Vietnam
Vietnam is a long, narrow coastal country in Southeast Asia. It borders China, Laos, Cambodia, the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea. The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi, while its largest city by population is Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon); other major cities in the country include Hải Phòng, Cần Thơ and Đà Nẵng. The majority of the population are Vietnamese.
The first historically documented kingdom in the territory of present-day Vietnam emerged in the 1st millennium BC. A peaceful coexistence between the Yue and the Han then developed during the Trieu dynasty. In 111 BC, the dynasty came under the control of the Han Chinese as a province of the Han dynasty and remained so—interrupted by brief periods of independence—until AD 938, when it regained independence after the Battle of the Bạch-Đằng River. In the following centuries, Vietnam expanded southward.
During the 19th century, the region gradually came under French colonial rule as part of French Indochina. During the Second World War, Japan occupied the region. From 1946 to 1954, France unsuccessfully attempted to restore its colonial rule in the First Indochina War. Following the French defeat, Tonkin and the northern part of Annam became socialist North Vietnam in 1954, with Hanoi as its capital, while Cochinchina and the southern part of Annam became Western-backed South Vietnam, with Saigon as its capital. From 1964 to 1973, the United States of America failed in the Vietnam War to defeat North Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, which was allied with it. Instead, the two Vietnamese states were reunified under communist leadership in 1976.
Vietnam remains a one-party dictatorship to this day.
Vietnam
The first historically documented kingdom in the territory of present-day Vietnam emerged in the 1st millennium BC. A peaceful coexistence between the Yue and the Han then developed during the Trieu dynasty. In 111 BC, the dynasty came under the control of the Han Chinese as a province of the Han dynasty and remained so—interrupted by brief periods of independence—until AD 938, when it regained independence after the Battle of the Bạch-Đằng River. In the following centuries, Vietnam expanded southward.
During the 19th century, the region gradually came under French colonial rule as part of French Indochina. During the Second World War, Japan occupied the region. From 1946 to 1954, France unsuccessfully attempted to restore its colonial rule in the First Indochina War. Following the French defeat, Tonkin and the northern part of Annam became socialist North Vietnam in 1954, with Hanoi as its capital, while Cochinchina and the southern part of Annam became Western-backed South Vietnam, with Saigon as its capital. From 1964 to 1973, the United States of America failed in the Vietnam War to defeat North Vietnam and the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, which was allied with it. Instead, the two Vietnamese states were reunified under communist leadership in 1976.
Vietnam remains a one-party dictatorship to this day.
