Ethnic divisions: predominantly Vietnamese 85-90%; Chinese 3%; ethnic minorities include Muong, Thai, Meo, Khmer, Man, Cham; other mountain tribes
Principal languages: Vietnamese, French, Chinese, English, Khmer, tribal languages (Mon-Khmer and Malayo-Polynesian)
Principal religions: Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, Roman Catholic, indigenous beliefs, Islamic, Protestant
Rank of affluence among U.N. members: 165/183
After more than a century of violent turmoil, Vietnam seems ready to become the next Asian nation to explode with economic growth. At the same time, though, it will face huge challenges: suspicion from its neighbors; the region's fastest-growing population; and the staggering human and ecological toll of war.
Its culture, a fusion of Indonesian, Thai, and Chinese traits, emerged 2,000 years ago, only to be overrun by China. Indeed, China controlled most of Vietnam for a millennium, despite constant rebellion. Independence came in 939 but China remained a perpetual threat as Vietnam was torn by dynastic feuds. France invaded in 1858. As ever, the Vietnamese resisted fiercely.
In 1954 France left, humiliated by defeats from the Communist forces of Ho Chi Minh. In an attempt to stave off defeat, France and its allies bisected Vietnam, giving Ho the north and establishing a U.S.-backed republic in the south. When north invaded south, the United States became fully involved in the fray. The long and brutal struggle that followed resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and massive ecological devastation.
With the U.S. distracted by domestic dissent and tired of fighting a war it couldn't win, a peace accord was signed in January 1973. But the civil war continued, until Vietnam was officially reunited under Communist rule in 1976. Enormous cultural differences still exist between north and south, though the excitement over recent free market reforms is contagious.
