Vietnam - History
Vietnam has a population of 87 million. The language of most is Vietnamese. Land area is about 127,000 sq miles with a long coast 1400 miles. Capital is Ha Noi with 4 1/2 million. People produce food, like rice, coffee and make clothing and shoes. Chief crops are rice, coffeee, rubber , cotton, tea cashews , soybeans sugarcane, peanuts, bananas. A railroad runs the length of the country north & south. It's 20th Century has Japan occupying Vietnam in 1940. The Vietminh (Independence) League was headed by communist, Ho Chi Minh and they were able to take control in August 1945. France tried to regain colonial ownership which it had in the late 1800s. The French tried to regain colonial control in 1946 & defeated in 1954. Separate states were formed with North Vietnam under the control of Ho Chi Minh in the north backed by communist countries Russia & China. South Vietnam was non-communist with it's capital in Saigon & backed by the United States. The Vietnam Conflict would involve United States forces during 1962-1975 when Saigon would fall to the communists. Conditions would remain unstable for many years. The U. S. would end a 19 year embargo in 1994. Today the United States is Vietnam's biggest export market.