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Resources Overview
Vietnam has an extensive coastline encompassing a great latitudinal range. In the far south this coastline is very low-lying and dominated by the Mekong River Delta and the Cau Mau Peninsula. A short section of coastline faces the Gulf of Thailand, while offshore there are a number of islands, including the relatively hilly Phu Quoc Island and associated islands to the south, as well as the islands of Nam Du and Tho Chau, the latter being located about 150 kilometers west of the mainland. Some 80 kilometers offshore from the Mekong Delta there are a number of small hilly islands called the Con Dao (Con Son) Islands. North of the Mekong Delta Vietnam’s coastline becomes one of high relief, with little or no coastal plain, and the edge of the continental shelf coming quite close inshore. Further north still the coastline sweeps in to the west and the continental shelf becomes very wide indeed around the Gulf of Tonkin. There are occasional islands along the central coastline, and close to the Chinese border numerous small islands, including the Cat Ba islands and other dramatic limestone islands which rise up vertically from the waters of Ha Long Bay.
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Geography
Area: 329,560 sq. km. (127,243 sq. mi.); equivalent in size to Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee combined.
Cities (1999): Capital--Hanoi (2.6 million). Other cities--Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon; 5 million), Hai Phong (1.6 million), Da Nang (722,826).
Terrain: Varies from mountainous to coastal delta.
Climate: Tropical monsoon. |
People
Nationality: Noun and adjective--Vietnamese (sing. and pl.).
Population (1999): 77.3 million.
Annual growth rate (1999): 1.37%.
Ethnic groups: Vietnamese (85%-90%), Chinese (3%), Hmong, Thai, Khmer, Cham, mountain groups.
Religions: Buddhism, Hoa Hao, Cao Dai, Christian (predominantly Roman Catholic, some Protestant), animism, Islam.
Languages: Vietnamese (official), English (increasingly favored as a second language), some French, Chinese, and Khmer, mountain area languages.
Education (1998): Literacy--89.47%.
Health (1999): Birth rate--20.78/1,000. Infant mortality rate--34.84/1,000. Life expectancy--65.71 yrs. male, 70.64 yrs. female. Death rate--6.56/1,000. |
Economy
GDP (1999): $28.6 billion.
Real growth rate (1999): 4.8%.
Per capita income (1999): $372.
Inflation rate (1999): 0.1%.
External debt (1999): 37.1% of GDP, $10.6 billion.
Natural resources: Coal, crude oil, zinc, copper, silver, gold, manganese, iron.
Agriculture and forestry (22.3% of GDP; 1999): Principal products--rice, maize, sweet potato, peanut, soya bean, cotton, coffee, cashews. Cultivated land--12.2 million hectares per year. Land use--21% arable; 28% forest and woodland; 51% other.
Industry and construction (34.5% of GDP; 1999): Principal types--mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity, gas, and water supply.
Services (40.1% of GDP; 1999): Principal types--wholesale and retail, repair of vehicles and personal goods, hotel and restaurant, transport storage, telecommunications.
Trade (1999): Exports--$11.5 billion. Principal exports--garments/textiles, crude oil, footwear, rice (second-largest exporter in world), sea products, coffee, rubber, handicrafts. Major export partners--Japan (16%), China, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, and Germany. Imports--$11.6 billion. Principal imports--machinery, oil and gas, garment materials, iron and steel, transport-related equipment. Major import partners--Singapore (16%), Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand. Exports to U.S.--$655 million. Imports from U.S. (1999)--$291 million. |
Profile
Originating in what is now southern China and northern Vietnam, the Vietnamese people pushed southward over two millennia to occupy the entire eastern seacoast of the Indochinese Peninsula. Ethnic Vietnamese constitute about 90% of Vietnam's 77.3 million population.
Vietnam's approximately 2.3 million ethnic Chinese, concentrated mostly in southern Vietnam, constitute Vietnam's largest minority group. Long important in the Vietnamese economy, Vietnamese of Chinese ancestry have been active in rice trading, milling, real estate, and banking in the south and shopkeeping, stevedoring, and mining in the north. Restrictions on economic activity following reunification in 1975 and the subsequent but unrelated general deterioration in Vietnamese-Chinese relations sent chills through the Chinese-Vietnamese community. In 1978-79, some 450,000 ethnic Chinese left Vietnam by boat as refugees (many officially encouraged and assisted) or were expelled across the land border with China.
The second-largest ethnic minority grouping, the central highland peoples commonly termed Montagnards (mountain people), comprise two main ethnolinguistic groups--Malayo-Polynesian and Mon-Khmer. About 30 groups of various cultures and dialects are spread over the highland territory.
The third-largest minority, the Khmer Krom (Cambodians), numbering about 600,000, is concentrated near the Cambodian border and at the mouth of the Mekong River. Most are farmers. Other minority groups include the Cham--remnants of the once-mighty Champa Kingdom, conquered by the Vietnamese in the 15th century--Hmong, and Thai.
Vietnamese is the official language of the country. It is a tonal language with influences from Thai, Khmer, and Chinese. Since the early 20th century, the Vietnamese have used a Romanized script introduced by the French. Previously, Chinese characters and an indigenous phonetic script were both used. |
History
Vietnam's identity has been shaped by long-running conflicts, both internally and with foreign forces. In 111 BC, China's Han dynasty conquered northern Vietnam's Red River Delta and the ancestors of today's Vietnamese. Chinese dynasties ruled Vietnam for the next 1,000 years, inculcating it with Confucian ideas and political culture. In 939 AD, Vietnam achieved independence under a native dynasty. After 1471, when Vietnam conquered the Champa Kingdom in what is now central Vietnam, the Vietnamese moved gradually southward, finally reaching the rich Mekong Delta, encountering there earlier settled Cham and Cambodians. While Vietnam's emperors reigned ineffectually, powerful northern and southern families fought civil wars in the 17th and 18th centuries.
French Rule and the Anti-Colonial Struggle
In 1858, the French began their conquest of Vietnam starting in the south. They annexed all of Vietnam in 1885, but allowed Vietnam's emperors to continue to reign, although not actually to rule. In the early 20th century, French-educated Vietnamese intellectuals organized nationalist and communist-nationalist anti-colonial movements. Japan's occupation of Vietnam during World War II further stirred nationalism.
Vietnamese communists under Ho Chi Minh organized a coalition of anti-colonial groups, the Viet Minh, though many anti-communists refused to join. After Japan stripped the French of all power in March 1945, Ho Chi Minh announced the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945.
North and South Partition
France's post-World War II unwillingness to leave Vietnam led to failed talks and an 8-year guerilla war between the communist-led Viet Minh on one side and the French and their anti-communist nationalist allies on the other. Following a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, France and other parties, including Britain, China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, convened in Geneva, Switzerland for peace talks. On July 29, 1954, an Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Vietnam was signed between France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The United States observed, but did not sign, the agreement. French colonial rule in Vietnam ended. |
| Information provided by CIA Worldfactbook, US Department of State, Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). ReefBase: Oliver, J. and M. Noordeloos. Editors. 2002, UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center, |
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