Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Native name	Cộng hòa Xã hội chủ nghĩa Việt Nam
Conventional long name	Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Common name	Vietnam
Image coat	Coat of arms of Vietnam.svg
Symbol type	Emblem
Other symbol type	File:Communist Party of Vietnam flag.svg
Map caption
National motto	"Independence – Freedom – Happiness"
National anthem	File:United States Navy Band - Tiến Quân Ca.oggTiến Quân Ca"Army March" (first verse)
Official languages	Vietnamese
Languages type	Official scripts
Languages	Vietnamese alphabet
Demonym	Vietnamese
Capital	Hanoi
Legislature	National Assembly of Vietnam
Largest city	Ho Chi Minh City
Government type	Unitary socialist republic,Single-party state
Leader title1	President
Leader name1
Leader title2	Prime Minister
Leader name2
Leader title3	General Secretary of the CPV
Leader name3
Sovereignty type	Formation
Established event1	Đại Việt
Established date1	1054
Established event2	French annexation
Established date2	1853 to 1883
Established event3	Independence from France
Established date3	2 September 1945
Established event4	Reunification
Established date4	2 July 1976
Established event5	Current constitution
Established date5	15 April 1992
Area rank	65th
Area km2	331.698
Area sq mi	128,565
Percent water	1.3
Population estimate	90,549,390
Population census	85,846,997
Population estimate rank	13th
Population estimate year	2011
Population census year	2009
Population density km2	259
Population density sq mi	668
Population density rank	46th
Gdp ppp year	2010
Gdp ppp	$273.967 billion
Gdp ppp per capita	$3,104.179
Gdp nominal	$104.600 billion
Gdp nominal year	2010
Gdp nominal per capita	$1,168
Hdi year	2010
Hdi	0.572
Hdi rank	113th
Hdi category	medium
Gini	38
Gini year	2008
Gini category	medium
Currency	(₫)
Currency code	VND
Time zone	ICT (Indochina Time) UTC+7
Utc offset	+7
Time zone dst	No DST
Utc offset dst	+7
Drives on	right
Cctld	.vn
Calling code	84
Image map3	Bandovietnam-final-fill-scale.svg
Footnote1	According to the official name and 1992 Constitution. }}

Vietnam, sometimes spelled Viet Nam ( ; , ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (, ), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea - referred to in Vietnam as the East Sea () - to the east. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants as of 2011, Vietnam is the 13th-most-populous country in the world, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country.

The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River. Successive Vietnamese royal dynasties flourished as the nation expanded geographically and politically into Southeast Asia, until the Indochina Peninsula was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving Vietnam divided politically into two countries. Fighting between the two sides continued, with heavy foreign intervention, during the Vietnam War, ending with a North Vietnamese victory in 1975.

Emerging from this prolonged military engagement, the war-ravaged Communist nation was politically isolated. In 1986, the government instituted economic and political reforms and began a path towards international reintegration. By 2000, it had established diplomatic relations with most nations. Its economic growth has been among the highest in the world since 2000, and according to Citigroup, such high growth is set to continue. Vietnam has the highest Global Growth Generators Index among 11 major economies, and its successful economic reforms resulted in it joining the World Trade Organization in 2007. However, the country still suffers from high levels of income inequality, disparities in healthcare provision, and poor gender equality.

Etymology

The name Việt Nam () is a variation of "Nam Việt" (南越; pinyin: Nányuè; literally Southern Việt), a name that can be traced back to the Trieu dynasty (2nd century BC). The word "Việt" originated as a shortened form of Bách Việt (百越; pinyin: Bǎiyuè), a word applied to a group of peoples then living in southern China and Vietnam. The form "Vietnam" () is first recorded in the oracular poem Sấm Trạng Trình. It has been found on 12 steles carved in the 16th and 17th centuries, including one at Bao Lam Pagoda in Haiphong that was carved in 1558. Between 1804 and 1813, the name was used officially by Emperor Gia Long. It was revived in the early 20th century by nationalists such as Phan Boi Chau, and most notably by the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang (Vietnamese Nationalist Party). The country was usually called Annam until 1945, when Emperor Bao Dai changed the official name back to "Việt Nam". Since the use of Chinese characters was discontinued at this time, the alphabetic spelling is official.

History

Pre-Dynastic era

The area now known as Vietnam has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, with some archaeological sites in Thanh Hóa Province purportedly dating back several thousand years. Archaeologists link the beginnings of Vietnamese civilization to the late Neolithic-early Bronze Age Phung Nguyen culture, which was centered in what is now Vĩnh Phúc Province between 2000 and 1400 BC.

By about 1200 BC, the development of wet-rice cultivation and bronze casting in the Ma River and Red River plains led to the development of the Dong Son culture, notable for its elaborate bronze drums. The bronze weapons, tools, and drums of Dong-Sonian sites show a Southeast Asian influence that indicates an indigenous origin for the bronze-casting technology.

Many small, ancient copper mine sites have been found in northern Vietnam. Some of the similarities between the Dong-Sonian sites and other Southeast Asian sites include the presence of boat-shaped coffins and burial jars, stilt dwellings, and evidence of the customs of betel-nut-chewing and teeth-blackening.

Dynastic era

The legendary Hồng Bàng Dynasty of the Hùng kings is considered the first Vietnamese state, known in Vietnamese as Văn Lang. In 257 BC, the last Hùng king was defeated by Thục Phán, who consolidated the Lạc Việt tribes and Âu Việt tribes to form the Âu Lạc, proclaiming himself An Dương Vương. In 207 BC, a Chinese general named Zhao Tuo defeated An Dương Vương and consolidated Âu Lạc into Nanyue. However, Nanyue was itself incorporated into the empire of the Chinese Han Dynasty in 111 BC.

For the next thousand years, Vietnam remained mostly under Chinese rule. Early independence movements, such as those of the Trưng Sisters and Lady Triệu, were only temporarily successful, but the region did become independent as Vạn Xuân under the Anterior Lý Dynasty between 544 and 602 AD. By the early 10th century, Vietnam had gained autonomy, but not independence, under the Khúc family.

In 938 AD, a Vietnamese lord named Ngô Quyền defeated Chinese forces at Bạch Đằng River and regained independence after a millennium of Chinese domination. Renamed as Đại Việt (en: Great Viet), the nation enjoyed a golden era under the Lý and Trần Dynasties. During the rule of the Trần Dynasty, Đại Việt repelled three Mongol invasions. Buddhism flourished and became the state religion.

Following the brief Hồ Dynasty, Vietnamese independence was momentarily interrupted by the Chinese Ming Dynasty, but was restored by Lê Lợi, the founder of the Lê Dynasty. Vietnam reached its zenith in the Lê Dynasty of the 15th century, especially during the reign of Emperor Lê Thánh Tông (1460–1497). Between the 11th and 18th centuries, Vietnam expanded southward in a process known as (southward expansion), and it eventually conquered the kingdom of Champa and part of the Khmer Empire.

From the 16th century onwards, civil strife and frequent infighting engulfed much of Vietnam. First, the Chinese-supported Mạc Dynasty challenged the Lê Dynasty's power. After the Mạc Dynasty was defeated, the Lê Dynasty was nominally reinstalled, but actual power was divided between the northern Trịnh Lords and the southern Nguyễn Lords, who engaged in a civil war for more than four decades before a truce was called in the 1670s. During this time, the Nguyễn expanded southern Vietnam into the Mekong Delta, annexing the Central Highlands and the Khmer land in the Mekong Delta.

The division of the country ended a century later when the Tây Sơn brothers defeated both and established their new dynasty. However, their rule did not last long, and they were defeated by the remnants of the Nguyễn Lords led by Nguyễn Ánh, with the help of the French. Nguyễn Ánh unified Vietnam, and established the Nguyễn Dynasty, ruling under the name Gia Long.

French colonisation

Vietnam's independence was gradually eroded by France—aided by large Catholic collaborator militias—in a series of military conquests from 1859 until 1885 when the entire country became part of French Indochina. The French administration imposed significant political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of modern education was developed, and Roman Catholicism was propagated widely in Vietnamese society. Most of the French settlers in Indochina were concentrated in Cochinchina (southern third of Vietnam whose principal city was Saigon).

Developing a plantation economy to promote the exports of tobacco, indigo, tea and coffee, the French largely ignored increasing calls for self-government and civil rights. A nationalist political movement soon emerged, with leaders such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Dinh Phung, Emperor Hàm Nghi and Ho Chi Minh fighting or calling for independence. However, the royalist Can Vuong was defeated in the 1890s after a decade of resistance, and the 1930 Yen Bai mutiny of the Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang was put down easily. The French maintained control of their colonies until World War II, when the Japanese war in the Pacific triggered the invasion of French Indochina in 1941.

With the defeat of France in Europe, the French Third Republic transformed into the Vichy Regime, to which the colony remained loyal. Heavily dependent on Nazi Germany, Vichy France was forced to surrender control of French Indochina to Japan. The natural resources of Vietnam were exploited for the purposes of the Japanese Empire's military campaigns into the British Indochinese colonies of Burma, the Malay Peninsula and India.

