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© Lonely Planet Publications 346 lonelyplanet.com VIETNAM •• History 347 HISTORY Vietnam has a history as rich and evocative FAST FACTS Vietnam as anywhere on earth. Sure, the American Area 329,566 sq km War in Vietnam captured the attention of the West, but centuries before that the Vi- Capital Hanoi etnamese were scrapping with the Chinese, Country Code %84 the Khmers, the Chams and the Mongols. Population 84 million Vietnamese civilisation is as sophisticated as Welcome to another world, a world where the colours are more vivid, where the landscapes that of its mighty northern neighbour China, Money US$1 = 16,035d (dong) are bolder, the coastline more dramatic, where the culture is richer, the history more compel- from where it drew many of its influences Seasons south hot & wet Apr-Sep, hot ling, where the tastes are more divine, where life is lived faster. This is the world of Vietnam, under a thousand-year occupation. Later & dry Oct-Mar; north hot & dry Apr- Sep, cool & wet Oct-Mar; central coast the latest Asian dragon to awake from its slumber. came the French and the humbling period of colonialism from which Vietnam was not typhoons Jul-Nov Nature has blessed Vietnam with a bountiful harvest: with soaring mountains, a killer to emerge until the second half of the 20th Phrases xin chào (hello), tam biêt (good- coastline and radiant rice fields, it is simply stunning. After more than 4000 dramatic kilo- century. The Americans were simply the last bye), cam ơn (thank you) in a long line of invaders who had come and metres, the mighty Mekong spills into Vietnam, blanketing the landscape in a patchwork of gone through the centuries and, no matter emerald-green rice paddies, timelessly tended by peasant women in conical hats. This is Cuu what was required or how long it took, they Contact with the West Long, or the river of nine dragons, a water world of floating markets and bobbing boats. too would be vanquished. If only the plan- In 1858 a joint military force from France and ners in Washington had paid a little more the Spanish colony of the Philippines stormed Vietnam is a nation of determined optimists who have weathered war upon war; survived attention to the history of this proud nation, Danang after several missionaries were killed. colonialism, a closed society and communist rule; and come out alive and kicking as an the trauma and tragedy of a brutal war might Early the next year, it seized Saigon. By 1883 intact culture. Fiercely protective of their independence and sovereignty, the Vietnamese have been avoided. the French had imposed a Treaty of Protec- torate on Vietnam. French rule often proved are graciously welcoming of foreigners who come as guests not conquerors. Early Vietnam cruel and arbitrary. Ultimately, the most suc- Don’t believe the hype. Or the propagandist party billboards that are as common as statues The sophisticated Indianised kingdom of cessful resistance came from the communists, Funan flourished from the 1st to 6th cen- first organised by Ho Chi Minh in 1925. of ‘Uncle Ho’. Believe your senses, as you discover one of the most enriching, enlivening turies AD in the Mekong Delta area. Arch- During WWII, the only group that signifi- and exotic countries on earth. aeological evidence reveals that Funan’s cantly resisted the Japanese occupation was busy trading port of Oc-Eo had contact with the communist-dominated Viet Minh. When China, India, Persia and even the Mediter- WWII ended, Ho Chi Minh – whose Viet ranean. Between the mid-6th century and the Minh forces already controlled large parts of 9th century, the Funan empire was absorbed the country – declared Vietnam independent. HIGHLIGHTS by the pre-Angkorian kingdom of Chenla. French efforts to reassert control soon led Around the late 2nd century when the to violent confrontations and full-scale war. Discover a stunningly situated former hill Hindu kingdom of Champa was putting down In May 1954, Viet Minh forces overran the station hemmed in on all sides by rugged Sapa roots in the Danang area, the Chinese con- French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. VIETNAM mountains at Sapa ( p376 ), home to a dizzy- Hanoi Halong Bay quered the Red River Delta near Hanoi. The Geneva Accords of mid-1954 provided ing mix of minority people Thus began a thousand-year pattern of for a temporary division of Vietnam at the VIETNAM VIETNAM Explore the captivating capital Hanoi ( p351 ), the Vietnamese resisting the yoke of Chinese Ben Hai River. When Ngo Dinh Diem, the steeped in history, pulsating with life, bub- rule, while at the same time adopting many anticommunist, Catholic leader of the south- bling with commerce, buzzing with motor- Chinese