Vietnam occupies the easternmost part of the Indochinese Peninsula, a rugged, elongated S-shaped strip of mountains, coastal plains, and river deltas.

The soils of the Red River and Mekong River deltas, the two major deltas of Vietnam, are composed of rich alluvium except where damming for flood control has altered the stream flow. Soils in the uplands are poor as a result of leaching of nutrients from the ground by the abundant rainfall.

The Red River in the north and the Mekong River in the south are the two major freshwater streams. The Red flows almost directly southeast from the northwestern highlands, whereas the Mekong follows an irregular path from Cambodia, crosses southernmost Vietnam, and empties in the South China Sea through a complex network of distributaries. Both rivers have been leveed to prevent flood damage.

Three basic climate types are found in Vietnam. In the north, especially in the interior, the temperatures are subtropical. Shifting seasonal wind patterns result in dry winters and wet summers. The central and southeastern areas typify the tropical monsoon climate, with high temperatures and abundant precipitation. In the southwest, distinct wet and dry periods are evident, but temperatures are higher than in the north.

Abundant vegetation exists throughout Vietnam except where the landscape has been denuded. Typical mixed stands in the rain forests contain a wide variety of pines, broadleaf trees, vines, and bamboos. Dense mangroves bordering the distributaries of the deltas often hinder access to the water's edge.

The tropical rain forests are inhabited by large mammals such as elephants, deer, bears, tigers, and leopards. Smaller animals, including monkeys, hares, squirrels, and otters, are found throughout the country. Reptiles such as crocodiles, snakes, and lizards, as well as many species of birds, are also indigenous.

The northern highlands of Vietnam contain valuable minerals, including iron, anthracite coal, phosphate, zinc, chromite, tin, and apatite. Petroleum and natural gas deposits lie offshore.

The Vietnamese, related to the southern Chinese, constitute the largest ethnic group in Vietnam and account for about 88 percent of the total population; the remainder are members of various ethnic groups. The size of the Chinese population, while still the largest minority, has decreased sharply with emigration.

The population of Vietnam (1995 estimate) is about 73,811,000, yielding a population density of about 224 persons per sq km (about 580 per sq mi). The majority live in small villages, though the southern part of the country is more urbanized than the northern part. Most people live in the delta areas or along the coast. The population of Vietnam is young: an estimated 37 percent of all Vietnamese people are less than 15 years of age, while 12 percent are over age 60. The population is increasing by about 2 percent annually.

The long period of military conflict in Vietnam seriously disrupted educational progress and cultural programs, especially those remnants that dated from the years of French rule. Curriculum reforms since 1979 have standardized lesson content throughout the country, strengthened socialist educational ideals, and increased the vocational aspects of higher education.

All schools in Vietnam were nationalized following reunification, and by the mid-1990s nearly 15.5 million pupils were in attendance. Schooling is free and compulsory. Universities in Vietnam include the University of Hanoi (1956) and the University of Ho Chi Minh City (1977). In 1989 Thang Long College opened in Hanoi, the country's first private college since 1954. About 88 percent of the adult population is literate.

The cultural life of Vietnam was strongly influenced by that of China until French domination in the 19th century. At that time the traditional culture began to acquire an overlay of Western characteristics. The postwar government expressed its desire to rid Vietnamese life of Western influences.

The Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts (1966) in Hanoi includes an exhibition of the tools and costumes of more than 60 ethnic groups in Vietnam. The National Library was established in Hanoi in 1919; a counterpart was founded in Ho Chi Minh City in 1976.

Vietnam's modern economy evolved under the burden of military actions and political upheavals. After partition in 1954, the nations of North Vietnam and South Vietnam each developed their own economic structure, reflecting different economic systems with different resources and different trading partners. The North operated under a highly centralized, planned economy, whereas the South maintained a free-market economy. With the reunification of Vietnam in 1976, North Vietnam's centrally planned economy was introduced into the South. In 1986 the government began a program of reforms to move toward a market-based economy, and in the early and mid-1990s Vietnam made rapid economic progress.

In 1994 Vietnam had an estimated annual gross domestic product (GDP) of $15.57 billion. To counteract economic stagnation, a development program in 1990 called for a doubling of per capita income, a 50 percent increase in the rice crop, and a fivefold increase in the value of exports by the year 2000. With the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Vietnam lost its principal benefactor. However, measures taken earlier to end most controls on the production and marketing of agricultural products and a steady increase in petroleum production allowed Vietnam to escape the effects of the collapse of the USSR, as well as to offset the effects of a trade embargo by the United States (which was lifted in 1994). The nation's economy was expanding by more than 8 percent a year in the early and mid-1990s.

