Vietnam

Vietnam, a nation located along the eastern coast of

mainland Southeast Asia, has had a turbulent history.

Emerging as a distinct civilization during the first

millennium BC, Vietnam was conquered by China during the

early Han dynasty and subjected to 1,000 years of foreign

rule. In AD 939 the Vietnamese restored their

independence and gradually expanded southward along the

coast from their historic homeland in the YUAN (Red) River

valley. In the 19th century Vietnam was conquered once

again and absorbed, along with neighboring Cambodia (now

Kampuchea) and Laos, into French INDOCHINA. Patriotic

elements soon began to organize national resistance to

colonial rule, however, and after World War II,

Communist-led Viet Minh guerrillas battled for several

years to free the country from foreign subjugation.

In 1954, at the GENEVA CONFERENCE, the country was divided

into Communist-led North Vietnam and non-Communist South

Vietnam. For the next 20 years, both North and South

Vietnam were involved in the VIETNAM WAR. That conflict

came to an end when Communist forces from the north

occupied Saigon (now HO CHI MINH CITY) in April 1975.

Today, the Vietnamese government is attempting to lead the

entire nation to socialism. But domestic unrest and

foreign-policy problems, compounded by renewed tensions

with China over the Vietnamese occupation of Kampuchea,

keep Vietnam a garrison state.

LAND AND RESOURCES

Vietnam, is shaped like a giant letter "S", extending some

1,600 km (1,000 mi) from the Chinese border to Point Ca

Mau (Baibung) on the Gulf of Thailand. At its widest, it

reaches a width of about 560 km (350 mi). In the narrow

center, it it less than 50 km (30 mi) wide.

Much of Vietnam is rugged and densely forested. A chain

of mountains called the Truong Son (Annamese Cordillera)

extends more than 1,287 km (800 mi) from the Yuan River

delta east of HANOI to the Central Highlands south of

Laos. For much of that distance, these mountains form the

border between Vietnam and Laos and Cambodia. The highest

point in the country, Fan Si Pan, rises to 3,143 m (10,312

ft) in the mountainous northwest, near the Chinese

border. Poor soils and heavy rains make the mountainous

areas relatively unsuitable for agriculture.

The large deltas of the Yuan River in the north and the

MEKONG RIVER in the south are rich in alluvial basaltic

soil brought down from South China and inner Southeast

Asia and have abundant water resources and favorable

climate that make them highly suitable for settled

agriculture, particularly the cultivation of wet rice. In

the Yuan delta, the climate is subtropical, ranging from 5

deg C (41 deg F) in winter to more than 38 deg C (100 deg

F) in summer. The Mekong delta is almost uniformly hot,

varying from 26 deg to 30 deg C (79 deg to 85 deg F)

throughout the year. The monsoon season extends from

early May to October, and typhoons often cause flooding in

northern coastal areas.