Vietnam facts
Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Socialist Republic of Vietnam; Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam
Flag	Emblem
	Motto: Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc; "Independence – Freedom – Happiness"
	Anthem: Tiến Quân Ca; "Army March" (first verse)
	Vietnam in red
Capital	Hanoi;
Largest city	Ho Chi Minh City
Official languages	Vietnamese
Official scripts	Vietnamese
Demonym	Vietnamese
Government	Unitary socialist republic,; Single-party state
Legislature	National Assembly of Vietnam
Formation
Area
Population
GDP (PPP)	2010 estimate
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
Gini (2008)	38; medium
HDI (2010)	0.572; medium · 113th
Currency	Đồng (₫) $1 = 20,000 VND (VND VietNamese Dong)
Time zone	ICT (Indochina Time) UTC+7 (UTC+7)
Drives on the	right
Calling code	84
Internet TLD	.vn
	Map of Southeast Asia, showing Vietnam and its neighbours.
1.	According to the official name and 1992 Constitution.

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia. The long-form name of the country is the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The neighboring countries of Vietnam are China, Laos, and Cambodia,. Vietnam is the world's only country today that is officially titled as a 'Socialist Republic'.

Modern Vietnam

The capital of Vietnam is Hanoi. The biggest city is Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). There are about 94,444,200 people living in Vietnam. Today, Vietnam is an important political and cultural center in Southeast Asia.

Population

In Vietnam, the approximate population is 90,549,390. 25.2% of these people are aged between 0-14, with 11,954,354 being male and 10,868,610 female. 69.3% of the population are between the ages of 15-64. The male-to-female ratio is almost evenly split with 31,301,879 being male and 31,419,306 being female. 5.5% are 65 and over and the ratio is 1,921,652 are male and 3,092,589 are female. So with the older two categories women are more populated.
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 Viet Kieu. The Viet Kieu population has several communities in many countries around the world.

Geography

Vietnam is a long, narrow country, much like Chile. The country is covered in rainforests that are currently going under 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.

History

Vietnam is famous for its ancient civilization and some of the world's most ancient and important monuments, including the Huế's Forbidden City and the Hội An Ancient Town; the southern part of the country contains a particularly large number of ancient artifacts such as the Mỹ Sơn Holy Land and the Óc Eo Citadel.

Viet

About 5000 years ago, the two ethnic tribes of the Lac Viet and Au Viet 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 Lac Viet tribes was the Van Lang, which was the most powerful tribe. The leader of this tribe later joined all the tribes together to found Van Lang Nation in 2897 BC, addressing himself as the King Hung. The next generations followed in their father's footsteps and kept this appellation. Based on historical documents, researchers correlatively delineated the location of Van 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. The Dong Son 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 Au-Viet tribes managed to expel the enemies and declared himself King An Duong Vuong and his territory Au Lac Nation (257-207 BC). In 208 BC, a Qin Dynasty general named Triệu Đà invaded Au Lac. An Duong Vuong 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 Au Lac 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.

Annam

When it was ruled by the Chinese Empire for many centuries, it was called Annam ("peaceful south").

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 September 2, 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 Hànội. 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 June 1, 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 Dien Bien Phu.

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) Việtnam. 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 Ho'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 Ngo Dinh Diem from power and killed him.

Regions of Vietnam

On September 2, 1969, Independence Day, President Hồ Chí Minh died of heart failure. People all across the nation cried for him. Even the Sàigòn newspaper said, "Việt Nam loses a unique politician" since this man had fought for freedom from their Japanese and French rulers.

Unification

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

Provinces

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

Red River Delta Bac Ninh Ha Nam Hai Duong Hung Yen Nam Dinh Ninh Binh Thai Binh Vinh Phuc Hanoi (municipality) Hai Phong (municipality)	North Central Coast Ha Tinh Nghe An Quang Binh Quang Tri Thanh Hoa Thua Thien-Hue	Northeast Bac Giang Bac Kan Cao Bang Ha Giang Lang Son Lao Cai Phu Tho Quang Ninh Thai Nguyen Tuyen Quang Yen Bai	Northwest Dien Bien Hoa Binh Lai Chau Son La
Central Highlands Dak Lak Dak Nong Gia Lai Kon Tum Lam Dong	South Central Coast Binh Dinh Binh Thuan Khanh Hoa Ninh Thuan Phu Yen Quang Nam Quang Ngai Da Nang (municipality)	Southeast Vung Tau (Ba Ria-Vung Tau) Binh Duong Binh Phuoc Dong Nai Tay Ninh Ho Chi Minh (municipality)	Mekong River Delta An Giang Bac Lieu Ben Tre Ca Mau Dong Thap Hau Giang Kien Giang Long An Soc Trang Tien Giang Tra Vinh Vinh Long Can Tho (municipality)

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

Related pages

Images

French Indochina in 1913.
US helicopter spraying chemical defoliants (probably Agent Orange) over the Mekong Delta, 1969.
People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) tank crashing through the gates of Independence Palace during the Fall of Saigon, which marking the end of Vietnam War.
The Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi.
The Presidential Palace in Hanoi, formerly the Palace of The Governor-General of French Indochina.
Chairman of the Communist Party Nguyễn Phú Trọng with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Hanoi, 2013.
Former Vietnamese President Trương Tấn Sang with his first lady during the Moscow Victory Day Parade, 9 May 2015.
Vietnamese troops on one of the disputed Spratly Islands in 2009.
Topographic map of Vietnam.
A panorama of Vietnam's Hạ Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mai Châu village in northern Vietnam, featuring a humid subtropical climate.
The saola, one of the world's rarest mammals, is native to Vietnam.
Hanoi's Keangnam Hanoi Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Vietnam.
Floating market in Mekong Delta.
Paddy fields in Sa Pa.
Saigon Trade Center, one of the first skyscrapers to be built in Ho Chi Minh City after the Doi Moi reforms.
The TOPIO 3.0 humanoid robot.
Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the busiest airport in Vietnam.
A section of the North–South Expressway linking Cầu Giẽ and Ninh Bình.
A rail crossing near My Son.
Hmong women in traditional dress in Sa Pa, northern Vietnam.
Hanoi's One Pillar Pagoda, a historic Buddhist temple.
The main Cao Đài temple in the city of Tây Ninh.
Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vinmec International Hospital in Hanoi.
The Municipal Theatre in Ho Chi Minh City.
The Vietnamese dan bau a monochord zither instrument.
The Temple of Literature in Hanoi.
A traditional Tết (Lunar New Year) tree.
Hội An's Ancient Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Pho, one of the most popular Vietnamese dishes.