page_title: History of Vietnam
section_title: Hồng Bàng Dynasty
hierarchical_section_title: History of Vietnam / Ancient period (2879–111 BC) / Hồng Bàng Dynasty
caption_attribution_description: English: Dong Son drums (about 600 BC), fabricated by Vietnamese in Dong Son culture, Guimet Museum, Paris, France. Français&#160;: Tambour Dong Son (ca. 600 av.J.-C.), fabriqué en culture Dong Son au Vietnam, Musée Guimet à Paris, France. Tiếng Việt: Trống đồng Đông Sơn (khoảng 600 TCN), trưng bày tại Bảo tàng Guimet, Paris, Pháp.
context_page_description: The history of Vietnam can be traced back to around 4000 years ago. Archaeological findings from 1965, still under research, show the remains of two hominins closely related to Sinanthropus, dating as far back as the Middle Pleistocene era, roughly half a million years ago. Pre-historic Vietnam was home to some of the world's earliest civilizations and societies—making them one of the world's first people who practiced agriculture. The Red River valley formed a natural geographic and economic unit, bounded to the north and west by mountains and jungles, to the east by the sea and to the south by the Red River Delta. The need to have a single authority to prevent floods of the Red River, to cooperate in constructing hydraulic systems, trade exchange, and to fight invaders, led to the creation of the first mythology Vietnamese states approximately 2879 BC. However, archaeologists suggested the Đông Sơn culture found in Northern Vietnam, Guangxi and Laos was around 700 BC.
  Vietnam's peculiar geography made it a difficult country to attack, which is why Vietnam under the Hùng kings was for so long an independent and self-contained state.
context_section_description: According to a legend which first appeared in the 14th century book Lĩnh nam chích quái, the tribal chief Lộc Tục (c. 2919 – 2794 BC) proclaimed himself as Kinh Dương Vương and founded the state of Xích Qủy in 2879 BC, that markes the beginning of the Hồng Bàng dynastic period. However, modern Vietnamese historians assume, that statehood was only developed in the Red River Delta by the second half of 1st millennium BC. Kinh Dương Vương was succeeded by Sùng Lãm (c. 2825 BC – ?). The next royal dynasty produced 18 monarchs, known as the Hùng Kings, who renamed their country Văn Lang. The administrative system includes offices like Lạc tướng, Lạc hầu and Bố chính.
  Great numbers of metal weapons and tools excavated at various Phung Nguyen culture sites in northern Indochina are associated with the beginning of the Copper Age in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the beginning of the Bronze Age has been verified for around 500 B.C. at Đông Sơn. The local Lạc Việt community had developed a highly sophisticated industry of quality bronze production, processing and the manufacturing of tools, weapons and exquisite Bronze drums. Certainly of symbolic value they were intended to be used for religious or ceremonial purposes. The craftsmen of these objects required refined skills in melting techniques, in the Lost-wax casting technique and acquired master skills of composition and execution for the elaborate engravings.
  Sources of prehistory and early history are mostly legends, which are passed on orally and, as time progresses, often mix with historical facts. The first historical mention about Hùng kings was in a Northern Wei dynasty's historiography book Commentary on the Water Classic in 5th century, where Hùng kings were known as Lạc king (雒王). It written:
  [Ancient] when Jiaozhi wasn't incorporated to China, it had Lạc fields (雒田), rice cultivating based on the river tides, people depended on these fields, so called Lạc people (雒民). Ruler was Lạc king (雒王), chief advisor were Lạc hầu (雒侯), watch and control their land. Many areas, there were Lạc tướng (雒將) had bronze seals and green robes.
  Another ancient Chinese informative book proves the existence of Hùng kings and the Lạc Việt before 200 BC is Extensive Records of the Taiping Era which was published in 978. It said:
  [Ancient] Jiaozhi was the fertilized land. Many tribes lived there. And they know to plant crops. Its soils are black, its climate is moderate hard. So its fields were called Hùng land (雄田) and its people were Hùng people (雄民). Their leader was Hùng king (雄王), and his chief advisors were hùng hầu (雄侯), distributed lands for Hùng tướng (雄將).
  The Legend of Thánh Gióng tells of a youth, who leads the Văn Lang kingdom to victory against the Chinese invaders, saves the country and goes straight to heaven. He wears iron armor, rides an armored horse and wields an iron sword. The image implies a society of a certain sophistication in metallurgy as well as An Dương Vương's Legend of the Magic Crossbow, a weapon, that can fire thousands of bolts simultaneously, seems to hint at the extensive use of archery in warfare. The about 1,000 traditional craft villages of the Red River Delta near and around Hanoi represented throughout more than 2,000 years of Vietnamese history the national industrial and economic backbone. Countless, mostly small family run manufacturers have over the centuries preserved their ethic ideas by producing highly sophisticated goods, built temples and dedicated ceremonies and festivals in an unbroken culture of veneration for these legendary popular spirits.
  However, according to researcher Lê Minh Khải, despite all the evidence about the Hồng Bàng period and the Văn Lang kingdom, they are not real and were created by sinicized Confucianist scholars around 1400 AD to make Vietnamese distinct from the Chinese. After the new wave of nationalism revolutions in the 20th century, these folk tales and stories had been solidified in modern Vietnamese history.
caption: Dong Son drum
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