Over thousands of years the Vietnamese have passed down the legend of their origin as being descendants of the Dragon and the Fairy. An extremely strong son of a dragon, Lac Long Quan, having killed a sea monster, settled in what is now Vietnam, and married a fairy, Au Co. Together, they gave birth to a membrane with a hundred eggs which later became a hundred children. Fifty of the children followed the father to the sea, and fifty stayed with their mother in the mountainous area. The eldest son was proclaimed King Hung Vuong, and the country Van Lang, which today is Vietnam.
According to archaeological discoveries, in the Paleolithic age (about 40,000 years ago), Vietnam was inhabited by men. In the Neolithic age, the inhabitants could practice husbandry and the cultivation of wet rice. The first State actually took shape in the Bronze age with the splendid Dongsonian culture. In the 2nd century B.C., the country (then called Au Lac) was invaded by the Chinese, Han, and Vietnam came under the domination of Chinese feudalism for more than ten centuries.
In the 10th century A.D., Vietnam regained its independence from China, and was then called Dai Viet. The country was ruled by several successive dynasties, the most significant being the Ly dynasty (the 11th and 12th centuries), the Tran dynasty (the 13th and 14th centuries), and the Le dynasty (the 15th to 17th centuries). The rulers of these dynasties developed administrations characterized by centralization of power and strong military forces, which made the economy and the culture thrive.
During the time of these dynasties, Vietnam had to wage consecutive wars to fight against attacks from Northern feudalist and Mongolian aggressors. The protracted and tough resistance wars against the Sung (11th century), the Yuan-Mongols (13th century) and the Ming (15th century) won glorious victories, and after each war of resistance, Vietnam became stronger, its nationalities more consolidated, and the country more prosperous.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnamese feudalism fell into decadence. A peasant hero named Nguyen Hue defeated feudal lords and the Ching aggressors (1798) and reunified the country. Later, Nguyen Anh, who was supported by a foreign feudal ruler, was proclaimed the King. Nguyen Anh founded the last feudal dynasty in Vietnam, the Nguyen dynasty.
In the mid-19th century (1858), French troops invaded Vietnam, and slowly, step-by-step, the Nguyen dynasty surrendered. As a result of this surrender, the whole of Vietnam came under French domination in 1884.
Under French rule, uprisings by the people and wars of resistance broke out all over the country. However, all these efforts were doomed to failure.
Nguyen Ai Quoc, the great patriot (later President Ho Chi Minh, 1890-1969) traveled the world looking for a way to carry out national salvation. In 1930, he founded the Indochinese Communist Party. In 1945, Vietnam regained its independence from the French and the Japanese under the leadership of the Party. With the Proclamation of Independence on September 2, 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was established.
French troops returned to occupy the country. The Vietnamese had to wage a tough nine-year war of resistance (1945-1954), which ended with the victory at Dien Bien Phu (May 7, 1954). Under the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam, the country was to be temporarily divided into two zones, that would be reunified two years later in 1956 by free general elections. The North was named the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, under which the supreme power is held by the people, with its capital established in Hanoi. The South was called the Republic of Vietnam, and was placed under pro-French, pro-American administrative machinery, with the capital in Sai Gon. The South Vietnam administration made every effort to prevent the general elections in 1956. The South carried out acts of repression, reprisals and the killing of former participants in resistance wars, and thereby generated the struggle for peaceful national unification. In Sai Gon, the puppet administration experienced instability, and could not suppress the increasingly widening struggle for reunification, led the South Vietnam National Front for Liberation, which was founded on December 20, 1960.
To prevent the Sai Gon regime from collapsing, the U.S. government increased military aid and introduced a half million U.S. and allied troops into South Vietnam. On August 5, 1964, U.S. aircraft bombed North Vietnam for the first time. On January 27, 1973, the Paris Agreement was signed and U.S. troops were compelled to withdraw. The Nguyen Van Thieu administration was finally overthrown after the 1975 Spring General Offensive, launched by the South Vietnam Liberation troops with the support of the Vietnam People=s Army. Vietnam was again reunited.
In 1977, Vietnam was admitted into the United Nations, becoming an official member.
During the protracted years of war, Vietnam was heavily devastated. From 1975 to 1986, Vietnam encountered innumerable difficulties. The aftermath and social evils left by the war, the waves of refugees, the southwest border war with the Khmer Rouge, the north border conflict with China, and repeated natural calamities were among the problems that posed serious challenges to Vietnam.
In 1986, Vietnam implemented the open renovation reforms, eliminating subsidiaries, and gradually shifting to a multi-sectoral market economy under State regulation. The economy has gradually risen out of what could have been termed crisis levels, and has achieved a fair growth rate.
The world has witnessed and appreciated the economic development and social stability of Vietnam. The policy to befriend all countries and nations of the world irrespective of their political and social regime has recorded undeniable results. Since 1991, Vietnam has entered into the orbit of development and integration into the world. On July 11, 1995, Vietnam and the United States officially normalized relations. On July 28, 1995, Vietnam became an official member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and in the same month Vietnam signed a trade agreement with the European Union. At the present time, Vietnam has established diplomatic relations with more than 160 countries, including most of the major powers in the world.