History of Viet Nam

 

In the first thousand years B.C. three centres of early civilisations were gradually established in Viet Nam, which closely connected with primitive governing states. they included the Dong Son Civilisation; the Sa Huynh Civilisation and the Oc Eo Civilisation. Based on these stages of civilisation a primitive from of governing state was founded by the ancient Viet people known as the legendary Van Lang country governed by Hung kings. By the Dong Son period, the kingdom of Van Lang extended to Hunan in Southern China. The capital was moved to Vinh Phu in Upper Tonkin. By 300 B.C., it seems the people in the region of Kwangtung and Tonkin were divided into Au Viet, Vietnamese of the highlands and Lac Viet, vietnamese of plains. Most scholars accept that the Vietnamese are not descended from one single racial group, that they are instead a racial mixture of Austro-Indonesian and Mongolian races.

The kingdom of Funan:

The kingdom of Funan flowished along the Mekong Delta between the first and sixth centuries A.D. This highly developped civilisation was strongly influenced by India. They maintained Funan's commercial ties with the Gulf of Siam, Indonesia, Persia and the countries of mediterranean. This brilliant civilisation was absorbed in the seventh century and disappeared.

The Champa Kingdom:

The Cham existed from the second to the sixteenth century throughout the central highlands of Viet Nam. The Cham were separated into clans: Narikel Vamsa (Coconut Clan) and Kramuk Vamsa ( Betelnut Clan). The Narikel Vamsa primarily ruled the northern regions of kingdom, the Kramuk Vamsa centered in the South. Much like the brahman cultures that flourish in India, the Cham culture utilized a caste system. The strict rigor of this system benefited the privileged Brahmans ans Kshatriyas, and served to relegate untouchables to the periphery of organized life. Marriages tended to occur within the same caste with little deviation. Bodies were also cremated in the funeral pyre, called a Ghat, instead of being buried in a family grave. A striking difference from some older animist beliefs that already existed in Viet Nam. The Cham people also adopted the Hindu practice of not eating beef - a practice still observed in some areas of Viet Nam today.The most impressive Cham ruins can be found in the former capitals and at the sacred site of My Son, a major destination for pilgrins. Shimapura, near Tra Kieu, was the first Cham capital. King Indravarman II (875-896) founded Indrapura near what is Dong Dulong. Champa attained its zenith during the reign of Indravarman III (918 - 958). The transfer of the political capital of Vijaya, near Binh Dinh, heralded the kingdom's decline. The last Cham king was killed by Hue warlords in 1692.

Defence for National Independence:

In 111 B.C., Chinese armies conquered Nam Viet and absorbed it into the growing Han Empire. The Chinese conquest had fateful consequences for the future course of Vietnamese history. As far as politics is concerned, a series of revolts organised by the Vietnamese people to regain national independence were launched almost without interruption. Such revolts which were led uprising against foreign rule, by Hai Ba Trung (the two Trung ladies) in A.D. 39, or Ba Trieu (lady Trieu), and Finally, in 938, vietnamese forces under Ngo Quyen took advantage of chaotic condotions in China to defeat local occupation troops and set up an independent state.

Independence:

This period also lasted about one thousand years ( from early 10th Century to the middle of the 19th century). This period was billed as a brilliant era of national revival and developpement especially during the reigns of the Ly dynasty (1010 - 1225). Although the rise of the Ly reflected the emergence of lively sense of Vietnamese nationhood, Ly rulers retained many political and social institutions that had been introduced during the period of Chinese rule.

Under the rule of the Ly dynasty and its successor, the Tran dynasty (1225 - 1400), Viet Nam became a dynamic force in Southeast Asia. China's rulers, however, had not abadonned their historic objective of controlling the Red River delta, and when the Mongol dynasty came to power in the 13th Century, the armies of Kublai Khan attacked Viet Nam in an effort to reincorporate it into Chinese Empire. The Vietnamese resisted with vigor, and after several bitter battles they defeated the invaders and drove them back across the border.

Le Loi mounted the Throne as the first emperor of the Le dynasty (1428 - 1527). During this period the capital city of feudal courts was removed to Thang Long (the present day Hanoi). Buddhism and Taoism dominated ideological and social life. Quoc Tu Giam, the first university in Viet Nam, was opened at the present-day site of Van Mieu (Temple of Literature). The country was booming, leading to the constructions of citadels, temples and palaces. Traditionnal artistic, music and theatrical forms were given maore room for survival. Contemporary entertainement included tuong and cheo, two of several kind of Vietnamese classical opera, while music and dance, water puppetry and wrestling, also flourished.

In the late 17th century the vietnamese feudal state was faced with a social and economic crisis that led to an annexation of the country into two parts. Angry peasants - led by the Tay Son brothers - revolted, and in 1789 Nguyen Hue, the ablest of the brothers, briefly restored Viet Nam to united rule. Nguyen Hue died shortly after ascending the throne; a few years later Nguyen Anh, defeated the Tay Son armies. As Emperor Gia Long, he established a new dynasty in 1802.

In the first half of the 19th century, the Nguyen dynasty continued to consolidate national unification.

French Colonisation:

A French missionary, Pierre Pigneau de Behaine, had raised a mercenary force to help Nguyen Anh seize the throne in the hope that the new emperor would provide France with trading and missionary privileges, but his hopes were disappointed. When pressure was exerted by commercial and military interests,French Emperor, Napoleon III, approved the launching of a naval expedition in1858 to punish the Vietnamese and force the court to accept a French protectorate. and, in 1862, the court of Hue agreed to cede several provinces in the mekong delta (later called Cochinchina) to France. In the 1880s the French returned to the offensive, launching an attack on the north. after severals defeats, the vietnamese accepted a french protectorate over remaining territory of Viet Nam.

In 1930, the Communist Party of Viet Nam was founded by Ho Chi Minh. The party led vietnamese people to a revolutionary victory in August 1945. However, the Vietnamese people had to immediately launch resistance war against agression perpetrated by the old and the neo-colonialist powers. The resistance war ended with a resounding victory at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954.

The Viet Nam war:

In the fall of 1963, Diem, the anti-communist president, was overthrown and killed in a cop launched by his own generals. In the political confusion that followed, the security situation in South Viet Nam continued to deteriorate, putting the communists within reach of victory. In early 1965, to prevent the total collapse of Saigon ( Ho Chi Minh City) regime, U.S. President, Lyndon Johnson approved regular intensive bombing of North Viet Nam and the dispatch of U.S. combat troops into the South. Ho Chi Minh died in 1969 and was succeded by Le Duan. The new U.S. president, Richard Nixon, continued Johnson's policy while gradually withdrawing U.S. troops. In january 1973 the war temporarily came to an end with the signing of a peace agreement in Paris. The settlement provided for the total removal of remaining U.S. troops, while Hanoi tacitly agreed to accept the Thieu regime inpreparation far new national elections.

The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam:

In 1976 the South was reunited with the North in a new Socialist Repubic of Viet Nam. In 1990 the European Union established official diplomatic relations with Viet nam. The United States removed a trade embargo in 1994, and in 1995 Viet Nam ant the United States agreed to exchange low-level diplomats, although full diplomatic relations have not been established.

At present the Vietnamese people are entering a new period of developpement known as the period of openness their renovation, leading the people to further advance on the way to develop their national economy and join the ranks of the developed countries.