The **Socialist Republic of Vietnam** (Vietnamese: *Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam*) or simply **Viet Nam** is a country in Southeast Asia. The neighboring countries of Vietnam are China, Laos and Cambodia. Vietnam is one of five countries that still have a communist government. The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi. The biggest city is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). There are about 99,497,680 people living in Vietnam.

After the Japanese occupation in the 1945, the Vietnamese fought French colonial rule during the First Indochina War between the Viet Minh and the French. On 2 September 1945, Hồ Chí Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France under the new name of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, but French colonialists tried to put down the independence movement. In 1954, the Vietnamese declared victory in Dien Bien Phu which took place between March and May 1954 and culminated in a major French defeat. Shortly after Vietnamese independence, Vietnam was divided into two political states, North Vietnam (officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (officially the Republic of Vietnam). Conflicts between the two sides intensified in the so-called Vietnam War with strong influence from the US in South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975 with a North Vietnamese victory.

Vietnam was then united under a communist government. In 1986, the government made many economic and political changes that began Vietnam's path to be a part of the world economy. By 2000, it had formed diplomatic relations with all nations. Since 2000, Vietnam's economic growth has been among the highest in the world, and in 2011 it had the highest global growth generator index among 11 major economies. Its successful economic reforms resulted in its becoming a member of the World Trade Organization in 2007. It is also a member of economic cooperation between Asia and the Pacific and the International de la Francophonie Organization.

Names of Vietnam
----------------

* "Annam", which originated (or started) as a Chinese name in the 7th century, was the common name of the country during the colonial period
* Xích Quỷ (赤鬼)
* Văn Lang (文郎/Orang)
* Âu Lạc (甌雒/Anak)
* Nam Việt (南越)
* Giao Chỉ (交趾/交阯)
* Vạn Xuân (萬春)
* An Nam (安南)
* Tĩnh Hải (靜海)
* Đại Cồ Việt (大瞿越)
* Đại Việt (大越)
* Đại Ngu (大虞)
* Đại Nam (大南)

Population
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In Vietnam, the approximate population is around 99,298,522 to 101,531,681 people. The Vietnamese male population is 50,205,096 and the female population is 51,326,584. 25.2% of these people are aged between 0-14, with 13,365,800 being male and 12,161,135 being female. 69.3% of the population are between the ages of 15-64. The male-to-female ratio is almost evenly split, with 35,024,433 being male and 35,156,146 being female. 5.5% are 65 and over, with 2,149,957 being male and 3,459,991 being female. So within the older two categories, there are more women than men.

The population is not from one origin. There are many ethnic tribes that developed in the history of Vietnam. This makes Vietnam's history and culture very diverse. It's not the same as a country where every family landed on the country's shores in the same century. French and Chinese colonization didn't involve an excessive migration of people to Vietnam.

Nowadays, the blend of cultures has been increasing with the influence of globalization and world interest. Many Vietnamese that have been living overseas are described as the Việt Kiều. The population has several communities in many countries around the world.

Geography
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The length of the country, from North to South, is 1,650 kilometers (1,025 miles). "At its narrowest point, Vietnam is only 30 miles (48 kilometers) wide". Due to the long and narrow shape of Vietnam, the weather in the country varies considerably from north to south. Northern Vietnam offers a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons (winter, spring, summer, and fall) while Southern Vietnam is hot year-round.

The country is covered in rainforests that are currently going through rapid deforestation. It borders the South China Sea to the east, Laos and Cambodia to the west, and China to the north. The country is slightly larger than Malaysia and smaller than Japan.

History
-------

Vietnam's history has long been characterized by the neighborhood of China in the north. For about 1,000 years, northern Vietnam belonged to China, but from 938 the country became independent and later expanded southward at the expense of the Champa kingdom. In the 19th century the country was colonized by France and during the Second World War, the country was occupied by Japan. After this war, the colonial empire did not have the resources to restore the regime and lost the military battle against the liberation forces. This led to the division of the country, which in turn led to the Vietnam War with major human and material losses for the country. The war ended on 30 April 1975 by the fact that North Vietnam took the southern part. After experimental planning in the 1970s and 1980s, the economy was reformed in a market economy direction.

