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Overview    [Top of Page] 

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia located on shores of the South China Sea. According to tradition, our civilization started about four thousand years ago in what is now the northernmost tip of Vietnam. Originally an ancient people consisting of many tribes, the Vietnamese have united the tribes into one nation, expanded their territory, established cities, and developed a culture as highly-developed and flourishing as it is today. Vietnam was under Chinese occupation for almost a millennium, nearly a quarter of our history, but we did not lose our culture and become assimilated into the Chinese population. While Chinese culture has had a strong influence on our own, our identity remains distinct from that of China. After the Chinese were driven out, dynasties in succession ruled our country, often changing the country's name and moving the country's capital. Although our civilization started in an area along the modern day border of Vietnam and China, our history is a history of a Southward Movement. As the Vietnamese people conquered or settled territory to the south, each region developed its own distinctive culture. Today, the Vietnamese divide our country into three cultural and geographic regions: North, Central, and South. Each region has its own accent and cuisine. Each region is often represented by a city considered to be the heart of its regional culture. The North is associated with Hanoi, the ancient capital of the Ly dynasty, the Central region with Hue, the last imperial capital of Vietnam, and the South with Saigon, the most modern city which, out of the three, has the clearest traces of European influence.

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Mythic Origins   [back to top]
The history of every ancient civilization begins with mythic origins, and so does our history. According to tradition, Lac Long Quan was the emperor of a country called Xich Quy. He married Au Co, who gave birth to a large sac with a clump of a hundred eggs in it. The eggs hatched into a hundred sons. Lac Long Quan said to his wife, "Your ancestry is that of the fairies of the mountain; my ancestry is that of the dragons of the sea; we will not be able to live together for long. You will take fifty sons with you to live in the mountains, and I will take fifty sons with me down to the sea." (Fairies is a very rough translation. In the Asian tradition, fairies are immortals that live high in the mountains or in the clouds.) The children of Lac Long Quan and Au Co followed their parents up to the mountains and down to the sea, settled there and prospered, and had many descendents to carry on their bloodline. That is why the Vietnamese call themselves Children of Dragons, Descendents of Fairies (Con Rong Chau Tien). Of course, this is only a myth used to explain our origin. 

When Lac Long Quan and Au Co took their children on their separate ways, they left their eldest son to ascend his father's throne. The son took on the title of Emperor Hung Vuong, established the Hong Bang dynasty, making himself the first emperor in our history. Emperor Hung Vuong named his country Van Lang, the first official named of Vietnam. The Hong Bang dynasty was passed from father to son for eighteen generations.

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The Chinese Occupation   [back to top]
In 111 BC, Chinese invaders of the Han dynasty invaded and conquered our country, which was called Nam Viet at the time. For the almost one thousand years between 111 BC to 939 AD, our country was forced to live under the rule of the Chinese Han dynasty. The name of our country was changed to the province of Giao Chi, then later Giao Chau, and finally An Nam. During the Chinese occupation, our country was considered a part of China instead of an independent nation. During that time, the Chinese governors and mandarins were very cruel to our people. Our ancestors resented being ruled by foreigners and rose up against the Chinese many times. There were short periods when the Vietnamese won back their independence, but each time, the Chinese reconquered us. Among the heroes that fought against the Chinese are the two Trung sisters, Trieu Trinh Nuong, Ly Bon, Mai Hac De, Khuc Thua Du, and Trieu Quang Phuc. The two Trung sisters and Trieu Trinh Nuong are probably the three most famous women in Vietnamese history. 

The Chinese Occupation finally came to an end in 939 AD, the year Ngo Quyen led a victorious battle against the Chinese on the Bach Dang River. Ngo Quyen was continuing the leadership of a rebel movement started by his father-in-law, Duong Dien Nghe. China quickly sent their army to crush the uprising. Ngo Quyen received news that the Chinese were invading by sea and coming up the mouth of the Bach Dang River. He created a brilliant strategy. He had his soldiers drive into the riverbed tall wooden stakes with sharp, metal-covered tips. When the tide was high, the Chinese warships advanced. Ngo Quyen sent his soldiers out to lure the Chinese into fighting, waited for the tide to go out, then ordered his soldiers to quickly retreat. At that time, the wooden stakes poked out above the surface of the water like the pointed ends of a thousand iron nails, piercing the bottom of the enemies' warships. Only then did our soldiers attack and easily defeated the Chinese. The Battle of Bach Dang River ended the nearly a millennium of Chinese rule. Even after that, Vietnam continued to struggle against China, and each time, we managed to drive them back to their country and winning back our sovereignty.

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Emperor and Dynasties  [Top of Page]

Vietnam passed through a series of dynasties, and its name was changed several times. Each dynasty is famous for its own accomplishments. The Ly dynasty is famous for the general Ly Thuong Kiet, the only general in Vietnamese history to have attacked Chinese territory instead of merely defending Vietnamese land from Chinese invaders. During the Tran dynasty, our people successfully defeated invading Mongolians three times. At that time, the Mongolians had defeated the Chinese, the Russians, and many other of its neighbors. The Mongolians went to war with Vietnam three times but were thwarted every time. Unlike China and Russia and so many other countries in Asia that were swallowed up by the Mongolian Empire, Vietnam never had to submit to Mongolian rule. During the Late Le dynasty, Le Loi, a hero of humble origins from Lam Son, led a successful uprising against the Minh Chinese Occupation (Ming dynasty). He founded the Late Le dynasty and took the title of Le Thai To when he ascended the throne. During the Tay Son dynasty, Nguyen Hue, whose title was Emperor Quang Trung, led his troops to a victorious defeat of two hundred thousand Thanh (Manchu) Chinese invaders in only three days on the fifth day of the first month, lunar year Ky Dau (1789). Emperor Quang Trung planned to demand back the Chinese provinces of Quang Dong (Kwantung) and Quang Tay (Kwangsi), which were part of the ancient territory of Nam Viet, one of our country's former names. Unfortunately, he died before he could fulfill his dream. Under the Nguyen dynasty, the country was unified after two centuries of being divided.

