Starting in the 16th century, several Western maps featured the Indies or East Indies (or East India), which include the lands of South and Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, as having Hoang Sa in the East Vietnam Sea, and marking the coastline to the west of Hoang Sa (the central Vietnamese coast) as Costa de Paracels (Coast of Paracels).

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During the 17th and especially 18th centuries, more maps clearly indicated the position, geographical features, and relationship of Hoang Sa to “Dang Trong” (Inner Half – an area of Vietnamese southward expansion in the past).
However, most of these maps still included Hoang Sa in the Indies or East Indies.
Not until the early 19th century—when the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), Vietnam’s last monarchy, was formed and fully asserted Vietnamese sovereignty—did Western maps officially recognize Hoang Sa as belonging to Vietnam.

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