First Indochina War

In 1941, the Viet Minh – a communist and nationalist liberation movement – emerged under Ho Chi Minh to seek independence for Vietnam from France as well as to oppose the Japanese occupation. Japanese occupation during World War II caused the Vietnamese Famine of 1945, which caused 2 million deaths, or 10% of the population then. Following the military defeat of Japan and the fall of its Empire of Vietnam in August 1945, Viet Minh occupied Hanoi and proclaimed a provisional government, which asserted independence on 2 September.

In the same year the Provisional French Republic sent the French Far East Expeditionary Corps, which was originally created to fight the Japanese occupation forces, in order to pacify the liberation movement and to restore French rule. On November 20, 1946, triggered by the Haiphong Incident, the First Indochina War between Viet Minh and the French forces ensued, lasting until July 20, 1954.

Despite fewer losses – Expeditionary Corps suffered one-third of the casualties of the Chinese and Soviet-backed Viet Minh – during the course of the war, the French and Vietnamese loyalists eventually suffered a major strategic setback at the Siege of Dien Bien Phu, which allowed Ho Chi Minh to negotiate a ceasefire with a favorable position at the ongoing Geneva conference of 1954. Colonial administration ended as French Indochina was dissolved. According to the Geneva Accords of 1954 the forces of former French supporters and communist nationalists were separated south and north, respectively, with the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone, at the 17th parallel north, between. A 300-day period of free movement was given, during which almost a million northerners, mainly Catholic, moved south, fearing persecution by the communists.

A partition of Vietnam, with Ho Chi Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam in North Vietnam, and Emperor Bảo Đại's State of Vietnam in the South Vietnam, was not intended to be permanent by the Geneva Accords, and they expressly forbade the interference of third powers. The State of Vietnam's Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem toppled Bảo Đại in a fraudulent referendum organised by his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu, and proclaimed himself president of the Republic of Vietnam. The Accords mandated nationwide elections by 1956, which Diem refused to hold, despite repeated calls from the North for talks to discuss elections.

Vietnam War

The pro-Hanoi Vietcong began a guerrilla campaign in the late 1950s to overthrow Diem's government, which an official Vietcong statement described as a "disguised colonial regime." In the North, thousands of landowners were murdered by the communists and famine broke out in the 1950s. In the South, Diem went about crushing all opposition and tens of thousands were jailed or killed; dissidents were routinely labelled as communists even if they were anti-communist. Both Vietnams were police states with totalitarian security systems.

In 1963, Buddhist discontent with Diem's pro-Catholic discrimination erupted following the banning of the Buddhist flag and the Hue Vesak shootings. This resulted in a series of mass demonstrations during what is known as the Buddhist crisis. With Diem unwilling to bend, Nhu orchestrated the Xa Loi Pagoda raids; estimates of the death toll range into the hundreds. As a result, America's relationship with Diem broke down and resulted in the 1963 coup that saw Diem killed.

Diem was followed by a series of military regimes that often lasted only months before being toppled by another. With this instability, the communists began to gain ground. There were more than a dozen governments before the pairing of Air Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky and General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu took control of a junta in mid-1965. Thieu gradually outmaneuvered Ky and cemented his grip on power in fraudulent elections in 1967 and 1971.

To support South Vietnam's struggle against the communist insurgency, the United States began increasing its contribution of military advisers. US forces became embroiled in ground combat operations in 1965 and at their peak they numbered more than 500,000. Communist forces attacked most major targets in South Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive, and although their campaign failed militarily, it shocked the American establishment, and caused them to think that the communists could not be defeated. Communist forces supplying the Vietcong carried supplies along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which passed through Laos and Cambodia. US president Richard Nixon authorized Operation Menu, an SAC bombing campaign in Laos and Cambodia, which he kept secret from the US Congress.

Its own casualties mounting, and facing opposition to the war at home and condemnation abroad, the U.S. began withdrawing from ground combat roles according to the Nixon Doctrine; the process was subsequently called . The effort had mixed results. The Paris Peace Accords of 27 January 1973 formally recognized the sovereignty of Vietnam "as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements." Under the terms of the accords all American combat troops were withdrawn by 29 March 1973. Limited fighting continued, before the north captured the province of Phuoc Long in December 1974 and started a full-scale offensive, culminating in the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. South Vietnam briefly came under the nominal rule of a Provisional Revolutionary Government while under military occupation by North Vietnam. On 2 July 1976, North and South were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Postwar period

The government embarked on a mass campaign of collectivization of farms and factories. This caused an economic collapse and resulted in triple-digit inflation. Reconstruction of the war-ravaged country was slow, and serious humanitarian and economic problems confronted the communist regime. Millions of people fled the country in crudely built boats, creating an international humanitarian crisis.

In 1978, the Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia (sparking the Cambodian-Vietnamese War) to remove from power the Khmer Rouge—who had been razing Vietnamese border villages and massacring the inhabitants, installing a regime whose leaders ruled until 1989. This action worsened relations with China, which launched a brief incursion into northern Vietnam (the Sino-Vietnamese War) in 1979. This conflict caused Vietnam to rely even more heavily on Soviet economic and military aid.

Đổi Mới ("Renovation")

At the Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam in December 1986, reformers, upset by the lack of economic progress after the Vietnam War, replaced the "old guard" with new leadership. The reformers were led by 71 year-old Nguyen Van Linh, who became the party's new general secretary. Linh was a native of northern Vietnam who had served in the south both during and after the war. In a historic shift, the reformers implemented free-market reforms known as (Renovation), which carefully managed the transition from a planned economy to a "socialist-oriented market economy".

With the authority of the state remaining unchallenged, private ownership of farms and companies engaged in commodity production, deregulation and foreign investment were encouraged while the state maintained control over strategic industries. The economy of Vietnam subsequently achieved rapid growth in agricultural and industrial production, construction and housing, exports and foreign investment. However, these reforms have also caused a rise in inequalities in many spheres of social life, such as income and gender inequality.

Government and politics

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a single-party state. Its current state constitution, which replaced the 1975 constitution in April 1992, asserts the central role of the Communist Party of Vietnam in all organs of government, politics and society.Only political organizations affiliated with or endorsed by the Communist Party are permitted to contest elections in Vietnam. These include the Vietnamese Fatherland Front and worker and trade unionist parties. Although the state remains officially committed to socialism as its defining creed, its economic policies are increasingly capitalist, with the The Economist defining its leadership as "ardently capitalist communists".

The President of Vietnam is the titular head of state and the nominal commander-in-chief of the military of Vietnam, chairing the Council on National Defense and Security. The current Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyen Tan Dung, is the head of government, presiding over a council of ministers composed of three deputy prime ministers and the heads of 26 ministries and commissions. The General Secretary of the Communist Party performs numerous key administrative and executive functions, controlling the party's national organization and state appointments, as well as setting policy. The National Assembly of Vietnam is the unicameral legislature of the government, composed of 498 members. It is superior to both the executive and judicial branches, with all government ministers being appointed from members of the National Assembly.

The Supreme People's Court of Vietnam is the country's highest court of appeal, though it is also answerable to the National Assembly. Beneath the Supreme People's Court stand the provincial municipal courts and numerous local courts. Military courts possess special jurisdiction in matters of national security.

Military

The Vietnam People's Army (VPA) is the official name for the combined military services of Vietnam. The VPA is subdivided into the Vietnam People's Ground Forces (including Strategic Rear Forces and Border Defense Forces), the Vietnam People's Navy, the Vietnam People's Air Force and the Vietnam People's Coast Guard. The government also organizes and maintains provincial militias and police forces. The VPA has an active manpower of around 450,000, but its total strength, including paramilitary forces, may be as high as 5,000,000.

Through Vietnam's recent history, the VPA has been actively involved in developing the economy of Vietnam, with detachments working in such areas as industry, agriculture, forestry, fishery and telecommunications. However, the role of the military in public life has steadily been reduced since the 1980s.

International relations

Throughout its history, Vietnam's key foreign relationship has been with its northern neighbour, China. Vietnam's sovereign principles and insistence on cultural independence have been laid down in numerous documents over the centuries, such as the 11th-century poem Nam quốc sơn hà and the 1428 proclamation Bình Ngô đại cáo.

Currently, the formal mission statement of Vietnamese foreign policy is to: "Implement consistently the foreign policy line of independence, self-reliance, peace, cooperation and development; the foreign policy of openness and diversification and multi-lateralization of international relations. Proactively and actively engage in international economic integration while expanding international cooperation in other fields." Vietnam furthermore declares itself to be "a friend and reliable partner of all countries in the international community, actively taking part in international and regional cooperation processes."

As of December 2007, Vietnam had established diplomatic relations with 172 countries, including the United States, which normalized relations in 1995. Vietnam holds membership of 63 international organizations, including the United Nations, ASEAN, NAM, Francophonie and WTO, and a total of 650 non-government organizations.