The civilian labor force of Vietnam in the early 1990s was estimated at nearly 33 million people. The largest labor federation is the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, which has a membership of about 3.8 million. Other labor organizations include the Vietnam Agricultural and Food Industry Trade Union, with about 550,000 members.

The reunification of the country seriously affected the economic structure of Vietnam in terms of the composition of the labor force. The ethnic Chinese who left Vietnam were part of the cadre of trained administrators. Many of the workers in the south who fled or were sent to reeducation camps and collective farms had been part of the management of industries and businesses. Inexperienced workers were then placed in positions of authority, and as a result productivity dropped.

The leading sector of the Vietnamese economy is agriculture, which, with fishing and forestry, employs 73 percent of the labor force. The government has stimulated agricultural production through the removal of price controls and a series of reforms that gives farmers both long-term land leases and the right to keep profits from surplus production. In the early 1990s Vietnam, which once imported rice, became the world's third largest exporter of the crop. The country's principal crops in the early 1990s (with annual output in metric tons) included rice, the staple food, 21.5 million; cassava, 3 million; sweet potatoes, 2.1 million; and sugarcane, 5.9 million. Cash crops included coffee, 65,000; tea, 35,000; soybeans, 87,000; and natural rubber, 65,000. Livestock included 12.1 million pigs, 3.1 million cattle, and 110 million poultry.

Although forests cover about 40 percent of Vietnam's total land area, the growth of commercial forestry has been hindered by a lack of transportation facilities, as well as by the mixture of different species of trees, making it uneconomical to harvest a single species. Teak and bamboo are predominant. Most of the 29.5 million cu m (1.04 billion cu ft) of roundwood harvested annually in the early 1990s was used for fuel. In an attempt to preserve remaining forests, a ban on the export of logs and timber was imposed in 1992.

Vietnam's extensive coastline and numerous streams are rich fishing sites. Most fish are taken from the South China Sea. Some fish farming has been undertaken in flooded inland areas. About 877,000 metric tons of fish and shellfish (including crabs, shrimp and prawns, and mollusks) were caught annually in the early 1990s, becoming a prinicipal export.

Most mining activities are confined to the northwest, where anthracite coal, phosphate rock, gypsum, tin, zinc, iron, antimony, and chromite are extracted. Coal and apatite, a phosphate rock, are extensively mined. In addition, large petroleum and natural gas deposits lie offshore. Petroleum has been extracted since 1975, mostly by a state-owned company. Production, which stood at 11 million barrels annually in the late 1980s, increased to 29 million barrels each year in the early 1990s and accounts for 32 percent of export revenues. The areas holding all of the petroleum and natural gas reserves are also claimed by China. Vietnam's first oil refinery, planned to be built near the town of Dung Quat on the central coast, is slated to begin production by 2000 at a daily output of 130,000 barrels.

The major Vietnamese manufacturing plants, concentrated in the north, have been almost totally restored after receiving heavy bombing damage during the war. Privatization of state enterprises has been under way since the late 1980s. Industries dominating Vietnam's economy manufacture paper, cement, textiles, food products, fertilizers, and electronics.

Vietnam has not yet fully utilized its considerable hydroelectric power potential, although a facility with a generating capacity of 2000 kilowatts opened in Hòa Bình in 1989. Coal-powered plants remain the primary source of electricity. In the early 1990s some 9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity were generated annually.

Following the reunification of Vietnam, the piastre, the currency of the south, was abolished. The new dông is now the national monetary unit; the new dông is divided into 100 xu (11,000 new dông equal U.S.$1; 1994). The State Bank of Vietnam (1951), headquartered in Hanoi, operated the only banking system within the country until 1990, when the government established four independent commercial banks and allowed foreign banks to operate. The Bank for Foreign Trade of Vietnam is authorized to handle foreign currencies.

The industrialized north relies on the south for much of its agricultural needs, and since the dismantling of the free-market economy in the south, the north has provided manufactured goods for the south. Vietnam's exports include petroleum, unprocessed agricultural and marine products (including rice), coal, clothing, footwear, ceramics, gemstones, and silk. Exports were valued at $2.6 billion annually in the early 1990s. Imports, dominated by petroleum products, steel products, railroad equipment, chemicals, medicines, raw cotton, fertilizer, and grain, were valued at $3.1 billion. Principal trading partners for exports were Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Japan, and South Korea; chief partners for imports were Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.

During the late 1980s Vietnam began to move toward integration with the world economy. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the country had reached cooperative agreements with several countries, including former adversaries Japan and France. In 1993 the United States had lifted its veto of International Monetary Fund assistance. In February 1994 the United States ended a trade embargo that had been imposed against North Vietnam in 1964 and extended to all of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, after the fall of South Vietnam. Vietnam and the United States moved closer to full diplomatic relations with the opening of a liaison office in Hanoi in early 1995. One of the benefits Vietnam seeks from improved relations with the United States is an increase in tourism, which is growing in importance to the nation's economy. Less than 200,000 people visited the country in 1990; by 1993 that number had grown to 600,000.