### Viet

About 5000 years ago, the two ethnic tribes of the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt lived together in many areas with other inhabitants. Due to increasing needs to control floods, fights against invaders, and culture and trade exchanges, these tribes living near each other tended to gather together and integrate into a larger mixed group.

Among these Lạc Việt tribes was the Văn Lang, which was the most powerful tribe. The leader of this tribe later joined all the tribes together to found Văn Lang Nation in 2897 BC, addressing himself as the King Hùng. The next generations followed in their father's footsteps and kept this appellation. Based on historical documents, researchers correlatively delineated the location of Văn Lang Nation to the present day regions of North and north of Central Vietnam, as well as the south of present-day Kwangsi (China). The Van Lang Nation lasted to the 3rd century B.C.

Óc Eo may have been a busy port of the kingdom of Funan between the 1st and 7th centuries.

The Dông Sơn civilization that covered much of Southeast Asia was also the beginning of Vietnam's history. In 221 BC, the Qins invaded the land of the Viet tribes. Thuc Phan, leader of the alliance of Âu-Việt tribes managed to expel the enemies and declared himself King An Dương Vương and his territory Âu Lặc Nation (257-207 BC). In 208 BC, a Qin Dynasty general named Triệu Đà invaded Âu Lặc. An Dương Vương failed this time. As a result, the northern feudalist took turns dominating the country over the next eleven centuries, establishing their harsh regime in the country and dividing the country into administrative regions and districts with unfamiliar names. However, the country's name of Âu Lặc could not be erased from the people's minds in their everyday life.

In 207 BC Triệu Đà established a state called Nam Việt which encompassed southern China and the Red River Delta. The historical significance of the original Nam Việt remains controversial because some historians consider it a Chinese occupation while others believe it was an independent era. For most of the period from 111 BCE to the early 10th century, Vietnam was under the rule of successive Chinese dynasties. Sporadic independence movements were attempted, but were quickly suppressed by Chinese forces.

In A.D. 40, the Trưng Sisters Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhị led a rebellion to get rid of Tô Định, the corrupt Chinese governor occupying Vietnam. They were daughters of a Lạc lord in Giao Chỉ (now Northern Vietnam) and widows of aristocrats. They successfully formed their own kingdom in Mê Linh, where Trưng Trắc was proclaimed queen, and a capital was built for her". While ruling in Mê Linh, the sisters abolished taxes, which had been especially cruel under Tô Định. They were defeated in A.D. 43 by Ma Yuan, a Chinese general, but are still regarded as female military heroes and national heroines.

After Ma Yuan’s defeat of the Trung sisters, the Chinese maintained domination over Vietnam for more than a thousand years. They established a bureaucracy that emphasized Confucianism, and they focused on educating Vietnam’s ruling class with Chinese literature and ideas.

The kings of Champa (Chiêm Thành in Vietnamese) started construction of Hindu temples at Mỹ Sơn in the 4th century AD.

Hội An was founded as a trading port by the Nguyễn Lord Nguyễn Hoàng sometime around 1595.

Work on Imperial City, Huế started in 1804.

France desired trading freedom in Vietnam. They also wanted to bring more missionaries into the country. The Nguyen dynasty disliked French involvement in Vietnam, and executed several missionaries and Vietnamese coverts. This spurred the French Emperor, Napoleon III, to attack Vietnam and attempt to force the court to accept the title of "French protectorate." The French were successful despite the resistance they encountered, and by the 1880s Vietnam was officially a French protectorate.

### Indochina

Chochina is shown on the eastern coast of this 1886 map of Indo-China.
In September 1858, France occupied Đà Nẵng. Cochinchina was a French colony from 1862 to 1948.

In 1930 Nguyễn Ái Quốc established the Vietnamese Independence League (*Việt Nam Ðộc Lập Ðồng Minh Hội*) which is also known as the Việt Minh.

The Japanese took over Vietnam in World War II. The Việt Minh fought against both the Japanese and the Vichy French.

When the Japanese were defeated, the Vietnamese people, led by the Việt Minh started the August Revolution.

On 2 September 1945, Nguyễn Ái Quốc (who was now calling himself Hồ Chí Minh, meaning 'Hồ (a common last name) with the will of light') read the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in Ba Ðình Square, in Hà Nội. It was based on the American Declaration of Independence.

