Đồng Khởi Street (Vietnamese: Đường Đồng Khởi), formerly known as Rue Catinat and Tự Do Street, is a street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.<br /><br />The street stretches from Nguyễn Du Street, across from the Paris Commune Square, to Tôn Đức Thắng Boulevard and Bạch Đằng Quay, Saigon River waterfront.<br /><br />History<br /><br />Rue Catinat in the 1920s<br />The street was originally named after the French Warship Catinat that participated in the mid-19th century attacks by France when that country was intent on seizing control of Viet Nam. The ship itself honored Nicolas Catinat, a 17th- and 18th-century Marshal of France; but application of name to prominent street was intended to remind strollers of the first step toward control of a vanquished nation by a colonial power before its present incarnation as Đồng Khởi visitors to Saigon will remember Tự Do Street, as it was called by the Vietnamese after the French departed.[1][2][3]
