Vietnam History

Ancient Vietnam

The earliest traces of human activity on the territory of today’s Vietnam can be traced back 300,000 to 500,000 years ago. The oldest previously known culture of the region is more than 30,000 years old, Dieu-culture. The main locality for the artifacts is the eponymous Dieu-cave in the province of Hoa Binh Province, south of Hanoi.

From around 16,000 BC, starting from the same region, they founded the so-called Hoa Binh culture, whose stone tools were in the area of the entire continent of Southeast Asia. The last Stone Age culture of the region was the Bac-son culture (10,000 BC). In addition to stone tools, they also spread ceramics. Irrigated cultivation of rice was known from 3000 BC.

The Bronze Age began here around 1500 BC, with the Sa-Huynh-culture, whose members, presumably coming from the islands of present-day Indonesia, settled along the coasts and on the offshore islands.

At the same time there existed in the Red River Delta, the Dong Son culture, known primarily for its richly ornamented bronze drums. From this cultural center was the first known kingdom of Viet (Chinese: Yue), more precisely, the Lac Viet, Van Lang shows. This empire included most of present-day northern Vietnam and in the 3rd Century BC, migrated from the territory of present-day southern China Au Viet and mingled with the local Lac Viet.

In the year 258 BC, Thuc Phan founded the Kingdom of Au Lac (from the union of Lac Au Viet Viet) and declared himself king An Duong Vuong.

Europeans first arrived in 1516. The Vietnamese royal family had to endure many Jesuits and Franciscans in the country. The European missionaries brought not only new religions and new technologies into the country, for example the Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes is commonly used today, based on Latin letters written by Vietnamese Quoc Ngu. In 1765, the Tay Son rebellion broke out.

The subsequent civil war, came with French assistance by Prince Nguyen Anh, who belonged to the influential family of merchants Nguyen. He declared himself Emperor Gia Long, moving to the capital Hue in the country and gave the country the first time the name of Viet Nam.

Under his rule, a French consultancy major infrastructure and defense projects were launched, which emptied the state treasury. The territory of the empire was expanded in 1834 and included parts of modern Cambodia as a province Tran thanh tay-to Vietnam.