Vietnam Travel Essentials

For most of its history, what is present day Vietnam covered 3 ethnically distinct nations; a Viet nation in the north, a Cham nation in the middle, and remnants of the Khmer Empire in the south. Discoveries made in caves in the northern provinces of Lang Lạng Sơn and Nghệ An that human habitation in Vietnam dates back to at least 500,000 BC. Archaeological excavations at Dong Son and Hòa Bình demonstrate that these early cultures had agriculture and pottery, at a similar time as those in Mesopotamia. .

The HồngBàng period (c. 2879 - 258 BC) saw 18 dynasties slowly unify the tribal states into a centrally governed state. In 111BC, Han Chinese troops invaded Nam Việt,as it was then known, splitting it into three provinces. Chinese governors and officials were installed, while the Vietnamese ruling classes kept control in the highland areas.

Vietnam was named Annam by the Chinese, and under Chinese control trade flourished. A series of revolts against Chinese rule subsequently led to a period of autonomy culminating in the Battle of Bach Đằng, during which the invading Southern Han army was defeated.

Vietnam remained independent until 1407, repelling three invading Mongol armies in the 13th century. Weakened by wars with the Champa Kingdom, Vietnam succumbed to Ming Chinese re-annexation. This only lasted for 21 years, with Lê Lợi's defeat of the Chinese ushering in a new independent Vietnamese dynasty.

The need for more land to support it's growing population led to a period of Vietnamese military engagements, including the 1471 conquest of the Champa kingdom to the south, and the absorption of the remnants of the Khmer empire. In 1479 the Laotian capital, Luang Prabang was captured, and troops attacked as far as Myanmar.

Between 1627 and 1775, two powerful families effectively partitioned the country, with the south governed by the Nguyễn lords, while the Tranh lords ruled the North. Conflict between the two allowed an increase in European trade and influence, with the Portuguese supporting the south and the Dutch the north.

French military and colonial expansion in Vietnam began with the 1858 attack on Da Nang by Rigault de Genouilly. When this failed, he took Ho Chi Minh City instead and the colony of Cochinchina was formed in the Mekong delta. With attacks on the north, resulting in the taking of Hanoi, French power in the region grew, and resulted in the 1887 creation of French Indochina, which included what would become Vietnam as well as Cambodia and later Laos in 1893. Initial resistance to the French was led by the traditional ruling elites, however by 1900, French educated young leaders envisioned a modern, independent Vietnam.

The Japanese invaded in 1940 as part of their Asian expansion during WWII, and maintained the Vichy French administration. Ho Chi Minh returned from France to form the Viet Minh Front, which worked with the Americans to spy on the Japanese during the war. A famine in 1944, and Japan's subsequent defeat by the Allies enabled the Communist Party to gain increasing support in the north.

France returned to its colonies after the war expecting to resume as before, but the situation on the ground was now very different. In 1946 armed resistance from Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh in the north escalated into full scale war, known as the First Indochina War. It lasted until 1954 with the French military defeat at Dien Bien Phu, aand the subsequent Geneva Conference splitting Vietnam into the Communist north and American supported south.

In practice, there was little real break in the fighting, with the People's Army of Vietnam from the north, fighting alongside Viet Cong guerrillas from the south attempting to unify the country. America had largely been funding French military operations during the first war, and support for the south continued, first in the form of money and advisors, and later with U.S. troop numbers peaking at 540,000 in 1968. Fighting spread to include Cambodia and Laos, with the U.S. responsible for large-scale bombing of both, ostensibly neutral countries.

1973 saw the Paris Agreement, where the U.S. negotiated its withdrawal, in exchange for South Vietnam to be given the chance to vote on its future. Two years later, this second provision was ignored by the north as their troops reunified Vietnam with the taking of Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City. The country had been devastated by twenty years of fighting which saw huge destruction to infrastructure and nature following American use of napalm and Agent Orange. An estimated 800,000 - 3 million Vietnamese and 58,220 US soldiers died in the fighting, which also involved neighbouring countries.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia, while the Pathat Lao succeeded in toppling the government in Laos. Both Communist groups were directly supported by Vietnam, leading to the whole region being Communist, the very fear that had lead the US to become involved in the first place. All three countries started upon a largely unsuccessful (and completely disastrous in Cambodia's case) series of ownership and farming reforms. Huge numbers of people died, but it would be a while before such policies were scaled back in Vietnam and Laos.

Following increasing cross-border violence from the Khmer Rouge, Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, and instilled a puppet government of former Khmer Rouge soldiers. While the Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, many of these politicians have remained in power in Cambodia.

In recent years, following liberalisation of its markets and loosening of rules on private ownership, Vietnam's economy has grown quickly, and by 2050 is expected to have overtaken Norway, Singapore and Portugal. With the maintenance of its rail system, and investment in regional air services, coupled with 8 UNESCO World Heritage Sites and areas of natural beauty, Vietnam has become an important tourism destination in South East Asia.