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Vietnam Becomes a French Colony   [Top of Page]
Beginning in the 16th century, European traders and missionaries started coming to Vietnam. The traders were interested in goods such as spices and silk. Catholic missionaries, mostly French, wanted to convert Asians to their religion. The Vietnamese government during the Late Le and Nguyen dynasties periodically persecuted the missionaries and Vietnamese converts. Because the Vietnamese government feared that European countries wanted to colonize Vietnam, many Nguyen emperors began refusing any contact with them. Many missionaries in Vietnam urged the French government to colonize Vietnam so that the government of Vietnam would be one friendly to the cause of Catholicism. In the end, Vietnam's suspicions towards European countries proved true. Thanks to their superior weapons, the French easily defeated the Vietnamese. In 1874, Vietnam was forced to cede to France the six provinces of the South, which became a French colony. Ten years later, both the North and the Central region became French protectorates. The entire country was effectively under French rule, along with Cambodia and Laos. Together, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos formed the French colony of Indochina, which the Vietnamese call Dong Duong. From then on, the Nguyen emperors were only puppet kings and retained only their titles; all real power was in the hands of the French. However, the Vietnamese had numerous, fierce uprisings against the French. Heroes of anti-French movements include Ton That Thuyet, Phan Dinh Phung, Dinh Cong Trang, Nguyen Thieu Thuat, Hoang Hoa Tham, and Nguyen Thai Hoc. 

Under French rule, the Vietnamese were forced to pay high taxes on items such as salt and alcohol. The French government also encouraged our people to use opium. Unfortunately, opium use became rather common among the upper classes. Like many other European colonial powers of the time, the French considered their culture superior to Asian ones. Although the French did not establish many schools for the Vietnamese, their schools always taught French as the main language of instruction. To this day, one can find many traces of the colonial French culture in Vietnam, especially in the South, which had to endure French rule the longest of the three regions (North, Central, and South).

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After French Colonization   [back to top]
Not until 1945 did the French colonial government collapse. During WWII, the Japanese forced the French out of Vietnam. After Japan lost the war, the French returned, but they were defeated by Viet Minh forces at Dien Bien Phu. In 1954, the Geneva Accords divided Vietnam into North and South Vietnam, using the Ben Hai River at the seventeenth parallel as the border. The government of the North was communist; the government of the South was a democracy.

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Time Line  [Top of Page]

What does the name Vietnam mean?   [Top of Page]  

During the Trieu dynasty, our country was called Nam Viet. Nam means South, and Viet is the name our ancestors. Tradition has it that there were hundreds of tribes in the Viet race, who were collectively known as Bach Viet (Hundred Viet tribes). Our ancestors were among that number. (In Chinese, the Viets are called the Yue.) When Emperor Gia Long ascended the throne as the first emperor of the Nguyen dynasty, he wanted to change the country's name from Dai Viet back to the ancient name of Nam Viet. At that time, when the Vietnamese emperor wanted to change the country's name or make other important decisions, it was customary for him to ask the Chinese emperor's permission to formalize the change. However, the Chinese emperor refused to allow Gia Long to change the name back to Nam Viet because that name was suggestive of the ancient territory of Nam Viet, which includes two regions of China, Quang Dong (Kwantung) and Quang Tay (Kwangsi). Instead, the Chinese emperor reversed the order of the two words: Viet Nam instead of Nam Viet. (In Vietnamese, Vietnam is actually two words: Viet Nam.) The word Vietnam has a different meaning than the name Nam Viet. In both names, Nam means south, but Viet means something else here. In the word Vietnam, Viet is not the name of our ancestors. Instead, it means to cross over, to go further, to go farther. Together, the two words "Viet Nam" means "to expand towards the south" or "southward expansion." This expresses one of the main themes of Vietnamese history. Our history has been marked by a Southward Movement just was United States history was with a Westward Movement.

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Bibliography   [Top of Page]

English:
Buttinger, Joseph. Vietnam: A Political History. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1968.
Fall, Bernard. The Two Vietnams. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1963.
Lamb, Helen B. Vietnam's Will to Live: Resistance to Foreign Aggression from Erly Times Through the Nineteenth Century. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972.

Vietnamese:
Bui Van Bao. Viet Su Bang Tranh. [Illustrated Vietnamese History] CD-ROM. Volumes 1-2. San Jose: Vietnamese Professionals Society, 1999.
Pham Van Son. Viet Nam Toan Thu. [Complete History of Vietnam] Glendale: Dai Nam, 1986.
Thai Bao. Lich Su Viet Nam Bang Tranh. [Illustrated Vietnamese History] Volumes 1-3. Saigon: P. Van Tuoi, 1954.

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