Vietnam

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, located in southeast Asia. With an area of 127,545 sq mi (330,341 sq km), Vietnam is bordered by Kampuchea (formerly Cambodia), and Laos on the west; China to the north and east; and the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea, and the Gulf of Thailand to the east and south. The capital is Hanoi.

Land and climate

Narrow and S-shaped, Vietnam is a 1,000-mi (1,609 km)-long strip on the Indo-China peninsula. The country's major cities and economic centers are located in the Red River delta in the north and the Mekong River delta in the south. More than 90% of the people live in the delta regions. Between them lies a heavily forested mountainous backbone giving way to a narrow coastal strip along the South China Sea and the Gulf of Tonkin. Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate with high humidity and rainfall.

People

About 85% of the people are Vietnamese. There are also urban Chinese minorities, though many Chinese fled the country in 1979 when hostilities flared up between Vietnam and China. There are also several distinct peoples in the highlands, such as the Meo, also called the Hmong, who preserve their own cultures. The major cities are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Hue, Da Nang, and Haiphong. The official language is Vietnamese and the dominant religions are Buddhism and Roman Catholicism, though the Vietnamese government discourages both.

Economy

Vietnam has an agricultural economy based principally upon rice growing in the Mekong and Red River deltas. Other crops include corn, cotton, hemp, sugarcane, rubber, coffee, and tea. Fishing and forestry are locally important. Minerals, including coal, iron, tin, zinc, lead, and phosphates are found mainly in the north, where most of the country's industry, chiefly the manufacture of iron and steel, chemicals and textiles, is concentrated. There is also some manufacturing around Ho Chi Minh City. Offshore oil deposits have been found.

History

Established as a distinct people by the 2nd century B.C., the Vietnamese now occupy what were formerly the distinct regions of Tonkin in the north, Annam in the center, and Cochin China in the south of their country. Tonkin and Annam were conquered by China in 111 B.C. In the 2nd century A.D., the Champa kingdom emerged in central Vietnam. The Chinese were eventually driven out in 939. The Annam empire then grew, eventually defeating and displacing the Champas in 1471 and expanding south into Cochin China. European traders and missionaries began arriving in the 1500s. French forces captured Saigon in 1859 and in 1862 the French annexed Cochin China and merged it with present-day Kampuchea to form French Indochina. During the Japanese occupation of Indochina (1941–45), the Vietnamese resisted. After the defeat and withdrawal of the Japanese, a republic was proclaimed under Ho Chi Minh in 1945. The French attempted to reassert their authority by establishing Bao Dai as emperor and became embroiled in a war between nationalist and communist guerrillas beginning in 1946. The French were finally defeated in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. At the Geneva Conference held that same year, the country was divided, pending nationwide free elections, into Communist North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh, and non-Communist South Vietnam. The French withdrew and, with U.S. backing, the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem declared an independent republic in South Vietnam in 1955 and, in 1956, refused to hold free elections. The Vietnam war ensued with South Vietnam being aided by the United States. At the height of its involvement, the United States had committed some 550,000 ground troops to the war. Despite a major military effort, the United States were unable to contain or defeat the Viet Cong guerrillas consisting of South Vietnamese opposed to the regime and North Vietnamese guerrillas reinforced by regulars of the North Vietnamese army. Successive South Vietnamese regimes proved unable to win popular backing and to provide the necessary political and military leadership. In addition, the United States suffered substantial setbacks to its international standing as the object of widespread criticism and resistance to the war at home and abroad. A cease-fire agreement was finally signed in 1973 and U.S. troops were withdrawn, but only at the end of a prolonged bombing campaign and the invasion of Cambodia. Upon the withdrawal of U.S. troops, Communist forces launched a major offensive and by 1975 had won control of all of South Vietnam, effectively ending 35 years of fighting. The unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was proclaimed in 1976. Since then, Vietnam has attempted to rebuild its society and economy but was further distracted by war with neighboring Kampuchea in 1979 when its forces overthrew the regime headed by Pol Pot. Years of war and economic dislocation have resulted in harsh living conditions and a large number of refugees. In the early 1990s the economy was liberalized and economic growth boomed. Vietnam, like other Asian countries, experienced a currency crisis (1997/98).