Việt Nam

Vietnam

This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên - CC BY-SA 3.0 This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên - CC BY-SA 3.0 xiquinhosilva - CC BY 2.0 This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Sasint - CC0 This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Trung Le - CC BY 2.0 Ondřej Žváček - CC BY 2.5 Sasint - CC0 Erwin Verbruggen from Amsterdam, The Netherlands - CC BY-SA 2.0 Jérémie B. - CC BY-SA 4.0 Aine Hickey - CC BY 3.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 Sasint - CC0 Doug Knuth from Woodstock, IL - CC BY-SA 2.0 This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 jeka3000 - CC BY-SA 3.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 Aine Hickey - CC BY 3.0 Doug Knuth from Woodstock, IL - CC BY-SA 2.0 dronepicr - CC BY 2.0 Rungbachduong - CC BY-SA 3.0 Sasint - CC0 The White House from Washington, DC - Public domain François Guerraz - CC BY-SA 3.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 Erwin Verbruggen from Amsterdam, The Netherlands - CC BY-SA 2.0 François Guerraz - CC BY-SA 3.0 Alexis Lê-Quôc from New York, United States - CC BY 2.0 Mark Limb - CC BY-SA 4.0 Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France - CC BY 2.0 The original uploader was Chuoibk at English Wikipedia. - CC BY-SA 3.0 Arian Zwegers - CC BY 2.0 Cyril Doussin from London, United Kingdom - CC BY-SA 2.0 Everjean - CC BY 2.0 This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Thang Nguyen - CC BY-SA 2.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 dronepicr - CC BY 2.0 haithanh - CC BY 2.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 calflier001 - CC BY-SA 2.0 Erwin Verbruggen from Amsterdam, The Netherlands - CC BY-SA 2.0 쿠도군 from kowp - CC BY 2.0 kr xiquinhosilva - CC BY 2.0 Mark Limb - CC BY-SA 4.0 Sasint - CC0 쿠도군 from kowp - CC BY 2.0 kr This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote. Feel free to use any of my images, but please men - CC BY 4.0 Doug Knuth from Woodstock, IL - CC BY-SA 2.0 Vyacheslav Argenberg - CC BY 4.0 Sasint - CC0 xiquinhosilva - CC BY 2.0 Jean-Pierre Dalbéra from Paris, France - CC BY 2.0 Doug Knuth from Woodstock, IL - CC BY-SA 2.0 Bùi Thụy Đào Nguyên - CC BY-SA 3.0 User dalbera on Flickr - CC BY 1.0 Thái Nhi at vi.wikipedia - Public domain Vyacheslav Argenberg - CC BY 4.0 Sasint - CC0 [Tycho] - CC BY-SA 3.0 Sasint - CC0 xiquinhosilva - CC BY 2.0 Khoitran1957 - CC BY-SA 4.0 Dave Bunnell - CC BY-SA 4.0 xiquinhosilva - CC BY 2.0 Doug Knuth from Woodstock, IL - CC BY-SA 2.0 S070502 - CC BY-SA 4.0 No images

Context of Vietnam

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. One of the two Marxist–Leninist states in Southeast Asia, 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.

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. Before the Han dynasty's invasion, Vietnam was marked by a vibrant mix of religion, culture, and social norms. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam, which were subsequently 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 Viet Minh, a coalition front led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam's independence from the Empire of Japan 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. It is part of international and intergovernmental institutions including the ASEAN, the APEC, the Non-Aligned Movement, the OIF, and the WTO. It has assumed a seat on the United Nations Security Council twice.