Vietnam
Officially Socialist Republic of Vietnam, an elongated coastal state bordering China, Laos, Cambodia, the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.

The first documented evidence of a kingdom on the territory of present-day Vietnam dates back to the 1st millennium B.C. The dynasty came under the control of the Han Chinese in 111 B.C. and remained so until 938 A.D., when they regained their independence in the Battle of the River Dang. A cultural, social, economic and political upswing followed and Vietnam expanded south. In the 19th century, as part of French Indochina, the area gradually came under French colonial rule.
Japan occupied the region during the Second World War. From 1946 to 1954, France tried unsuccessfully to restore colonial rule in the first Indochina war, but after the French defeat, Vietnam was divided in 1954 into socialist North Vietnam (capital Hanoi) and South Vietnam (capital Saigon), which was supported by the West. In the years 1964 to 1973 the USA did not succeed in defeating North Vietnam in the Vietnam War. In 1976 the two states were reunited under communist leadership. Hanoi became the capital of reunited Vietnam in 1976. The largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon); the cities of Haiphong, Can Tho and Danang are also important metropolises of the country.