Administrative subdivisions

Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces (Vietnamese: as tỉnh, from the Chinese 省, shěng). There are also five centrally-controlled municipalities existing at the same level as provinces (thành phố trực thuộc trung ương). {| style="margin:auto;" | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Bắc Ninh Ha Nam Ha Tay Hai Duong Hung Yen Nam Dinh Ninh Binh Thai Binh Vĩnh Phúc Hanoi (municipality) Hai Phong (municipality) | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Ha Tinh Nghe An Quang Binh Quảng Trị Thanh Hóa Thừa Thiên-Huế | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Bắc Giang Bắc Kạn Cao Bang Ha Giang Lang Son Lao Cai Phu Tho Quang Ninh Thái Nguyên Tuyen Quang Yen Bai | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Dien Bien Hoa Binh Lai Chau Son La |- | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Dak Lak Dak Nong Gia Lai Kon Tum Lam Dong | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Binh Dinh Binh Thuan Khanh Hoa Ninh Thuan Phu Yen Quang Nam Quang Ngai Da Nang (municipality) | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- Ba Ria-Vung Tau Binh Duong Binh Phuoc Dong Nai Tay Ninh Ho Chi Minh (municipality) | style="padding-right:1em; vertical-align:top;" | ---- An Giang Bạc Liêu Bến Tre Ca Mau Dong Thap Hau Giang Kien Giang Long An Soc Trang Tien Giang Tra Vinh Vĩnh Long Cần Thơ (municipality) |}

The provinces are subdivided into provincial municipalities (thành phố trực thuộc tỉnh), townships (thị xã) and counties (huyện), which are in turn subdivided into towns (thị trấn) or communes (xã). The centrally-controlled municipalities are subdivided into districts (quận) and counties, which are further subdivided into wards (phường).

Geography and climate

Vietnam is located on the eastern Indochina Peninsula between the latitudes 8° and 24°N, and the longitudes 102° and 110°E. It covers a total area of approximately in area, excluding the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa islands, making it almost the size of Germany. The combined length of the country's land boundaries is , and its coastline is long. Vietnam's land is mostly hilly and densely forested, with level land covering no more than 20%. Mountains account for 40% of the country's land area, and tropical forests cover around 42%.

The northern part of the country consists mostly of highlands and the Red River Delta. Phan Xi Păng, located in Lào Cai province, is the highest mountain in Vietnam, standing high. Southern Vietnam is divided into coastal lowlands, Annamite Chain peaks, and extensive forests. Comprising five relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil, the highlands account for 16% of the country's arable land and 22% of its total forested land. The soil in much of southern Vietnam is relatively poor in nutrients.

The Red River Delta (also known as the ), a flat, roughly triangular region covering , is smaller but more intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta. Once an inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin, it has been filled in over the millennia by riverine alluvial deposits, and it advances into the Gulf annually. The Mekong delta, covering about , is a low-level plain no more than above sea level at any point. It is criss-crossed by a maze of rivers and canals, which carry so much sediment that the delta advances into the sea every year.

Because of differences in latitude and the marked variety in topographical relief, the Vietnamese climate tends to vary considerably from place to place. During the winter or dry season, extending roughly from November to April, the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast along the China coast and across the Gulf of Tonkin, picking up considerable moisture. Consequently, the winter season in most parts of the country is dry only by comparison with the rainy or summer season. The average annual temperature is generally higher in the plains than in the mountains, and higher in the south than in the north. Temperatures vary less in the southern plains around Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta, ranging between over the course of a year. Seasonal variations in the mountains and plateaus and in the north are much more dramatic, with temperatures varying from in December and January to in July and August.

Ecology and biodiversity

Vietnam has two World Natural Heritage Sites - Ha Long Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park - and six biosphere reserves, including Can Gio Mangrove Forest, Cat Tien, Cat Ba, Kien Giang, Red River Delta, and Western Nghe An.

Vietnam lies in the Indomalaya ecozone. According to Chapter 1 of the 2005 National Environmental Present Condition Report, "Biodiversity Subject of Vietnam Environment Protection Agency," in terms of species diversity Vietnam is one of twenty-five countries considered to possess a uniquely high level of biodiversity, and is ranked 16th in biological diversity worldwide, having 16% of the world's species. 15,986 species of flora have been identified in the country, of which 10% are endemic, while Vietnam's fauna include 307 nematode species, 200 oligochaeta, 145 acarina, 113 springtails, 7,750 insects, 260 reptiles, 120 amphibians, 840 birds and 310 mammals, of which 100 birds and 78 mammals are endemic.

Vietnam is furthermore home to 1,438 species of freshwater microalgae, constituting 9.6% of all microalgae species, as well as 794 aquatic invertebrates and 2,458 species of sea fish. In recent years, 13 genera, 222 species, and 30 taxa of flora have been newly described in Vietnam. Six new mammal species, including the saola, giant muntjac and Tonkin Snub-nosed Langur have also been discovered, along with one new bird species, Edwards's Pheasant.

In agricultural genetic diversity, Vietnam is one of the world's twelve original cultivar centers. The Vietnam National Cultivar Gene Bank is preserving 12,300 cultivars of 115 species. The Vietnamese government spent US$49.07 million on the preservation of biodiversity in 2004 alone, and has established 126 conservation areas, including 28 national parks.

Economy

Vietnam has been, for much of its history, a predominantly agricultural civilization based on wet rice cultivation. However, the Vietnam War destroyed much of the country's agrarian economy, leading the post-war government to implement a planned economy to revitalise agriculture and industrialise the nation. The collectivization of farms, factories and economic capital was implemented, and millions of people were put to work in government programs. For a decade following the Vietnam War, Vietnam's economy was plagued with inefficiency and corruption in state programs, poor quality and underproduction, and restrictions on economic activity. It also suffered from the post-war trade embargo instituted by the United States and most of Europe. These problems were compounded by the erosion of the Soviet bloc, which included Vietnam's main trading partners, in the late 1980s.

In 1986, the Sixth Party Congress of Vietnam introduced free market economic reforms as part of a broad reform package called Đổi Mới (Renovation), resulting in a socialist-oriented market economy. Private ownership was encouraged in industries, commerce and agriculture. Thanks largely to these reforms, Vietnam achieved around 8% annual GDP growth between 1990 to 1997, and the economy continued to grow at an annual rate of around 7% from 2000 to 2005, making Vietnam one of the world's fastest growing economies. Growth remained strong even in the face of the late-2000s global recession, holding at 6.8% in 2010, but Vietnam's year-on-year inflation rate hit 11.8% in December 2010, according to a GSO estimate. The Vietnamese dong was devalued three times in 2010 alone. Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries now form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy. Though Vietnam is a relative newcomer to the oil industry, it is currently the third-largest oil producer in Southeast Asia, with an output of . Like its Chinese neighbours, Vietnam continues to make use of centrally-planned economic five-year plans.

Deep poverty, defined as the percentage of the population living on less than $1 per day, has declined significantly in Vietnam, and the relative poverty rate is now less than that of China, India, and the Philippines. This decline in the poverty rate can be attributed to equitable economic policies aimed at improving living standards and preventing the rise of inequality; these policies have included egalitarian land distribution at the initial stages of Đổi Mới, investment in poorer remote areas, and subsidising of education and healthcare.

In 2010, Vietnam's nominal GDP reached US$103.124 billion, with a nominal GDP per capita of $1,168, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a December 2005 forecast by Goldman Sachs, the Vietnamese economy will become the world's 17th-largest by 2025, with an estimated nominal GDP of $436 billion and a GDP per capita of $4,357. According to a 2008 forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Vietnam may be the fastest-growing of the world's emerging economies by 2025, with a potential growth rate of almost 10% per annum in real dollar terms; by 2050, such a growth rate would make it 70% of the size of the economy of the United Kingdom, currently one of the world's largest economies.

Trade

Since the early 2000s, Vietnam has applied sequenced trade liberalisation, a two-track approach opening some sectors of the economy to international markets while protecting others. In July 2006, Vietnam updated its intellectual property legislation to comply with TRIPS, and it became a member of the WTO on January 11, 2007. Vietnam is now one of Asia's most open economies: two-way trade was valued at around 160% of GDP in 2006, more than twice the contemporary ratio for China and over four times the ratio for India. Vietnam's chief trading partners include China, Japan, Australia, the ASEAN countries, the United States and Western Europe.

As a result of several land reform measures, Vietnam has become a major exporter of agricultural products. It is now the world's largest producer of cashew nuts, with a one-third global share; the largest producer of black pepper, accounting for one-third of the world's market; and the second-largest rice exporter in the world, after Thailand. Vietnam has the highest proportion of land use for permanent crops - 6.93% - of any nation in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Other primary exports include coffee, tea, rubber, and fishery products. However, agriculture's share of Vietnam's GDP has fallen in recent decades, declining from 42% in 1989 to 20% in 2006, as production in other sectors of the economy has risen. According to the CIA World Factbook, the unemployment rate in Vietnam stood at 2.9% in April 2009.

Transport

Vietnam's modern transport system was originally developed under French rule to facilitate the transportation of raw materials, and was reconstructed and extensively modernized following the Vietnam War.

