Vietnam -- School-age
Vietnam
Official Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Government Type: Communist state
Capital: Hanoi
County's inhabitants: Vietnamese
Vietnamese often call themselves "Children of the Dragon."
Abbreviation: VN
Currency: Dong (VND)
Official Language: Vietnamese
English and French are the most common second languages.
The country of Vietnam is located in Southeastern Asia. Vietnam is on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula. it is a long, narrow country shaped like the letter s. The country of Vietnam is very narrow and long. It stretches a distance of about 1,025 miles (1,650 km) from north to south.
It borders the countries of China to the north and Laos and Cambodia to the west. Its longest border is with Laos. To the east and south lies the South China Sea.
History
In 207 BCE, the land was conquered by the Chinese and the Han Dynasty and the land was named 'Nam Viet'. It became part of China 96 years later. The Chinese were forced out around 939 CE. and it was a very unstable area. In the 1500s it broke into two parts, the north and the south.
In the 1800s the south formed an alliance with the French, conquering the north and naming the country Vietnam. The French would take control of the area until World War II. France combined Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos into one territory called French Indochina. The Japanese invaded the country during World War II. After the war Japan returned Vietnam to the French.
