Guided walking & holiday packages
Touring: France, Vietnam, Bhutan, Italy & Turkey

VIETNAM - Hill tribes and coastal towns

History
Legend has it that Vietnam's origin lay in the harmonious union of Lac Long Quan, King of the Sea, and Au Co, Princess of the Mountains. Real life was not so idyllic, since Vietnam's early history - like its recent history - was characterized by a nearly continuous struggle for autonomy. First came an entire millennium of Chinese domination, which was finally thrown off in the 9th century. External control was imposed once again in the 19th century, when Vietnam was occupied by the French.

French rule lasted until WWII, when the country was invaded by Japan. At the war's end the predominantly Communist Viet Minh, which had led the resistance movement against the Japanese, declared the country's independence. The French Indochina War ensued, until France admitted defeat in 1954, and the Geneva Accords left Vietnam divided into a Communist north and an anti-Communist south. By this time the U.S. had replaced the French as the primary sponsor of the anti-Communist government. Tension between north and south mounted over the next few years, until in 1964 full scale war erupted. The conflict lasted for the next eight years, and involved hundreds of thousands of troops from the U.S. and other countries. In 1973 came the defeat of the US and two years later the country was unified.

An extended period of isolationism followed, but in 1991, with the fall of Communism and the end of the Cold War, the regime loosened its grip, and liberalized its policies allowing many western powers to re-establish diplomatic and trade relations with Vietnam. The last country to do so, in 1995, was the U.S.

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