The war years left a mark on the transportation system of Vietnam. Since the end of the conflict, major efforts have been made to link the south and the north. Vehicular transportation, easiest along the coast, employs a network of about 85,000 km (about 53,000 mi) of roads, of which about 10 percent are paved. Railways have about 2835 km (about 1762 mi) of operable track and are concentrated in the north, except for the 1730-km (1075-mi) Hanoi-to-Ho Chi Minh City line. The long coastline of the country and the Mekong and Red rivers, as well as many smaller streams and canals, facilitate inexpensive transportation. The major ports used for international shipping are Haiphong, Ðà Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. Domestic flights link several of Vietnam's cities, and Vietnam Airline operates both internationally and domestically, and Pacific Airlines operates international routes. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi have international airports. All transport facilities are government controlled.

Telecommunications in Vietnam are under the control of the government or the Vietnamese Communist Party. The Voice of Vietnam broadcasts from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There are an estimated 7.1 million radios and 2.8 million televisions throughout the country. Of the five daily newspapers published in Vietnam, Nhan Dan, the official paper of the Communist Party, has the largest circulation (200,000).

A constitution enacted in 1992 assigned to the Communist Party a leading role in Vietnamese government and society, but curbed some of its administrative functions. The constitution also increased the powers of the National Assembly. The Communist Party acts through the Vietnam Fatherland Front, which includes representatives of the nation's political parties, trade unions, and social organizations.

Under the 1992 constitution, the head of state is a president, elected by the legislature from among its members; as commander of the armed forces, the president chairs the Council on National Defense and Security. The president appoints, with legislative approval, the prime minister, who heads the government. The prime minister appoints a cabinet, also subject to legislative approval.

The unicameral National Assembly, composed of a maximum of 400 members, is the highest legislative body in Vietnam. The legislature is elected to a five-year term by universal adult suffrage.

Judges of the people's courts are elected to their offices. Organs of Control, which act as watchdogs for the state as well as monitoring government agencies, can initiate lawsuits against governmental bodies or individuals deemed to be violating the law. The highest court in Vietnam is the Supreme People's Court.

A system of people's councils, each representing a local jurisdiction, administers local government in Vietnam. Each council elects a committee to serve as an executive. The country is divided into 53 provinces and three municipalities: Hanoi, Haiphong, and Ho Chi Minh City.

A national social security system is in operation in Vietnam. In the early 1990s the nation had one physician for every 3140 inhabitants. The government allowed five private health clinics to open in 1990 and introduced a system of fees for hospital care. The average life expectancy at birth is 66 years for women and 62 years for men.

The Vietnamese armed forces totaled 572,000 troops in 1995. Between two and three years of military service are compulsory for men. Much of the equipment used by the military consists of American-made matériel transferred to South Vietnam during the war and arms obtained from Vietnam's allies, particularly the former Soviet Union.

The Vietnamese first appeared in history as one of many scattered peoples living in what is now South China and Northern Vietnam just before the beginning of the Christian era. According to local tradition, the small Vietnamese kingdom of Au Lac, located in the heart of the Red River valley, was founded by a line of legendary kings who had ruled over the ancient kingdom of Van Lang for thousands of years. Historical evidence to substantiate this tradition is scanty, but archaeological findings indicate that the early peoples of the Red River delta area may have been among the first East Asians to practice agriculture, and by the 1st century BC they had achieved a relatively advanced level of Bronze Age civilization.

In 221 BC the Qin (Ch’in) dynasty in China completed its conquest of neighboring states and became the first to rule over a united China. The Qin Empire, however, did not long survive the death of its dynamic founder, Shihuangdi (Shih-huang-ti), and the impact of its collapse was soon felt in Vietnam. In the wreckage of the empire, the Chinese commander in the south built his own kingdom of Nam Viet (South Viet; Chinese, Nan Yüeh); the young state of Au Lac was included.

In 111 BC, 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. After briefly ruling through local chieftains, Chinese rulers attempted to integrate Vietnam politically and culturally into the Han Empire. Chinese administrators were imported to replace the local landed nobility. Political institutions patterned after the Chinese model were imposed, and Confucianism became the official ideology. The Chinese language was introduced as the medium of official and literary expression, and Chinese ideographs were adopted as the written form for the Vietnamese spoken language. Chinese art, architecture, and music exercised a powerful impact on their Vietnamese counterparts.