Air

Vietnam operates 17 major civil airports, including three international gateways: Noi Bai serving Hanoi, Da Nang International Airport serving Da Nang, and Tan Son Nhat serving Ho Chi Minh City. Tan Son Nhat is the nation's largest airport, handling 75 percent of international passenger traffic. According to a state-approved plan, Vietnam will have 10 international airports by 2015 - besides the aforementioned three, these include Lien Khuong International Airport, Phu Bai International Airport, Cam Ranh International Airport, Phu Quoc International Airport, Cat Bi International Airport, Cần Thơ International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport. The planned Long Thanh International Airport will be built on an area of , and will have full capacity of 100 million passengers.

Vietnam Airlines, the state-owned national airline, maintains a fleet of 69 passenger aircraft, and aims to operate 150 by 2020. Several private airlines are also in operation in Vietnam, including Air Mekong, Jetstar Pacific Airlines and VASCO.

Road

Vietnam's road system includes national roads administered at the central level; provincial roads managed at the provincial level; district roads managed at the district level; urban roads managed by cities and towns; and commune roads managed at the commune level. Bicycles, motor scooters and motorcycles remain the most popular forms of road transport in Vietnam's urban areas, although the number of privately-owned automobiles is also on the rise, especially in the larger cities. Public buses operated by private companies are the main mode of long-distance travel for much of the population.

Road safety is a serious issue in Vietnam - on average, 30 people are killed in traffic accidents every day. Traffic congestion is a growing problem in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as the cities' roads struggle to cope with the boom in automobile use.

Rail

Currently, Vietnam's primary cross-country rail service is the Reunification Express, which runs from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi, covering a distance of nearly 2,000 kilometres. From Hanoi, railway lines branch out to the northeast, north and west;the eastbound line runs from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, the northbound line runs from Hanoi to Thai Nguyen and the northeast line runs from Hanoi to Lao Cai.

In 2009, Vietnam and Japan signed a deal to build a high-speed railway using Japanese technology; numerous Vietnamese engineers have since been sent to Japan to receive training in the operation and maintenance of high-speed trains. The railway will be a 1,630-km-long express route, serving a total of 26 stations, including Hanoi and the Thu Thiem terminus in Ho Chi Minh City.

Using Japan's well-established Shinkansen technology, the line will support trains travelling at a maximum speed of per hour. The high-speed lines linking Hanoi to central Vinh and central Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam will be laid during the 2010–2015 period. From 2015 to 2020, construction will begin on the routes between Vinh and Nha Trang and between Hanoi and the northern provinces of Lao Cai and Lang Son.

Water

Vietnam has several major sea ports, including Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Gai, Qui Nhơn, and Nha Trang. Further inland, the country's extensive network of rivers play a key role in rural transportation, with over of navigable waterways.

Demographics

Population

The census of April 1, 2009, recorded the population of Vietnam as standing at approximately 85.8 million, of which the Viet or Kinh ethnic group constituted nearly 73.6 million, or 85.8% of the population. The Kinh population is concentrated mainly in the alluvial deltas and coastal plains of the country. A largely homogeneous social and ethnic group, the Kinh possess significant political and economic influence over the country as its ethnic majority. Vietnam is furthermore home to 54 ethnic minority groups, including the Hmong, Dao, Tay, Thai, and Nung.

Many ethnic minorities - such as the Muong, who are closely related to the Kinh - dwell in the highlands, which cover two-thirds of Vietnam's territory. Before the Vietnam War, the population of the Central Highlands was almost exclusively Degar (including over 40 tribal groups); however, Ngo Dinh Diem's governments enacted a program of resettling Kinh in indigenous areas. The Hoa (ethnic Chinese) and Khmer Krom are mainly lowlanders. As Sino-Vietnamese relations soured in 1978 and 1979, some 450,000 Hoa left Vietnam.

Largest cities

Languages

The official national language of Vietnam is Vietnamese, a tonal monosyllabic Mon–Khmer language which is spoken by the majority of the population. In its early history, Vietnamese writing used Chinese characters. In the 13th century, the Vietnamese developed their own set of characters, referred to as Chữ nôm. The folk epic ( or ) by Nguyễn Du was written in Chữ nôm. Quốc ngữ, the romanized Vietnamese alphabet used for spoken Vietnamese, was developed in 17th century by the Jesuit Alexandre De Rhodes and several other Catholic missionaries. Quốc ngữ became widely popular and brought literacy to the Vietnamese masses during the French colonial period.

Various other languages are spoken by Vietnam's minority groups. The most common of these include Tày, Mường, Cham, Khmer, Chinese, Nùng, and H'Mông. The Montagnard peoples of the Central Highlands also speak a number of distinct languages.

The French language, a legacy of colonial rule, is still spoken by some older Vietnamese as a second language, but is losing its popularity. Vietnam nevertheless remains a full member of the Francophonie. Russian – and to a much lesser extent German, Czech and Polish – are known among some Vietnamese whose families had ties with the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. In recent years, English is becoming more popular as a second language; the study of English is now obligatory in most schools. Chinese and Japanese have also grown in popularity as Vietnam's links with China and Japan have strengthened.

Religion

For much of Vietnamese history, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have been the dominant religions, strongly influencing the national culture. About 85% of Vietnamese identify with Buddhism, though not all practice on a regular basis. Most people ascribe to Tam Đạo ("Triple religion"): 80% of people worship the mixture of Mahayana Buddhism mainly, Taoism, Confucianism with Ancestor Worship; 2% Hòa Hảo (a new 20th century religious movement that is concentrated in the Mekong Delta) and 2% Theravada Buddhism, mainly among Khmer people in the Mekong. According to the 2009 census, while over 10 million people have taken refuge in the Three Jewels, the vast majority of Vietnamese people practice ancestor worship in some form.

About 8% of the population are Christians, totalling around six million Roman Catholics and fewer than one million Protestants, according to the census of 2007. Christianity was first introduced to Vietnam by Portuguese and Dutch traders in the 16th and 17th centuries, and was further propagated by French missionaries in the 19th and 20th centuries, and to a lesser extent, by American Protestant missionaries during the Vietnam War, largely among the Montagnards of South Vietnam. The largest Protestant churches are the Evangelical Church of Vietnam and the Montagnard Evangelical Church. Two-thirds of Vietnam's Protestants are reportedly members of ethnic minorities.

The Vietnamese government is widely seen as suspicious of Roman Catholicism. This mistrust originated during the 19th century, when some Catholics collaborated with the French colonists in conquering and ruling the country and in helping French attempts to install Catholic emperors, such as in the Lê Văn Khôi revolt of 1833. Furthermore, the Catholic Church's strongly anti-communist stance has made it an enemy of the Vietnamese state. The Vatican Church is officially banned and only government-controlled Catholic organisations are permitted. However, Vietnam's relations with the Vatican have improved in recent years.

Several other minority faiths exist in Vietnam. About 3% of the population are adherents of Cao Dai, a syncretic modern religion that is concentrated around Tay Ninh Province. Sunni and Cham Bani Islam is primarily practiced by the ethnic Cham minority, though there are also a few ethnic Vietnamese adherents in the southwest. In total, there are approximately 70,000 Muslims in Vietnam, while around 50,000 Hindus and a small number of Baha'is are also in evidence.

The Vietnamese government rejects allegations that it does not allow religious freedom. The state's official position on religion is that all citizens are free to their belief, religion and that all regions are equal before law. Nevertheless, only government-controlled religious organisations are allowed, and the South Vietnam-founded Unified Buddhist Congregation of Vietnam is banned in favour of a communist-approved body.

Education

Vietnam has an extensive state-controlled network of schools, colleges and universities, and a growing number of privately-run and partially-privatised institutions. General education in Vietnam is divided into five categories: kindergarten, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, anduniversities. A large number of public schools have been organized across the country to raise the national literacy rate, which stood at 90.3% in 2008. There are a large number of specialist colleges, established to develop a more diverse and skilled national workforce.

A large number of Vietnam's most acclaimed universities are based in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Facing serious crises, Vietnam's education system is under a holistic program of reform launched by the government. Education is not free; therefore, some poor families may have trouble paying tuition for their children without some form of public or private assistance. Regardless, school enrollment is among the highest in the world, and the number of colleges and universities increased dramatically in the 2000s, from 178 in 2000 to 299 in 2005.

Health

Public health in Vietnam is of a reasonably high standard. As of 2009, the national life expectancy is 76 years for women and 72 for men. Infant mortality stands at 12 per 1,000 live births. As of 2009, 85% of the population has access to improved water sources. However, malnutrition is still common in the rural provinces. In 2001, government spending on health care corresponded to just 0.9% of Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP), with state subsidies covering only about 20% of health care expenses.

In 1954, North Vietnam established a public health system that reached down to the hamlet level. After the national reunification in 1975, this system was extended to the provinces of former South Vietnam. In the late 1980s, the quality of healthcare declined to some degree as a result of budgetary constraints, a shift of responsibility to the provinces, and the introduction of charges. Inadequate funding has also contributed to a shortage of nurses, midwives, and hospital beds; in 2000, Vietnam had only 250,000 hospital beds, or 14.8 beds per 10,000 people, according to the World Bank.

