Although nearly a thousand years old, Hanoi had to wait until 1831 to regain its former name, when Emperor Minh Mang established it as the capital of the Northern Province. Indeed the last Vietnamese dynasty, the Nguyen Dynasty moved their capital from Hanoi to Hue. The name Hanoi means ' where the river bends', the river being the Song Hong or Red River. The city's main period of growth stems from the arrival of the French in 1888. Within a short time Hanoi was transformed into an elegant city with broad tree-lined boulevards, avenues and parks, making it one of the greenest cities in Asia. Fortunately many of the old boulevards and residences have survived and are used to house Foreign Embassies and Government institutions. From 1902 until 1953 the city served as the capital of French Indochina, although in 1945 Ho Chi Minh proclaimed in his independence speech from Ba Dinh square that Hanoi would henceforth be the capital of Vietnam. Today Hanoi is a bustling capital city of nearly 4 million people. Its focal point is the Hoan Kiem Lake and the Old Quarter, immediately to its north.