the late sixteenth into the early eighteenth century. Ships from several parts of Asia and Europe came through the port. The sequence of arrivals and departures brought commercial connections, religious practices and building traditions, but the town’s history was not simply a foreign influence layered onto an empty place.