The origins of human settlement stretch back to the 11th-century Champa culture, the Tây Sơn dynasty as well as the 18th-century seaport of Thị Nại.

During the Ming treasure voyages of the 15th century, the Chinese fleet led by Admiral Zheng He would always make port at Quy Nhon in Champa as their first destination after leaving China.

It was also the site of the Bombardment of Qui Nhơn in 1861, and more recently, it had a large American and Korean military presence, especially the Capital Mechanized Infantry Division of the Republic of Korea Army during the Vietnam War.

The government describes it as one of the three commercial and tourism centres of the central southern coastal region (with Da Nang and Nha Trang).

Quy Nhon has a varied topography, being extremely diversified with mountains and forests, hills, fields, salt marshes, plains, lagoons, lakes, rivers, shorelines, peninsulas and islands.

Reunification express trains stop only in Diêu Trì railway station, which is around 10 kilometres or 6 miles west of Quy Nhon.

Quy Nhon is one of the main industrial centres of the South Central Coast, behind only Da Nang and Nha Trang.

[10] Bidiphar is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Quy Nhon that is an exception to the city's general focus on basic and wood processing industries.

[11] Currently the economic structure of Quy Nhon is a shift towards increasing the proportion of service industries, reducing the rate of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in GDP.