According to findjobdescriptions, Vietnam is a socialist people’s republic in Southeast Asia with a one-party system whose motto is independence, freedom and happiness. Vietnam’s capital is Hanoi. The country has a long history of colonization, war, division and reunification.

An overview of Vietnam’s history

The earliest human traces from the region of today’s Vietnam go back to antiquity. The production of ceramics and the cultivation of rice were known to the people living here three millennia BC.

From 111 BC Until the 10th century, the Han Chinese ruled Vietnam. From China’s independence, there was a cultural, political and economic heyday in Vietnam, which continued to expand to the south over the next few centuries.

Vietnam came under French colonial rule in the 19th century. After Japan gained power over Vietnam in the course of World War II, the French tried to regain control of the region. However, this was unsuccessful, whereupon Vietnam was divided in 1954 into socialist North Vietnam and South Vietnam, which was supported by Western powers. What followed was a 20-year bitter war that cost millions of Vietnamese lives – the Vietnam War

Vietnam war

The Vietnam War started in 1955, just when the Indochina war ended, and can be described as a proxy war in the Cold War. After the French colonial rule came to an end and the division of Vietnam was decided at a conference in Geneva, there was now a North and a South Vietnam. While North Vietnam was being run communist, it was the job of South Vietnamese leader Diem (who was deployed here by the United States from exile in the United States) to set up a bulwark against North Vietnamese and communism. His rigorous dictatorial style of rule eventually led to the civil war in South Vietnam

A major turning point in the Vietnam War is the 1964 Tonkin Incident, in which an American warship was attacked by North Vietnamese. President Johnson responded to the Tonkin incident with an offensive against North Vietnamese communists. The resistance of the communists continued, however, and the bloodshed dragged on for years. The American people lost confidence in President Johnson, which eventually helped Nixon to succeed him. This promised the Americans to end the Vietnam War.

But even after Nixon took office in 1968, there were further attacks and setbacks on both sides. It was only in 1973 that he managed to negotiate an armistice at a meeting in Paris. As a result, however, North Vietnam took the then Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh), so that all of Vietnam was under communist rule – the goal of the United States was completely missed. The Vietnam War ended on March 1, 1975.

In 2005, NSA secret files on the Vietnam War were released, alleging that the Tonkin incident to President Johnson was false.

Since the Vietnam War

A year after the end of the Vietnam War, Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh. From 1986, the Vietnamese economy grew strongly due to the extensive reforms by the Communist Party Vietnam, so that the country was finally reinstated in the international community.

The trade embargo between the United States and Vietnam has also been resolved in 1994.

Vietnam geography

Vietnam is an elongated country, with a length of 1,650 kilometers from north to south. The area of ​​the country is 331,690 square kilometers, which is about the size of Germany. With 87.3 million inhabitants, the population density is 263.2 people per km², which is also close to the population density in Germany.

The width of Vietnam is very different and varies from 600 kilometers at its widest point and 50 kilometers at its narrowest point.

In proportion to its size, Vietnam has a fabulously long coastline with a length of 3,400 kilometers. Here the country borders on the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea

The national borders with Laos, China and Cambodia form the further 3,000 kilometers of the outline of Vietnam.

Vietnam has two fertile river deltas in the north and south where rice is grown. The area in between is forested mountainous area. The Mekong Delta is a fertile alluvial plain, on the northeastern edge of which is the former city of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh. With a population of just over 7 million, Ho Chi Minh is not only the largest city in Vietnam, but also the country’s economic center.

The cities of Huê and Dà Nang lie on the Annamite coastline. This area is quite densely populated. The Annamite highlands, on the other hand, are very sparsely populated. Above all ethnic minorities live there.

The red river delta is the second very fertile area of ​​Vietnam where rice is also grown. Here is the capital Hanoi, which has 6.5 million inhabitants.

The city of Sa Pa is located at the foot of Vietnam’s highest mountain, Phan-xi-päng. It measures 3,144 meters. The Yunnan highlands lie on the border with China. Many ethnic minorities live here too.