Vietnam is a nation with thousand years of a glorious history. Archaeological
artefacts of the Phung Nguyen, Dong Dau, Go Mun, and Dong Son cultures,
especially the Ngoc Lu bronze drums have proved the Vietnam sheltered a
developed civilisation even before Christ (Dong Son culture). Besides, the
vestiges of the historic period of the Hung Kings have revealed that Vietnam was
one of the first countries to be formed.
History of Vietnam can be divided into three main periods:
-
Northern Kingdom's domination (208 BC - 939 AD): The period
was lasting 1,000 years and was on of the fiercest period of
hardship experienced by the different tribal people in
Vietnam's history.
-
National construction and defense for independence (939 -
1945): The period was brilliant era of national revival and
development. It was marked by the glorious victory of the
Vietnamese people against the aggressors.
-
National independence and socialism (1945 until present):
The revolution succeeded in August 1945 with the leadership
of the President Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese Communist
Party. The country proclaimed its independence on September
2, a date that later became Vietnam's National Day. During
the following 30 years, the Vietnamese people continued to
resist and protect their independence. Vietnam has been
unified since the great victory over the Americans in spring
1975. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed, with
Hanoi as its capital.
Early History
The Vietnamese people represent a fusion of races, languages, and cultures, the
elements of which are still being sorted out by ethnologists, linguists, and
archaeologists. As was true for most areas of Southeast Asia, the Indochina
Peninsula was a crossroads for many migrations of peoples, including speakers of
Austronesian, Mon-Khmer, and Tai languages. The Vietnamese language provides
some clues to the cultural mixture of the Vietnamese people. Although a separate
and distinct language, Vietnamese borrows much of its basic vocabulary from
Mon-Khmer, tonality from the Tai languages, and some grammatical features from
both Mon-Khmer and Tai. Vietnamese also exhibits some influence from
Austronesian languages, as well as large infusions of Chinese literary,
political, and philosophical terminology of a later period.
The area now known as Vietnam has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, with
some archaeological sites in Thanh Hoa Province reportedly dating back several
thousand years. Archaeologists link the beginnings of Vietnamese civilization to
the late Neolithic, early Bronze Age, Phung-nguyen culture, which was centered
in Vinh Phu Province of contemporary Vietnam from about 2000 to 1400 B.C.. By
about 1200 B.C., the development of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in
the Ma River and Red River plains led to the development of the Dong Son
culture, notable for its elaborate bronze drums. The bronze weapons, tools, and
drums of Dong Sonian sites show a Southeast Asian influence that indicates an
indigenous origin for the bronze-casting technology. Many small, ancient copper
mine sites have been found in northern Vietnam. Some of the similarities between
the Dong Sonian sites and other Southeast Asian sites include the presence of
boat-shaped coffins and burial jars, stilt dwellings, and evidence of the
customs of betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening.
According to the earliest Vietnamese traditions, the founder of the Vietnamese
nation was Hung Vuong, the first ruler of the semilegendary Hung dynasty
(2879-258 B.C., mythological dates) of the kingdom of Van Lang. Hung Vuong, in
Vietnamese mythology, was the oldest son of Lac Long Quan (Lac Dragon Lord), who
came to the Red River Delta from his home in the sea, and Au Co, a Chinese
immortal. Lac Long Quan, a Vietnamese cultural hero, is credited with teaching
the people how to cultivate rice. The Hung dynasty, which according to tradition
ruled Van Lang for eighteen generations, is associated by Vietnamese scholars
with Dong Sonian culture. An important aspect of this culture by the sixth
century B.C. was the tidal irrigation of rice fields through an elaborate system
of canals and dikes. The fields were called Lac fields, and Lac, mentioned in
Chinese annals, is the earliest recorded name for the Vietnamese people.
The Hung kings ruled Van Lang in feudal fashion with the aid of the Lac lords,
who controlled the communal settlements around each irrigated area, organized
construction and maintenance of the dikes, and regulated the supply of water.
Besides cultivating rice, the people of Van Lang grew other grains and beans and
raised stock, mainly buffaloes, chickens, and pigs. Potterymaking and
bamboo-working were highly developed crafts, as were basketry, leather-working,
and the weaving of hemp, jute, and silk. Both transport and communication were
provided by dugout canoes, which plied the network of rivers and canals.
The last Hung king was overthrown in the third century B.C. by An Duong Vuong,
the ruler of the neighboring upland kingdom of Thuc. An Duong Vuong united Van
Lang with Thuc to form Au Lac, building his capital and citadel at Co Loa,
thirty-five kilometers north of present-day Hanoi. An Duong's kingdom was
short-lived, however, being conquered in 208 B.C. by the army of the Chinese Qin
dynasty (221-207 B.C.) military commander Trieu Da (Zhao Tuo in Chinese).
Reluctant to accept the rule of the Qin dynasty's successor, the new Han dynasty
(206 B.C.-A.D. 220), Trieu Da combined the territories under his control in
southern China and northern Vietnam and established the kingdom of Nam Viet (Nan
Yue in Chinese), meaning Southern Viet. Viet (Yue) was the term applied by the
Chinese to the various peoples on the southern fringes of the Han empire,
including the people of the Red River Delta. Trieu Da divided his kingdom of Nam
Viet into nine military districts; the southern three (Giao Chi, Cuu Chan, and
Nhat Nam) included the northern part of present-day Vietnam. The Lac lords
continued to rule in the Red River Delta, but as vassals of Nam Viet.
Ronald J. Cima, ed. Vietnam: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of
Congress, 1987.)
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