Since the early 2000s, Vietnam has made significant progress in combating malaria, with the malaria mortality rate falling to about 5% of its 1990s equivalent by 2005, after the country introduced improved antimalarial drugs and treatment. However, tuberculosis cases are on the rise, with 57 deaths per day reported in May 2004. With an intensified vaccination program, better hygiene, and foreign assistance, Vietnam hopes to reduce sharply the number of TB cases and annual new TB infections.

As of September 2005, Vietnam had diagnosed 101,291 HIV cases, of which 16,528 progressed to AIDS, and 9,554 died. However, the actual number of HIV-positive individuals is estimated to be much higher. An average, 40–50 new infections are reported every day in Vietnam. As of 2007, 0.5% of the population is infected with HIV, and this figure has remained stable since 2005. In June 2004, the United States announced that Vietnam would be one of 15 nations to receive funding as part of a US$15 billion global AIDS relief plan.

Science and technology

Historically, Vietnamese scholars did not practice "science" in its generally accepted meaning, but nonetheless developed many academic fields, especially social sciences and the humanities. Vietnamese scholarship has left a millennium-deep legacy of analytical writings, such as the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư of Ngô Sĩ Liên. Vietnamese monks led by the abdicated Emperor Tran Nhan Tong developed the Trúc Lâm Zen branch of philosophy in the 13th century. Arithmetics and geometry have been widely taught in Vietnam since the 15th century, using the textbook Đại thành toán pháp by Lương Thế Vinh as a basis. Lương Thế Vinh introduced the notion of zero, while Mạc Hiển Tích used the term số ẩn (en: "unknown/secret/hidden number") to refer to negative numbers even earlier. Vietnamese scholars furthermore produced numerous encyclopedias, such as Lê Quý Đôn's Vân đài loại ngữ.

In recent times, Vietnamese scientists have made many significant contributions in various fields of study, most notably in mathematics. Hoàng Tụy pioneered the applied mathematics field of global optimization, while Ngô Bảo Châu won the 2010 Fields Medal for his proof of fundamental lemma in the theory of automorphic forms.

Media

Vietnam's media sector is regulated by the government in accordance with the 2004 Law on Publication. It is generally perceived that Vietnam's media sector is controlled by the government to follow the official communist party line, though some newspapers are relatively outspoken. The Voice of Vietnam is the official state-run national radio broadcasting service, broadcasting internationally via shortwave using rented transmitters in other countries, and providing broadcasts from its website. Vietnam Television is the national television broadcasting company. As Vietnam moved toward a free-market economy under its Đổi Mới reform program, the government's reliance on the print media to keep the public informed about its policies led to a near-doubling in the number of newspapers and magazines in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Vietnam extensively regulates public Internet access, using both legal and technical means. The collaborative project OpenNet Initiative classifies Vietnam's level of online political censorship to be "pervasive", while Reporters without Borders considers Vietnam to be one of 15 global "internet enemies". While the government of Vietnam claims to safeguard the country against obscene or sexually-explicit content through its blocking efforts, many politically and religiously sensitive sites are also banned.

Culture

Vietnam is an agricultural civilization based on wet rice cultivation with ancient Dong Son culture as one of its defining aspects. The major stimulation of Vietnamese culture's development comes from indigenous factors. Vietnamese totems are Vietnamese dragon which is derived from crocodile and snake (Vietnam's National Father- Lạc Long Quân is a holy dragon), lạc- a holy bird (Vietnam's National Mother- Âu Cơ is a bird fairy), turtle and nghê- in dog's image. Vietnamese social is structured from units named làng (English: villages), not from lines of blood. Regarding national solidarity, all Vietnamese have a common ancestor death anniversary on the 10th day of the 3rd Lunar month (see Giỗ Tổ Hùng Vương).

Vietnam's culture is a part of Sinosphere that Confucianism and Laoism set the frameworks for Vietnam's feudal political systems and philosophy (Specifically, Vietnamese are closely related to Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien and Hainan cultures. Many of these people have also immigrated into Vietnam). Moreover, Vietnam was partially indianized for some certain periods of time, mostly by Buddism. Through history, Cham culture, Cambodian culture, the culture of Tai people and other minority ethnic groups in Vietnam have been integrated with Vietnamese culture in correlated effects. Vietnam's contemporary culture is also influenced by Western culture, for example, American, French and Russian cultures.

The official spoken and written language of Vietnam is Vietnamese, currently written in Latin alphabet. However, according to many recent researches, Vietnam is believed to have had established a distinctive culture before the invasion of China's dynasties, including a syllabic writing system named Khoa Đẩu for Vietnamese language along with its education system nationwide.

In the socialist era, the cultural life of Vietnam has been deeply influenced by government-controlled media and the cultural influences of socialist programs. For many decades, foreign cultural influences were shunned and emphasis placed on appreciating and sharing the culture of communist nations such as the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and others. Since the 1990s, Vietnam has seen a greater exposure to Southeast Asian, European and American culture and media.

Clothing

One of the most popular Vietnamese traditional garments is the "", worn often for special occasions such as weddings or festivals. White Áo dài is the required uniform for girls in many high schools across Vietnam. Áo Dài was once worn by both genders but today it is worn mainly by females, except for certain important traditional culture-related occasions where some men do wear it.

Cuisine

Vietnamese cuisine uses very little oil and many vegetables. The main dishes are often based on rice, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Its characteristic flavors are sweet (sugar), spicy (serrano peppers), sour (lime), nuoc mam (fish sauce), and flavored by a variety of mint and basil.

Music

Vietnamese music varies slightly in the three regions: or North, or Central, and or South. Northern classical music is Vietnam's oldest and is traditionally more formal. Vietnamese classical music can be traced to the Mongol invasions, when the Vietnamese captured a Chinese opera troupe. Central classical music shows the influences of Champa culture with its melancholic melodies.

Literature

Vietnamese literature has a long history. Folk literature has been developed for centuries with many great arts, including a typical 6–8 verse poem kind named "ca dao", a system of tales about village establishers and heroes which served as cultural base for many cultural regions (for example, "Saint Gióng tales"). Written literatures dates from Ngô Dynasty with some admirable artists like Nguyễn Trãi with "Bình Ngô đại cáo", Trần Hưng Đạo with "Hịch tướng sĩ", Nguyễn Du with "Truyện Kiều" (English: The Tale of Kieu) and Nguyễn Đình Chiểu with "Lục Vân Tiên". Some genres play an important role in performance like "hát nói" in ca trù. Some poet unions have been formed like "Tao Đàn." The mordenization of literature has happened since Western cultural effect began in 19th century. The first transformation movement was "Thơ Mới" from 1932 to 1945.

Arts and sports

Vovinam and Bình Ðịnh martial arts are two popular Vietnamese martial arts practiced by many within Vietnam. Football (soccer) is the most popular team sport in Vietnam. Sports and games such as badminton, tennis, ping pong, and chess are also popular with large segments of the population. Volleyball, especially women's volleyball, is watched by a fairly large number of Vietnamese people. The (expatriate Vietnamese) community forms a prominent part of Vietnamese cultural life, introducing Western sports, films, music and other cultural activities in the nation.

Festivals

Vietnam has a plethora of festivals, the most important being the New Year Tết. The dates of the calendar are set by the Lunar Calendar.

Among countless other traditional Vietnamese occasions, the traditional Vietnamese wedding is very popular. Many of the age-old customs in a Vietnamese wedding continue to be celebrated by both Vietnamese in Vietnam and overseas, often combining both western and eastern elements.

Tourism

Vietnam's number of visitors for tourism and vacation has increased steadily over the past ten years. About 3.77 million international guests visited Vietnam in 2009. The government and private enterprizes are investing capital into the coastal regions that are already popular for their beaches and boat tours.

Popular destinations include Hanoi, Saigon, the old imperial capital of Hue, World Heritage Sites of Hoi An and the Cham temples of Mỹ Sơn, the coastline such as Nha Trang, the caves of Halong Bay, Marble Mountains, and many other sites. As tourism increases in importance, new projects are invested into, such as the tourism complex in Binh Duong, with the largest artificial sea in Southeast Asia.

On Valentine's Day 2011 Joe Jackson, the father of popstar Michael Jackson, attended a ground breaking ceremony for what will be the region's largest entertainment complex, a five-star hotel and amusement park called "Happyland" in which he has investment interests. The $2 billion project, which has been designed to accommodate 14 million tourists annually, is located in southern Long An province about 20 minutes from Ho Chi Minh City. It is expected that the project will be finished in 2014.

See also

CIVETS

References

Other documents

Herring, George C. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 (4th ed 2001), most widely used short history.

Jahn GC. 2006. The Dream is not yet over. In: P. Fredenburg P, Hill B, editors. Sharing rice for peace and prosperity in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Victoria, (Australia): Sid Harta Publishers. p 237–240

Karrnow, Stanley. Vietnam: A History. Penguin (Non-Classics); 2nd edition (June 1, 1997). ISBN 0-14-026547-3

McMahon, Robert J. Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War: Documents and Essays (1995) textbook

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 7th edition, Oxford University Press.