Hồ Chí Minh led the Việt Minh in a war for independence from France.

The "Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina" (*République Autonome de Cochinchine*) was proclaimed 1 June 1946 to frustrate the Việt Minh's desire to rule all of Vietnam.

The War between France and the Việt Minh lasted from 1946 to 1954. The French were defeated in 1954 after the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ.

### North and South Vietnam

The nation was then divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. After independence was achieved, the French gave the land of the Mekong delta that was part of Cambodia to South Vietnam. The anti-communist United States had a lot of influence in the South, and the communist and nationalist Việt Minh controlled the North. Hồ Chí Minh was extremely popular in the whole nation, as he was the only remaining leader after years of fighting, so he became President of the Democratic Republic of (North) Việt Nam. It was agreed that the nation would be reunited by elections in 1956. But, the Americans and the Southern government stopped the elections from happening because they expected Hồ Chí Minh to win because communist North Vietnam refused to hold free elections. Dwight Eisenhower said he thought Hồ would win with around 80% of the vote if elections were held because of the majority of the population being in the north added with Hồ's few supporters in the South.

Soon, the USA was at war with Vietnam. This war was known as the American War, the Vietnam War, or the Second Indochinese War. Soon, South Vietnam became a military dictatorship with some basic freedoms. The Southern army removed the controversial Ngô Đình Diệm from power and killed him.

Regions of Vietnam
On 2 September 1969, Independence Day, President Hồ Chí Minh died of heart failure.

### Unification

On 30 April 1975, the National Liberation Front with the help of the N.V.A. overtook Sàigòn, which was the capital of South Vietnam and quickly renamed it Hồ Chí Minh City. The city is still colloquially called Saigon. The nation was fully reunified as Socialist Republic of Vietnam on 2 July 1976.

In business, Nguyễn Thị Phương Thảo is Vietnam's first female billionaire.

Provinces
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Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces. There are also five city municipalities which have province authority.

|  |  |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Red River Delta**

---

Bắc Ninh
Hà Nam
Hải Dương
Hưng Yên
Nam Định
Ninh Bình
Thái Bình
Vĩnh Phúc
Hà Nội (municipality)
Hải Phòng (municipality) | **North Central Coast**

---

Hà Tĩnh
Nghệ An
Quảng Bình
Quảng Trị
Thanh Hoá
Thừa Thiên-Huế | **Northeast**

---

Bắc Giang
Bắc Kạn
Cao Bằng
Hà Giang
Lạng Sơn
Phú Thọ
Quảng Ninh
Thái Nguyên
Tuyên Quang | **Northwest**

---

Điện Biên
Hoà Bình
Lai Châu
Lào Cai
Sơn La
Yên Bái |
| **Central Highlands**

---

Đắk Lắk
Đắk Nông
Gia Lai
Kon Tum
Lâm Đồng | **South Central Coast**

---

Bình Định
Bình Thuận
Khánh Hoà
Ninh Thuận
Phú Yên
Quảng Nam
Quảng Ngãi
Đà Nẵng (municipality) | **Southeast**

---

Bà Riạ-Vũng Tầu
Bình Dương
Bình Phước
Đồng Nai
Tây Ninh
Hồ Chí Minh (municipality) | **Mekong River Delta**

---

An Giang
Bạc Liêu
Bến Tre
Cà Mau
Đồng Tháp
Hậu Giang
Kiên Giang
Long An
Sóc Trăng
Tiền Giang
Trà Vinh
Vĩnh Long
Cần Thơ (municipality) |

The provinces of Vietnam are divided (by the government) into provincial cities and provinces.

Science and technology
----------------------

Media said in 2011 that investment in science and technology was 2% of GDP.

"Vietnam provides no incentives for students to return to Vietnam from their foreign graduate programmes" was the opinion (in 2011) of French physicist Pierre Darriulat.

Food
----

Many people come to Vietnam to see and try the food. One of the most famous dishes are Phở and Bún chả. When it comes to Phở, there are medium-rare slivers of beef or boiled chicken in a hearty beef stock.

Related pages
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* List of rivers of Vietnam
* Vietnam at the Olympics
* Vietnam national football team
* Vietnam souvenirs