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Home > History of Vietnam

 Contents
1 Origins
2 Dynastic Period
3 The Changing Names
4 Colonization
5 True independence
6 Reforms
7 Reference
8 External links
9 Further reading
Vietnam's history goes back more than 2,500 years. For a thousand years, it was a part of the Han Chinese Empire. Vietnam regained independence in the early 10th century, and complete autonomy a century later. The native dynastic period ended in mid-19th century, when the country was colonized by France. During WWII, Japan occupied Vietnam. After the war, France attempted to re-establish control but ultimately failed. The Geneva Accords partitioned the country in two. During this Cold War period, the North was supported by China and the USSR while the South was supported by the USA. Tensions quickly escalated into the Vietnam War. The war ended with the American withdrawal from Vietnam in March 1973 and the capture of Saigon in April 1975.

1 Origins

According to legend, the first Vietnamese descended from a dragon Lac Long Quan and a heavenly spirit Au Co. Lac Long Quan had a son Hung Vuong, the first Vietnamese king. The Hung kings ruled the Van Lang civilization. The predecessors of the Vietnamese people, the Au, emigrated from present southern China to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous Van Lang population. The modern Vietnamese language is a Mon-Khmer language, with many borrowed Cantonese words.

In 258 BC An Duong Vuong founded the kingdom of Au Lac, in North Vietnam. A Qin Chinese general in 208 BC defeated An Duong Vuong and adopted the Vietnamese name Trieu Da. When the Qin empire fell to the Han, Trieu Da proclaimed himself a king. Trieu Da combined Au Lac with territories in southern China and named his kingdom Nam Viet. Nam means south. Viet is a derivation of Yue, the Chinese name for the Guang Dong, Guang Xi, and Vietnam regions.

Trieu Da's family ruled Nam Viet until 111 BC, when the Han Emperor Wudi invaded the country and renamed it as Giao Chi prefecture.

Despite a program of Sinicization, the Viets refused assimilation and rebelled in 40 AD. The rebellion was led by the widow Trung TracThe Trung Sisters known in Vietnamese as the Hai Ba Trng are two 1st century women regarded as the national heroines of Vietnam. Trung Trac and Trung Nhi spearheaded resistance to the occupying Chinese for three years before, according to tradition, drown and her sister Trung Nhi. The Trung sisters are regarded as the first Vietnamese patriots, as they later committed suicide than submit to Chinese rule. The Trung sisters are often depicted as riding war elephants in battle.

The Viets threw off Chinese domination in 938 AD. At the Bach Dang river in North Vietnam, Ngo Quyen defeated the Chinese and ushered in the Ngo, Dinh, Le, and Ly dynasties. During this period, the Viets expanded south and fought a series of wars against the Champa and Khmer kingdoms. In 1288 AD, the Viets under Tran Hung Dao fought the second battle of the Bach Dang river and stopped a Mongol invasion.

The modern name of Vietnam came under the Vietnamese Emperor Gia Long. In 1802, he asked the Manchu Chinese Emperor for permission to rename the country, from An Nam to Nam Viet. To prevent any confusion of Gia Long's kingdom with Trieu Da's ancient kingdom, the Chinese Emperor reversed the order of the two words to Viet Nam.



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Topics: History Of Vietnam, Origins, Dynastic Period, The Changing Names...

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