The early inhabitants of Southeast Asia date back as far as 8,000 BC, and were simple hunter-gatherers. However, a slow southwestwardly migration of Austronesian (Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian) and Austro-Asiatic (Mon, Khmer, Vietnamese) speaking settlers, from China, gradually pushed out the native Australo-Melanesian speaking inhabitants. These new settlers brought with them Chinese agricultural practices based on intensive rice production, so that by about 4,000 BC rice was being cultivated throughout the region, and from about 3,000 BC metalworking started.

 

Between about 600 and 300BC there is good evidence of an agricultural based hierarchical society, and by 200BC the first Vietnamese state of Co Loa was founded with its base just north of modern day Hanoi, in northern Vietnam. However, increased incursions by the Chinese Han dynasty eventually led to the downfall of Co Loa in 111BC. From then on the lands of northern Vietnam came increasingly under the domination of China and for the 1,000 years there existed a constant struggle between the Vietnamese and their Chinese overlords.

 

To the south, around the modern city of Hué, in central Vietnam, the kingdom of Champa came into existence from the 2 ^nd century onwards. Descendents of Austronesian settlers, the Chams developed a more diverse economy relying on agriculture, fishing, trade and piracy, and soon became an important centre for international trade.

 

The break-up of the Tang dynasty in China allowed the Vietnamese to finally throw off the rule of the Chinese and in 939 won a significant victory over the southern Han dynasty. The newly independent kingdom of Dai Viet rapidly strengthened and expanded its power base, firstly by repulsing the Mongol invasions of the 1280s and then the southward absorption of the Chams in 1471.

 

By the early 16 ^th century Vietnam had descended into civil war and in 1527 the country divided into two separate kingdoms. A period of brief stability culminated in massive warfare, aided by European gunsmiths in the form of musket and canon, around the city of Hué during the early 17th century. By 1670 an uneasy peace was established between the north and south. Feeling the constant pressure both economically and militarily the southern kingdom accelerated southward expansion, and eventually pushed the Cambodians out of the Mekong delta.

 

The reunification of Vietnam came eventually from the most unlikely of sources. Three brothers from the village of Tayson, in southern-central Vietnam, managed to lead a rebellion against the southern Nguyen rulers that, in 1778, saw them take power of the south from Hué. By 1786 the north had been conquered and Vietnam was again unified under one ruler. The brothers tried to adopt principals of government that would bridge the gap between the lower classes and the aristocracy by declaring rich and poor equal. However, they were unable to prevent the grandson of the previous Nguyen king - with help from the Thai kings - from recapturing Saigon in1788, Hué in 1801 and eventually the entire county. Crowned emperor of Vietnam in 1802, the new Nguyen rulers quickly returned to the old elitist Confucian thinking.

 

As colonial powers increased there interest in Southeast Asia the French moved in on Vietnam and, in response to the execution of a number of missionaries, by 1859 had taken Saigon. Shortly after that, the then emperor Tu Duc signed a treaty giving the French a large part of the Mekong Delta. Continued expansion by the French, due largely to the need to compensate the loss of power in Europe after the collapse of Napoleon, led eventually to the French imposing a treaty of protectorate on the whole of Vietnam in 1884. Colonial rule simply exploited Vietnam’s resources, and from 1920 onwards, the establishment of rubber plantations became hugely important to the French economy. French rule also turned out to be unnecessarily cruel and fostered widespread racial discrimination. Increased dissatisfaction with the French led to the formation of various communist and nationalist opposition groups in the 1920’s and 30’s, which were rapidly and ruthlessly suppressed by the French and Madame Guillotine.

 

French rule came to an abrupt end with the onset of World War II, and the Japanese invasion of Indochina. During the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh’s communist Viet Minh guerrillas proved to be the only really effective resistance to the Japanese rule and by the end of the war controlled large parts of the country. Not surprisingly Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent and soon after war broke out with the French as they tried to reassert control over Vietnam. In 1954 Viet Minh forces overran the French garrison of Dien Bien Phu and this decisive engagement signalled the end of French rule in Indochina. Soon after the country was temporarily divided into two zones, along the Ben Hai River, prior to agreed elections. Communist Viet Minh forces, under Ho Chi Minh, took control of the north and non-communists, under a catholic named Ngo Dinh Diem, took control of the south. In 1956 Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold the promised elections, knowing full well that the communists would win, and the Ben Hai River now became the border between North and South Vietnam.

 

By 1960 the North Vietnamese gave up their political struggle to reunite Vietnam and took up arms, in the form of the newly created VC (Vietcong). An unpopular leader, the drug-crazed and brutal Ngo Dinh Diem was eventually assassinated by his own people in 1963, and by 1964 The NVA (North Vietnamese Army) had started incursions into South Vietnam. Due to their paranoid fear of communism the US had taken over, after the French left, as the major backer of the South Vietnamese, and in 1965 committed their first ground troops to the escalating conflict. Soon after troops from Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and South Korea also entered the conflict.

 

For the first few years of the war massive bombing campaigns and search-and-destroy ground offensives seemed to be turning the conflict in favour of the Americans, but the nature of the terrain and the tactics of the North Vietnamese made progress increasing difficult and bloody. The guerrilla tactics and the difficulty in distinguishing VC from the civilian population meant that for every VC killed, six civilians were killed. This indiscriminate killing of Vietnamese and the mounting death toll of American troops lead to Anti-war protests in New York in 1967. The increasing disillusionment with the war was further compounded by the massive Tet offensive of 1968.

 

During the Vietnamese New Year (Tet) of 1968 the North Vietnamese launched an offensive aimed at urban centres deep inside South Vietnam, and even included an attack on the American embassy in Saigon. Although unsuccessful in its aim to overthrow the southern regime, and costing some 40,000 VC dead, the attacks further lowered American morale and its resolve to keep fighting in the region. Peace talks were started at the end of 1968 and, even thought the Americans renewed a massive bombing campaign into Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, by 1973 US troops pulled out of Vietnam leaving the South to its own fate. The North Vietnamese continued their push south and steadily captured more and more land. The corrupt government in the South, the unpopularity of the Americans brutal tactics, and the promise of a redistribution of land from the rich to the poor, ensured massive popular support for the NVA amongst villagers in the South, and led to rapid capitulation of Nguyen Van Thieu’s government on 30 ^th April 1975.

 

Unfortunately Ho Chi Min died in 1969 and was unable to see the unification of his beloved Vietnam, but his northern communist system was soon in place throughout the country. In 1981 the country adopted a one-party communist system under the leadership of the veteran Truong Chinh, who became chairman of the State Council. War in Cambodia, between 1979-89, economic decay from corrupt state ownership, and international isolation all led to a loosening up of the communist regime’s economic policies during the mid to late 80’s. This culminated in a trade agreement with the US in 1999 and a visit from the then President Bill Clinton in 2000.

 

Vietnam’s social policies since the end of its bloody civil war has helped foster a sense of social justice, which has helped the country reach a high literacy rate of 94% (equal to Thailand) and an equality between the sexes better than any other country in the region. Although today Vietnam is still a communist state and a poor country, its liberal economic policies and joining of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in 1995 has given it a real chance of economic and social success in the future.