Tucker, Spencer. ed. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1998) 3 vol. reference set; also one-volume abridgment (2001)

External links

Country Profile from BBC News

Vietnam from UCB Libraries GovPubs

; Government

Portal of the Government of Vietnam

Communist Party of Vietnam

National Assembly: the Vietnamese legislative body

General Statistics Office

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Chief of State and Cabinet Members

; Other

Vietnam tourism website Official Tourism website of Vietnam

Category:Member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Category:Communist states Category:Countries bordering the South China Sea Category:Single-party states Category:Socialist states Category:Southeast Asian countries Category:States and territories established in 1976 Category:Member states of the United Nations

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Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Native name	Việt Nam Cộng hòa
Conventional long name	Republic of Vietnam
Common name	South Vietnam
Continent	moved from Category:Asia to Southeast Asia
Region	Southeast Asia
Country	Vietnam
Era	Cold War
Government type	Republic
Event start	State of Vietnam referendum, 1955
Year start	1955
Date start	23 October
Event1	1963 South Vietnamese coup
Date event1	November 1963
Event2	Paris Peace Accords
Date event2	1973
Event end	Fall of Saigon
Year end	1975
Date end	30 April
P1	State of Vietnam
Flag p1	Flag of South Vietnam.svg
S1	Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam
Flag s1	FNL Flag.svg
Image coat	Coat_of_Arms_of_South_Vietnam_(1954_-_1955).svg
Symbol type	Emblem
Capital	Saigon
National anthem	Tiếng Gọi Công Dân (The March of Youths)
National motto	Tổ quốc - Danh dự - Trách nhiệm (1954 - 1967) (Fatherland - Honour - Responsibility)Tổ quốc - Công minh - Liêm chính (1967 - 1975) (Fatherland - Justice - Integrity)
Common languages	Vietnamese
Currency	đồng (gradually phased in to replace the piastre)
Leader1	Ngô Đình Diệm
Year leader1	1955-63
Title leader	President
Leader2	Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Year leader2	1965-75
Stat year1	1955
Stat area1	173809
Stat pop1	12000000
Stat year2	1974
Stat area2	173809
Stat pop2	19582000
Hdi year	1979
Hdi	0.783
Hdi rank	53 }}

South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" (1949–55) and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" (1955–75). Its capital was Saigon. The terms "South Vietnam" and "North Vietnam" became common usage in 1954 at the time of the Geneva Conference, which partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist zones at the 17th parallel.

South Vietnam's origins can be traced to the French colony of Cochinchina, a subdivision of French Indochina, which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam. After World War II, the Việt Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed Vietnamese independence in Hanoi. In 1949, non-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bao Dai. Bao Dai was deposed by Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem in 1955, who proclaimed himself president after a fraudulent referendum. After Diệm was deposed in a military coup in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyen Van Thieu led the country from 1967 until 1975. The Vietnam War began in 1959 with an uprising by Việt Cộng forces supplied by North Vietnam. Fighting climaxed during the Tết Offensive of 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam. Despite a peace treaty concluded in January 1973, fighting continued until the North Vietnamese army overran Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Leaders

25px||Cochinchina 1946-47 Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina (Chính phủ Cộng hoà Nam Kỳ tự trị). Republic declared by France to evade promise to recognize Vietnam as independent.

:*Nguyễn Văn Thinh (1946)

25px||Cochinchina 1947-48 Republic of South Vietnam (Chánh phủ lâm thời Nam phần Việt Nam). Vietnamese name no longer implies that Cochinchina is independent of Vietnam. :*Nguyễn Văn Xuân (1947-48)

1948-49 Provisional Central Government of Vietnam (Thủ tướng lâm thời Quốc gia Việt Nam). This "pre-Vietnam" government prepared for a unified Vietnamese state. :*Nguyễn Văn Xuân (1948-49)

1949-55 State of Vietnam (Quốc gia Việt Nam). Internationally recognized in 1950. Partitioned at the 17th parallel in 1954. :*Bảo Đại (1949-1955). Abdicated as emperor in 1945.

1955-75 Republic of Vietnam (Việt Nam Cộng Hòa). Fought Vietnam War against North and Việt cộng (1959–1975). :*Ngô Đình Diệm (1955–1963). Once highly lauded by America, he was ousted and assassinated in a U.S.-backed coup. :*In 1963-65, there were numerous coups and short-lived governments, several of which were headed by Dương Văn Minh or Nguyễn Khánh. :*Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (1965–1975). Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ was top leader in 1965-67. :*Trần Văn Hương (1975). :*Dương Văn Minh (2nd time) (1975). Surrendered to Communists when others abandoned their posts.

1975-76 Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam (Chính phủ Cách mạng lâm thời Cộng hoà miền Nam Việt Nam). Authority nominal as South was occupied by the People's Army of Vietnam.

:*20px||Huỳnh Tấn Phát Huỳnh Tấn Phát (1975-76)

History

Founding: The Nation of Vietnam

Before World War II, the southern third of Vietnam was the colony of Cochinchina, which was administered as part of French Indochina by a governor in Hanoi. The northern two-thirds of Vietnam was the protectorate of Annam, which had a puppet Vietnamese emperor as well as parallel French and Vietnamese systems of administration. Cochinchina had been annexed by France in 1862 and even elected a deputy to the French National Assembly. It was more "evolved", and French interests were stronger than in other parts of Indochina, notably in the form of French-owned rubber plantations. During World War II, Indochina was administered by Vichy France and occupied by Japan. When the Japanese surrendered in 1945, Emperor Bảo Đại abdicated, and Việt Minh leader Hồ Chí Minh proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) in Hanoi. French administration was restored in the South in September 1945. In June 1946, France declared Cochinchina a republic within French Indochina. Furious Vietnamese negotiators broke off talks with France in response, thus giving France an opening to evade an earlier promise to recognize Vietnam as independent. Hồ purged non-communist politicians from the DRV. The French Indochina War began in December 1945, with the French regaining control of Hanoi and other northern cities.

The State of Vietnam was created through co-operation between anti-communist Vietnamese and the French government on June 14, 1949. Former emperor Bảo Đại accepted the position of chief of state (quoc truong). This was known as the "Bảo Đại Solution." The colonial struggle in Vietnam became part of the global Cold War in October 1949 when a victorious Chinese communist army arrived on Vietnam's northern border. In 1950, China, Russia and other communist nations recognized the DRV while the U.S. and other non-communist states recognized the Bảo Đại government.

In 1954, France and the Việt Minh agreed at the Geneva Conference that the State of Vietnam would rule the territory south of the 17th parallel, pending unification on the basis of supervised elections in 1956. At the time of the conference, it was expected that the South would continue to be a French dependency. However, South Vietnamese Premier Ngô Đình Diệm, who preferred American sponsorship to French, rejected the agreement. When Vietnam was divided, 800,000 to 1 million North Vietnamese, mainly (but not exclusively) Roman Catholics, sailed south as part of Operation Passage to Freedom due to a fear of religious persecution in the North.

1955–1963

In July 1955, Diệm announced in a broadcast that South Vietnam would not participate in the elections specified in the Geneva accords. As Saigon's delegation did not sign the Geneva accords, it was not bound by it, Diệm said. He also said the communist government in the North created conditions that made a fair election impossible in that region.

Diệm held a referendum on 23 October 1955 to determine the future of the country. He asked voters to approve a republic, thus removing Bảo Ðại as head of state. The poll was supervised and rigged by his younger brother, Ngô Ðình Nhu. Diệm was credited with 98 percent of the votes. In many districts, there were more votes to remove Bảo Ðại than there were registered voters. In Saigon, 133 percent of the registered population reportedly voted to remove Bảo Ðại. On 26 October 1955, Diệm declared himself the president of the newly proclaimed Republic of Vietnam. The French, who needed troops to fight in Algeria, completely withdrew from Vietnam by April 1956.

Diệm attempted to consolidate his rule on Vietnam by eliminating rival groups. He launched an anti-communist denunciation campaign (To Cong) against remnants of the communist Vietminh. He also crushed rival factions by launching military campaigns against three powerful main sects; the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao and the Binh Xuyen organised crime syndicate whose military strength combined amounted to approximately 350,000 soldiers. Throughout this period, the level of U.S. aid and political support increased.

1963–1973

1973–1975

In accordance with the Paris Peace Accords signed with North Vietnam on 27 January 1973, U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam. North Vietnam was allowed to continue supplying communist troops in the South, but only to the extent of replacing materials that were consumed.

The communist leaders had expected that the ceasefire terms would favor their side. But as Saigon began to roll back the Vietcong, they found it necessary to adopt a new strategy, hammered out at a series of meetings in Hanoi in March 1973, according to the memoirs of Trần Văn Trà. As the Vietcong's top commander, Trà participated in several of these meetings. A plan to improve logistics was prepared so that the North Vietnamese army would be able to launch a massive invasion of the South, projected for 1976, before Saigon's army could be fully trained. A gas pipeline would be built from North Vietnam to Vietcong headquarters in Loc Ninh, about north of Saigon.

