Vietnam, officially the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam (
SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of
mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about 331,000 square kilometres (128,000 sq mi) and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's
fifteenth-most populous country. Vietnam shares land borders with
China to the north, and
Laos and
Cambodia to the west. It shares
maritime borders with
Thailand through the
Gulf of Thailand, and the
Philippines,
Indonesia, and
Malaysia through the
South China Sea. Its capital is
Hanoi and its largest city is
Ho Chi Minh City (commonly referred to by its former name, Saigon).
Vietnam was inhabited by the
Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the
Red River Delta in modern-day
northern Vietnam. The
Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under
Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the
first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive
monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through
Confucianism and
Buddhism, and
expanded southward to the
Mekong Delta,
conquering
Champa. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains of
Đàng Trong and
Đàng Ngoài. The
Nguyễn—the last imperial dynasty—surrendered to
France in 1883. In 1887, its territory was integrated into
French Indochina as three separate regions. In the immediate aftermath of
World War II, the nationalist coalition
Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary
Ho Chi Minh, launched the
August Revolution and
declared Vietnam's independence in 1945.
Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After
World War II, France returned to reclaim colonial power in the
First Indochina War, from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the
treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The
Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist
North Vietnam, supported by the
Soviet Union and
China, and the anti-communist
South Vietnam, supported by the
United States. Upon the
North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a
unitary
socialist state under the
Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. An ineffective
planned economy, a trade embargo by the
West, and wars with
Cambodia and
China crippled the country further. In 1986, the CPV initiated
economic and political reforms similar to the
Chinese economic reform, transforming the country to a
socialist-oriented market economy. The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into the
global economy and
politics.
Vietnam is a
developing country with a lower-middle-income economy. It has
high levels of corruption,
censorship,
environmental issues and a poor
human rights record; the country
ranks among the lowest in international measurements of
civil liberties,
freedom of the press, and
freedom of religion and ethnic minorities. It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the
ASEAN, the
APEC, the
CPTPP, the
Non-Aligned Movement, the
OIF, and the
WTO. It has assumed a seat on the
United Nations Security Council twice. (
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