The Nguyễn dynasty was the last Vietnamese dynasty, which was preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruled the unified Vietnamese state independently from 1802 to 1883 before being a French protectorate. During its existence, the empire expanded into modern-day southern Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos through a continuation of the centuries-long Nam tiến and Siamese–Vietnamese wars. With the French conquest of Vietnam, the Nguyễn dynasty was forced to give up sovereignty over parts of southern Vietnam to France in 1862 and 1874, and after 1883 the Nguyễn dynasty only nominally ruled the French protectorates of Annam as well as Tonkin. They later cancelled treaties with France and were the Empire of Vietnam for a short time until 25 August 1945.

The Nguyễn lords, also known as the Nguyễn clan, were the rulers of southern Đại Việt during the Revival Lê dynasty and ancestors of Nguyễn dynasty's emperors. The territory they ruled was known contemporarily as Đàng Trong and by Europeans as Cochinchina, in opposition to the Trịnh lords ruling northern Đại Việt, known then as Đàng Ngoài. Both Nguyễn and Trịnh lords were de jure subordinates of the Lê dynasty.