On 15 March 1973, U.S. President Richard Nixon implied that the U.S. would intervene militarily if the communist side violated the ceasefire. Public reaction was unfavorable and on 4 June 1973 the U.S. Senate passed the Case-Church Amendment to prohibit such intervention. The oil price shock of October 1973 caused significant damage to the South Vietnamese economy. The Vietcong resumed offensive operations and by January 1974 it had recaptured the territory that it had lost earlier. After two clashes that left 55 South Vietnamese soldiers dead, President Thieu announced on 4 January that the war had restarted and that the Paris Peace Accord was no longer in effect. There were over 25,000 South Vietnamese casualties during the ceasefire period.

In August 1974, Nixon was forced to resign as a result of the Watergate scandal and the U.S. Congress voted to reduce assistance to South Vietnam from $1 billion a year to $700 million. By this time, Ho Chi Minh Trail, once an arduous mountain trek, had been upgraded into a drivable highway with gas stations.

In 1975, the communists of North Vietnam launched an offensive in the South, which became known as the Ho Chi Minh Campaign. The Army of the Republic of Vietnam unsuccessfully attempted a defense and a counterattack. It had few remaining operational tanks and artillery pieces, as well as a shortage of spare parts, and ammunition. The NVA had a vastly greater supply of new equipment and ammunition. As a consequence, South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu was forced to withdraw key army units from the Central Highlands, which exacerbated an already-perilous military situation and undercut the confidence of the ARVN soldiers in their leadership.

The retreat became a rout. The cities of Huế, Da Nang and Da Lat in central Vietnam quickly fell, and the North Vietnamese advanced southwards. As the military situation deteriorated, ARVN troops started deserting.

Thieu requested aid from U.S. President Gerald Ford, but the U.S. Senate would not release extra money to provide aid to South Vietnam, and had already passed laws to prevent further involvement in Vietnam. In desperation, Thieu called back Nguyen Cao Ky from retirement as a military commander, but resisted calls to name his old rival prime minister.

Fall of Saigon, April 1975

Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned on 21 April 1975, and fled to Taiwan. He nominated his Vice President Tran Van Huong as his successor. A last-ditch defense was made by the ARVN 18th Division at the Battle of Xuan Loc led by Major General Lê Minh Đảo. After only one week in office, Tran Van Huong handed over the presidency to General Duong Van Minh ("Big Minh"). Minh was seen as a more conciliatory figure toward the North, and it was hoped he might be able to negotiate a more favorable settlement to end the war. The North was not interested in negotiations, however, and its tanks rolled into Saigon largely unopposed which led to the fall of Saigon. Acting President Minh unconditionally surrendered the capital city of Saigon and the rest of South Vietnam to North Vietnam on April 30, 1975.

During the hours leading up to the surrender, the United States undertook a massive evacuation of its embassy in Saigon, Operation Frequent Wind. The evacuees included U.S. government personnel as well as high-ranking members of the ARVN and other South Vietnamese who had aided the U.S.-backed administration and were seen as potential targets for persecution by the Communists. Many of the evacuees were taken directly by helicopter to multiple aircraft carriers waiting off the coast. An iconic image of the evacuation is the widely-seen footage of empty Huey helicopters being jettisoned over the side of the carriers, to provide more room on the ship's deck for more evacuees to land. The evacuation was forced to stop by the U.S. Navy. All the marines and diplomats were evacuated, but thousands of South Vietnamese waited vainly atop the U.S. Embassy for helicopters that never came.

Relationship with the U.S.

The history of the relationship with the United States is controversial. Some historians say the founding of South Vietnam was based on the United States's desire to create an "anti-communist" base in Southeast Asia. Mortimer T. Cohen says: During the course of its 21 years of involvement in Indochina, the United States Government offered “reasons” for its actions. These reasons were worthless. The only reason for the American being in Indochina was to prevent the area from going Communist by an election, by an internal revolution... And this was reason enough... More reasons. And more reasons. They sprouted like asparagus in May. Before the Indochina War came to an end, a book could have filled with reasons. None of them were valid

John Carlos Rowe & Rick Berg say: "Protecting the “freedom” of the people of South Vietnam? In internal documents the harsh realities of US War aims were spelled out – none more succinctly than a memorandum prepared by Assistant Secretary of Defense for Secretary McNamara (with an eyes-only copy to George Bundy) on US War aims: 70% to preserve our national honor,; 20% to keep South VN territory from being occupied by the Chinese; and 10% to the South VN to enjoy a better and freer way of life"

Opponents argue that it was based on popular support of the South Vietnamese people. However, the U.S. and the Diem government agreed that elections mandated by the Geneva Conference (1954) should not occur, claiming that the communists could not be trusted to conduct a fair election in the North. Moreover, most contemporary observers, including U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, estimated that if an election were held in the 1954–55 period (when South Vietnam was under Bảo Đại's rule), around 80% of the Vietnamese population would vote for Ho Chi Minh. The dominant political rationale for supporting the South Vietnamese government was America's containment policy, which was designed to hold back the spread of communism during the Cold War.

The failure to unify the country in 1956, along with Diem's persecution of communists, led in 1959 to the foundation of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (abbreviated NLF but also known as the Việt Cộng), which initiated an organized and widespread guerrilla insurgency against the South Vietnamese government. Although initially cautious, Hanoi backed the insurgency, which grew in support and intensity. The United States, under President Eisenhower, initially sent military advisers to train the South Vietnamese army. President John F. Kennedy increased the size of the advisory force fourfold and allowed the advisers to participate in combat operations, and later acquiesced in the removal of President Diem in a military coup. After promising not to do so during the 1964 election campaign, in 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson decided to send in much larger numbers of combat troops, and conflict steadily escalated to become what is commonly known as the Vietnam War. In 1968, the NLF ceased to be an effective fighting organization after the Tet Offensive and the war was largely taken over by regular army units of North Vietnam. Following American withdrawal from the war in 1973, the South Vietnamese government continued fighting the North Vietnamese, until, overwhelmed by a conventional invasion by the North, it finally unconditionally surrendered on 30 April 1975, the day of the surrender of Saigon. North Vietnam controlled South Vietnam under military occupation, while the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, which had been proclaimed in June 1969 by the NLF, became the nominal government. The North Vietnamese quickly moved to marginalize non-communist members of the PRG and integrate South Vietnam into the communist north. The unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was inaugurated on 2 July 1976.

==Politics==

South Vietnam went through many political changes during its short life. Initially, the nation was a republic with former Emperor Bảo Đại as Head of State. He was unpopular however, largely because monarchical leaders were considered collaborators during French rule and because he had spent his reign absent in France.

In 1955, Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem rigged a referendum, which ended with a 98% vote in favour of deposing Bao Dai. In Saigon, Diem was credited with 133% of the vote and he went on to proclaim himself the President of the newly-formed Republic of Vietnam. Despite successes in politics, economics, and social change in the first 5 years, Diem quickly became a dictatorial leader. With the support of the United States government and the CIA, ARVN officers led by General Duong Van Minh staged a coup and killed him in 1963. The military held a brief interim military government until General Nguyen Khanh deposed Minh in a January 1964 coup. Until late 1965, multiple coups and changes of government occurred, with some civilians being allowed to give a semblance of civil rule overseen by a military junta.

In 1965 the feuding civilian government voluntarily resigned and handed power back to the nation's military, in the hope this would bring stability and unity to the nation. An elected constituent assembly including presentatives of all the branches of the military decided to switch the nation's system of government to a parliamentary system with a strong President. There was a bicameral National Assembly consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, which came into being in 1967. Military rule initially failed to provide much stability however, as internal conflicts and political inexperience caused various factions of the army to launch coups and counter-coups against one another, making leadership very tumultuous. The situation stabilized in mid-1965 when the Vietnam Air Force chief Nguyen Cao Ky became Prime Minister, with General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu as the figurehead chief of state.

In 1967 South Vietnam held its first elections under the new system. Following the elections, however, it switched back to a presidential system. The military nominated Nguyễn Văn Thiệu as their candidate, and he was elected with a plurality of the popular vote. Thieu quickly consolidated power much to the dismay of those who hoped for an era of more political openness. He was re-elected unopposed in 1971, receiving a suspiciously high 94% of the vote on an 87% turn-out. Thieu ruled until the final days of the war, resigning in April 1975. Duong Van Minh was the nation's last president and unconditionally surrendered to the Communist forces a few days after assuming office.

South Vietnam was formerly a member of ACCT, Asian Development Bank (ADB), World Bank (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), IMF, International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat), Interpol, IOC, ITU, League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (LORCS), UNESCO and Universal Postal Union (UPU).