innovations to evolve into today’s ern zone, refused to hold the 1956 elections, bikes and rich in exotic scents rice-growing society. The most famous act of the Ben Hai line became the border between Hoi An Experience nature at its outrageous best resistance during this period (c 200 BC–AD North and South Vietnam. in Halong Bay ( p369 ), where hundreds of 938) was the rebellion of the two Trung sisters limestone peaks tower above the shimmer- (Hai Ba Trung), self-declared queens of the The American War in Vietnam ing seas; it’s a karst system with a difference Vietnamese state, who drowned themselves Around 1960, the Hanoi government changed rather than surrender to the Chinese. its policy of opposition to the Diem regime Fall in love with the old-world atmosphere of By the 10th century, Vietnam had declared from one of ‘political struggle’ to one of Hoi An ( p387 ), a place to savour slowly independence from China and so began ‘armed struggle’. The National Liberation Enter the Mekong Delta ( p419 ), a world of almost one thousand years of a dynastic Front (NLF), a communist guerrilla group water, a carpet of dazzling greens in the rice Mekong Delta tradition. During this era, the Vietnamese better known as the Viet Cong (VC), was basket of the country, a place for slow boat- successfully repulsed attacks by foreign in- founded to fight against Diem. ing, markets floating and delicious fish vaders, eventually absorbing the kingdom of A brutal ruler, Diem was assassinated in Champa as they expanded south. 1963 by his own troops. After Hanoi ordered 348 VIETNAM lonelyplanet.com lonelyplanet.com VIETNAM •• People & the Population 349 0 200 km North Vietnamese Army (NVA) units to in- enough of the place. The future is bright, but VIETNAM 0 120 miles filtrate the South in 1964, the situation for ultimate success depends on how well the To To B›ij¸ng K¥nmíng the Saigon regime became desperate. In 1965 Vietnamese can follow the Chinese road to CHINA Hék¡u Bac the USA committed its first combat troops, development: economic liberalisation with- Ha Ba Be Lao Cai National Nanning soon joined by soldiers from South Korea, out political freedom. With only two million Fansipan Park (3143m) Sapa Yougi Guan Australia, Thailand and New Zealand in an ef- paid-up members of the Communist Party Red CHINA Lai Chau Hoang Lien Mountains fort to bring global legitimacy to the conflict – and 80 million Vietnamese, it is a road they River Thai Huu Nhgi Quan Tam Nguyen Phongsali Dao Lang Son Dongxing sound familiar? must tread carefully. Mong Cai Viet Tri As Vietnam celebrated the Lunar New Year Tay Dien Bien Son La Halong Bai Tu Long Bay Zhanjiang Phu Ba Vi HANOI City Trang National Hai Phong Halong in 1968, the VC launched a surprise attack, PEOPLE & THE POPULATION Na Maew Park Hoa Bay LAOS Mai Binh known as the Tet Offensive, marking a crucial The Vietnamese are battle-hardened, proud Sam Neua Nam Dinh Cat Ba Island & Chau Hoa Cat Ba National Park turning point in the war. Many Americans, and nationalist, as they have earned their Lu Red River Delta Luang Nam Xoi Cuc Ninh ὈBinh who had for years believed their government’s stripes in successive skirmishes with the Perfume Phuong Tam Coc Prabang Nong Pagoda National insistence that the USA was winning, started world’s mightiest powers. But that’s the older Haet Park Thanh Hoa Nam Can demanding a negotiated end to the war. The generation, who remember every inch of the Hainan Paris Agreements, signed in 1973, provided territory for which they fought. For the new Island Gulf of CHINA for a cease-fire, the total withdrawal of US generation, Vietnam is a place to succeed, a Vinh Tonkin Cha combat forces and the release of American place to ignore the staid structures set in stone Lo Mekong Nam Phao prisoners of war. by the communists, and a place to go out and VIENTIANE 1A have some fun. Reunification As in other parts of Asia, life revolves Dong Hoi Tha Khaek Saigon surrendered to the NVA on 30 April around the family; there are often several Nakhon Phanom 9 Vinh Moc Former Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) 1975. Vietnam’s reunification by the com- generations living under one roof. Poverty, Ben Hai River munists meant liberation from more than a and the transition from a largely agricultural Dansavanh Dong Ha River Lao Khe Hué century of colonial repression, but was soon society to that of a more industrialised nation, Bao Sanh Paracel Islands followed by large-scale internal repression. sends many people seeking their fortune to Savannakhet Danang Bach Ma Hundreds of thousands of southerners fled the bigger cities and is changing the structure National Hoi An THAILAND Park Vietnam, creating a flood of refugees for the of the modern family unit.