Vietnamese resistance to rule by the Chinese was fierce but sporadic. The most famous early revolt took place in AD 39, when two widows of local aristocrats, the Trung sisters, led an uprising against foreign rule. The revolt was briefly successful, and the older sister, Trung Trac, established herself as ruler of an independent state. Chinese armies returned to the attack, however, and in AD 43 Vietnam was reconquered.

The Trung sisters' revolt was only the first in a series of intermittent uprisings that took place during a thousand years of Chinese rule in Vietnam. Finally, in 939, Vietnamese forces under Ngo Quyen took advantage of chaotic conditions in China to defeat local occupation troops and set up an independent state. Ngo Quyen's death a few years later ushered in a period of civil strife, but in the early 11th century the first of the great Vietnamese dynasties was founded. Under the astute leadership of several dynamic rulers, the Ly dynasty ruled Vietnam for more than 200 years, from 1010 to 1225. Although the rise of the Ly reflected the emergence of a lively sense of Vietnamese nationhood, Ly rulers retained many of the political and social institutions that had been introduced during the period of Chinese rule. Confucianism continued to provide the foundation for the political institutions of the state. The Chinese civil service examination system was retained as the means of selecting government officials, and although at first only members of the nobility were permitted to compete in the examinations, eventually the right was extended to include most males. The educational system also continued to reflect the Chinese model. Young Vietnamese preparing for the examinations were schooled in the Confucian classics and grew up conversant with the great figures and ideas that had shaped Chinese history.

Vietnamese society, however, was more than just a pale reflection of China. Beneath the veneer of Chinese fashion and thought, popular mostly among the upper classes, native forms of expression continued to flourish. Young Vietnamese learned to appreciate the great heroes of the Vietnamese past, many of whom had built their reputation on resistance to the Chinese conquest. At the village level, social mores reflected native forms more than patterns imported from China. Although to the superficial eye Vietnam looked like a "smaller dragon," under the tutelage of the great empire to the north it continued to have a separate culture with vibrant traditions of its own.

Like most of its neighbors, Vietnam was primarily an agricultural state, its survival based above all on the cultivation of wet rice. As in medieval Europe, much of the land was divided among powerful noble families, who often owned thousands of serfs or domestic slaves. A class of landholding farmers also existed, however, and powerful monarchs frequently attempted to protect this class by limiting the power of feudal lords and dividing up their large estates.

The Vietnamese economy was not based solely on agriculture. Commerce and manufacturing thrived, and local crafts appeared in regional markets throughout the area. Vietnam never developed into a predominantly commercial nation, however, or became a major participant in regional trade patterns.

Under the rule of the Ly dynasty and its successor, the Tran (1225-1400), Vietnam became a dynamic force in Southeast Asia. China's rulers, however, had not abandoned 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 Vietnam in an effort to reincorporate it into the Chinese Empire. The Vietnamese resisted with vigor, and after several bitter battles they defeated the invaders and drove them back across the border.

The Vietnamese advance to the south coincided with new challenges in the north. In 1407 Vietnam was again conquered by Chinese troops. For two decades, the Ming dynasty attempted to reintegrate Vietnam into the empire, but in 1428, resistance forces under the rebel leader Le Loi dealt the Chinese a decisive defeat and restored Vietnamese independence. Le Loi mounted the throne as the first emperor of the Le dynasty. The new ruling house retained its vigor for more than a hundred years, but in the 16th century it began to decline. Power at court was wielded by two rival aristocratic clans, the Trinh and the Nguyen. When the former became dominant, the Nguyen were granted a fiefdom in the south, dividing Vietnam into two separate zones. Rivalry was sharpened by the machinations of European powers newly arrived in Southeast Asia in pursuit of wealth and Christian converts.

By the late 18th century, the Le dynasty was near collapse. Vast rice lands were controlled by grasping feudal lords. Angry peasants—led by the Tay Son brothers—revolted, and in 1789 Nguyen Hue, the ablest of the brothers, briefly restored Vietnam to united rule. Nguyen Hue died shortly after ascending the throne; a few years later Nguyen Anh, an heir to the Nguyen house in the south, defeated the Tay Son armies. As Emperor Gia Long, he established a new dynasty in 1802.

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. The Nguyen dynasty was suspicious of French influence. Roman Catholic missionaries and their Vietnamese converts were persecuted, and a few were executed during the 1830s. Religious groups in France demanded action from the government in Paris. When similar pressure was exerted by commercial and military interests, Emperor Napoleon III approved the launching of a naval expedition in 1858 to punish the Vietnamese and force the court to accept a French protectorate.

The French, however, were unwilling to concede independence and in October drove the Vietminh and other nationalist groups out of the south. For more than a year the French and the Vietminh sought a negotiated solution, but the talks, held in France, failed to resolve differences, and war broke out in December 1946.