Provisional Revolutionary Government

Following the surrender of Saigon to North Vietnamese forces on 30 April 1975, the Vietcong, or Provisional Revolutionary Government, established itself in Saigon as the government of South Vietnam. However, it had no real autonomy and was under the control of North Vietnam, and was largely seen as a puppet government. The PRG was dissolved in July 1976 when it merged with the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to become the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Army

On 26 October 1956, the military was reorganized by the administration of President Ngo Dinh Diem who established the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN, pronounced "arvin"). Early on, the focus of the army was combating the guerrilla fighters of the Vietcong, or National Liberation Front, an insurgent movement supplied by North Vietnam. The United States, under President John F. Kennedy sent advisors and a great deal of financial support to aid ARVN in combating the Vietcong. ARVN and President Diem began to be criticized by the foreign press when the troops were used to crush southern religious groups like the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao as well as to raid Buddhist temples, which Diem claimed were harboring Communist guerrillas.

In 1963 Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in a coup d'état carried out by ARVN officers led by Duong Van Minh ('Big Minh'), supported by the CIA. In the confusion that followed Big Minh took power, but was only the first in a succession of ARVN generals to assume the presidency of South Vietnam in a period of intense political instability. During these years, the United States began taking full control of the war against the NLF and the role of the ARVN became less and less significant. They were also plagued by continuing problems of severe corruption among the officer corps. Although the U.S. was highly critical of them, the ARVN continued to be entirely U.S. armed and funded.

The value of the ARVN was highly questionable in this period. In 1963 at the Battle of Ap Bac some 1,400 ARVN troops were defeated by only 350 Vietcong guerrillas. The battle of Dong Xoai in 1965 was another humiliating ARVN defeat. Generals tended to be political appointees and corruption was rampant.

Starting in 1969, President Richard M. Nixon started the process of so-called "Vietnamization", withdrawing American forces and leaving the ARVN to fight the war against the North Vietnamese. Slowly, ARVN began to expand from its counter-insurgency role to become the primary ground defense against the Vietcong and North Vietnamese. From 1969–1971 there were about 22,000 ARVN combat deaths per year. Starting in 1968, South Vietnam began calling up every available man for service in the ARVN, reaching a strength of a million soldiers by 1972. In 1970 they performed well in Cambodia and were executing 3 times as many operations as they had during the American war period. However, the officer corps was still the biggest problem, and after the 1973 Paris Peace Accords, the ARVN lacked necessary military supplies and weapons as a result of a cutback of U.S. financial aid and assistance.

Relations with the public also remained poor as their only counter to Vietcong organizing was to resurrect the Strategic Hamlet Program, which many peasants resented. However, forced to carry the burden left by the Americans, the South Vietnamese army actually started to perform rather well, and in 1970 was winning the war against the Communists, though with continued American air support. The exhaustion of the North was becoming evident, and the Paris talks gave some hope of a negotiated peace, if not a victory for the North Vietnamese. Since 1973, the War shifted in favor of the Viet Cong, who were well-equipped, funded and aided by their communist allies, the USSR and the People's Republic of China, than the South was by the Americans.

The most crucial moment of truth for the ARVN came with General Vo Nguyen Giap's 1972 Easter Offensive, the first all-out invasion of South Vietnam by the communists. It was code-named Nguyễn Huệ after the Vietnamese emperor who defeated the Chinese in 1789. The assault combined infantry wave assaults, artillery and the first massive use of tanks by the North Vietnamese. ARVN took heavy losses, but to the surprise of many, managed to hold their ground.

U.S. President Richard Nixon dispatched more bombers to provide air support for ARVN when it seemed that South Vietnam was about to be overrun. In desperation, President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu fired the incompetent General Hoàng Xuân Lãm and replaced him with ARVN's best commander, General Ngo Quang Truong. He gave the order that all deserters would be executed and pulled enough forces together so that the North Vietnamese army failed to take Huế. Finally, largely as a result of U.S. air and naval support, as well as determination by ARVN soldiers, the Easter Offensive was halted.

After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 all U.S. military forces withdrew from South Vietnam and theoretically the war officially ended, however clashes between ARVN and Vietcong forces continued.

In 1975 the North Vietnamese again invaded the South. Lacking U.S. air support the ARVN could not hold them back. City after city fell to the Communists with ARVN soldiers joining the civilians trying to flee south. The North called this the "Hồ Chí Minh Campaign." All resistance crumbled. Faced with few viable options, the South tried to form a coalition government that would be palatable to the Communists, one that favored negotiated peace and neutrality. The new coalition government was headed by General Duong Van Minh (Big Minh), one of the organizers of the coup in November 1963, with the full support of the CIA and President Kennedy, that killed President Ngo Dinh Diem. General Cao Van Vien, then Colonel and Commander of the Airborne Brigade, had been captured and held by the Big Minh faction and threatened with execution unless he ordered his troops to join the coup. He refused and was held captive until the end of the coup and was released only because of his close friendship with one of the coup leaders.

Because the new coalition government would be headed by Big Minh, General Vien immediately submitted his resignation to then President of South Vietnam Tran Van Huong, who succeeded President Thieu as President. President Huong, knowing the 1963 coup history, granted General Vien's resignation request, (Vien had submitted his resignation to President Thieu many times and had always been turned down). General Vien then escaped to the US as a civilian once his resignation was effective and formalized.

The situation in South Vietnam further deteriorated. The ARVN tried to defend Xuan Loc, their last line of defense before Saigon. The ARVN forces were greatly outnumbered by the advancing North Vietnamese army. Xuan Loc was taken and on 30 April 1975, initiated the Fall of Saigon. The North Vietnamese army captured the city, placing the Vietcong flag over the Independence Palace. General Duong Van Minh, recently appointed president by Tran Van Huong, unconditionally surrendered the city and government bringing the Republic of Vietnam and also the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to an end.

Media and Entertainment

Radio

There were three AM radio stations, by two of them owned by government, and another one owned by a private company. One of them is a nationwide broadcast which has developed to Voice of Vietnam. The headquarters were moved to Hanoi while it was located in Saigon. Two other stations are still broadcasting as a regional radio. There were no FM stations in ROV. The total broadcasting hours for all radio stations in a day is 16 hours. Radio in ROV introduced in 1955.

Television

Television was introduced to the ROV on September 7, 1970 as the 7th country in ASEAN before Burma (1979), Laos (1983) and Brunei (1984). The television were in black-and-white in republic years and 3 earliest years of socialist. ROVTV broadcasted 3 hours a day until the take over of North Vietnam in 1975. VTV became fully owned by North Vietnam on January 1, 1990. A new station, VTV2, has been launched.

Provinces

South Vietnam's capital was Saigon which was renamed Hồ Chí Minh City on 1 May 1975 after unconditionally surrendering to the North.

Before surrendering, the South was divided into forty-four provinces (tỉnh, singular and plural).

Geography

The South was divided into coastal lowlands, the mountainous Central highlands (Cao-nguyen Trung-phan), and the Mekong River Delta.

Economy

South Vietnam maintained a free-market economy and ties to the west. It established an airline under Head of State Bảo Đại named Air Vietnam. The economy was greatly assisted by American aid and the presence of large numbers of Americans in the country between 1961 and 1973. Electrical production increased fourteen-fold between 1954 and 1973 while industrial output increase by an average of 6.9 percent annually. During the same period, rice output increased by 203 percent and the number of students in university increased from 2,000 to 90,000. U.S. aid peaked at $2.3 billion in 1973, but dropped to $1.1 billion in 1974. Inflation rose to 200 percent as the country suffered economic shock due the decrease of American aid as well as the oil price shock of October 1973. The unification of Vietnam in 1976 led to the imposition of North Vietnam's centrally planned economy into the South. The country made no significant economic progress for the next twenty years. After the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Soviet aid, the leadership of Vietnam accepted the need for change. Their occupation armies were withdrawn from Laos and Cambodia. Afterward, the country introduced economic reforms that created a market economy in the mid 1990s. The government remains a collective dictatorship under the close control of the communist party.

Demographics

About 90% of population was Kinh, and 10% was Hoa, Montagnard, French, Khmer, Cham, Eurasians and others. (1970)

Culture

Principal religions were Buddhism, Roman Catholic, Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, animists and otherCham (Asia)|

Vietnamese culture

Cultural life was strongly influenced by China until French domination in the 19th century. At that time, the traditional culture began to acquire an overlay of western characteristics. Many families have three generations living under one roof. The emerging South Vietnamese middle-class and youth in the 1960s became increasingly more Westernized, and followed American cultural and social trends, especially in music, fashion, and social attitudes in major cities like Saigon.

See also

Republic of Vietnam Navy

Vietnam Air Force

Republic of Vietnam Marine Corps

Air Vietnam

Civilian Irregular Defense Group

Independence Palace

Leaders of South Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam War

Flag of South Vietnam

National anthem of South Vietnam

References

External links

The Constitution of the Republic of Vietnam 1956 (English language)

HIẾN PHÁP VIỆT NAM CỘNG HOÀ 1967 (Vietnamese language)

1975: Saigon surrenders

Timeline of NVA invasion of South Vietnam

Category:1975 disestablishments * Category:Former polities of the Cold War Vietnam, South Category:Vietnam War Category:States and territories established in 1955

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