Country Profile: Vietnam

Brief Description:

Vietnam occupies the eastern and southern part of the Indochinese peninsula in Southeast Asia.Officially Vietnam is said Socialist Republic of Vietna. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam . It is a communist state.

Brief history:

The Vietnamese are descendants of nomadie Mongols from China and migrants from Indonesia. According to mythology, the first ruler of Vietnam was Hung Vuong , who founded the nation in 2879 B.C China ruled the nation then know as Nam Viet as a vassal state from 111 B.C. Until the 15^th century, an era of nationalistic expansion, when Cambodians were pushed out of the southern area of what is now Vietnam . In the following centuries , large numbers of Chinese settlers, officials and scholars moved south to impose a centralized state system on the Vietnamese. During this era Vietnam was a key port of call on the sea route between china and India . The early Vietnamese learned much more from the Chinese, including the construction of dikes and irrigation works .This innovations helped make rice the ‘staff of like’ and paddy agriculture remains the foundation of the Vietnamese way of life to this day. In 1516 the Portuguese were the first Europeans to enter the area .During the following decades the Portuguese began to trade with Vietnam ,setting up a commercial colony alongside those of the Japanese and Chinese at Faifo . French established its influence in the 19^th century and within 80 years it conquest the three regions into ahich the country was then divided-Cochin China in the south ,Annam in the central region and Tonkin in the North . France first unified Vietnam in 1887, when a single governor generalship was created, followed by the first physical links between north and south a rail and road system . The imposition of French colonial rule had ret with little organized resistance. By the early 1920s, nationalist parties began to demand reform and independence. In 1930 the revolutionary Ho chi Minh formed an Indo Chinese Communist party. Until WWII started in 1939, such groups laboured without success. When the Japanese surrendered to the Allies in august 1945, Vietnam forces arose throughout Vietnam and declared the establishment of an independent republic in Hanoi. The French had managed to regain control of Vietnam , at least in name through the franco-viet Minh war. After eight years of fighting , the viet Minh controlled much of Vietnam and neighboring Laos. In 1954, The Geneva conference opened to negotiate an end to the conflict. They divided the country at the 17^th parallel, with the Vietminh in the north and the French and their Vietnamese supporters in the south. To avoid permanent partition, a political protocol was dream up, calling for national elections to reunify the country two years after the singing of the treaty . After Geneva, the Vietminh in Hanoi refrained from armed struggle and began to build a communist society. The south was ruled by a government led by Ngo Dinh Diem, a fiercely anticommunist catholic.Nationwide elections were never held , as the Americans rightly feared that HGo chi Minh would win with a massive majority . The campaign to liberate the south was rocked by anti-Diem unrest led by university students and Buddhist clergy. The communists decided it was time to resume their revolutionary war . In the fall of 1963,Diem was over thrown and killed in a coup lauched by his own generals . Skirmishing grew into a full scale war , with escalating U.S. involvement. In 1972, secret peace negotiations led by secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger took place, and a peace settlement was signed in Paris on lamary 27, 1973. By April 9, 1975, ending a war that claimed the lives of 1.3 million Vietnamese and 58000 Americans .

In 1976, The south was reunited with the North in a new socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 1977, border clashes between Vietnam and Cambodia intensified . Beijing cut off all aid and withdrew 800 technicians Vietnamese troops began limited withdrawals from laos and Cambodian in 1988, and Vietnam supported the Cambodia in 1988, and Vietnam supported the Cambodian peace agreement signed in October 1991. Within Vietnam ,postwar economic and social problems were severe and reconstruction proceeded slowly. In the early 1990s the government ended price controls on most agricultural production, encouraged foreign investment and sought to improve its foreign relation with china .In 1992 , Vietnam signed a 1976 ASEAN agreement on regional amity and co-operation, regarded as the first step toward ASEA member ship and it established diplomatic relation with south Korea.

In November 2001, Vietnam’s national assembly approved a trade agreement that opened U.S markets to vietnam’s largest trading partner , buying about $7 billion in Vietnamese goods every year. Vietnam became the 150^th member of the world trade organization in January 2007, after waiting 12 years to join the group.

Vietnam at a glance:

Population:

The total population is about 90,388,000

Currency :

The name of Vieatnam Currency is  đồng (VND)

Main Languages:

Vietnamese

Capital:

Hanoi

Largest City: Ho Chi Minh City

Demonym : Vietnamese

Anthem: " Tien Quan Ca"

Government : Communist state, Socialist state, Single-party state

Calling Code : +84

Time Zone:
               ITC (Indochina Time (UTC _7)