Origins and prehistoric period The earliest reference of the proto-Vietnamese in Chinese annals was the
Lạc,
Lạc Việt, or the
Dongsonian, a tribal confederacy of perhaps polyglot
Austroasiatic and
Kra–Dai speakers who occupied the
Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. One hypothesis suggests that the forerunners of the ethnic Kinh descend from a
subset of
proto-Austroasiatic people in southern China, either around
Yunnan,
Lingnan, or the
Yangtze River, and
mainland Southeast Asia. These proto-Austroasiatics also diverged into
Monic speakers, who settled further to the west, and the
Khmeric speakers, who migrated further south. The
Munda of northeastern India were another subset of proto-Austroasiatics who possibly diverged earlier than the aforementioned groups, given the linguistic distance in basic vocabulary of the languages. Some archaeologists, linguists, and other specialists, such as Sinologists and crop experts, believe that they arrived no later than 2000 BC, bringing with them the practice of riverine agriculture and in particular, the cultivation of wet rice. Some linguists, such as James Chamberlain and Joachim Schliesinger, have suggested that Vietic-speaking people migrated northwards from the
North Central Region of Vietnam to the
Red River Delta, which had originally been inhabited by
Tai speakers. Michael Churchman found no records of population shifts in
Jiaozhi (centered around the Red River Delta) in Chinese sources, indicating that a more stable population of Austroasiatic speakers, ancestral to Vietnamese, inhabited the delta during the
Han-
Tang periods. Another theory, based upon linguistic diversity, locates the most probable homeland of the Vietic languages in what later is
Bolikhamsai Province and
Khammouane Province in Laos and in parts of
Nghệ An Province and
Quảng Bình Province in Vietnam. In the 1930s, clusters of Vietic-speaking communities discovered in the hills of eastern Laos were believed to be the earliest inhabitants of that region. Some scholars link the origin of the
Vietic languages to
northern Vietnam, around the Red River Delta. Michael Churchman, Tuong Vu, and Frederic Pain argue that a distinct Vietnamese identity or language did not exist in full prior to and during the Han-Tang period. Churchman states that during this period, the tribes in northern Vietnam and southern China did not have any kind of defined ethnic boundary and could not be described as "Vietnamese" (Kinh) in any satisfactory sense. Vu believes that a Han-Viet group existed that spoke a Chinese dialect called "Annamese Middle Chinese" and Proto-Viet–Muong, while the inhabitants of the Red River Valley did not have a single identity or language. Pain also argues that Vietnamese cultural identity was the result of Chinese influence on native elements that fully emerged in the post-Chinese rule period during the
Song dynasty.
Ancient to early medieval period The Đông Sơn culture was pioneered by the Lạc Việt peoples. To the south of the Dongsonians/Lạc Việt was the
Sa Huỳnh culture of the
Austronesian Chamic people. Around 400–200 BC, the Lạc Việt interacted with the
Âu Việt, a splinter group of
Tai people from southern China, and
Sinitic peoples from further north. According to a third- or fourth-century AD Chinese chronicle,
Thục Phán, the leader of the Âu Việt, conquered Văn Lang and deposed the last
Hùng king. Having submissions of Lạc lords, Thục Phán proclaimed himself King An Dương of
Âu Lạc kingdom, uniting the Lạc Việt and Âu Việt tribes. In 179 BC,
Zhao Tuo, a Chinese general who established the
Nanyue state in what later is southern China, annexed Âu Lạc, which initiated Sino-Vietic interaction that lasted for a millennium. In 111 BC, the
Han Empire conquered Nanyue, which also brought northern Vietnam under Han rule. By the 7th century to 9th century AD, as the
Tang Empire ruled over the region, historians such as
Henri Maspero proposed that Vietnamese-speaking people became separated from other Vietic groups such as the Mường and
Chứt due to heavier Chinese influences on the Vietnamese. In the 9th century, local rebels aided by
Nanzhao almost ended Tang rule. The Tang reconquered the region in 866, causing half of the local rebels to flee into the mountains, marking the separation between the
Mường and the Vietnamese. According to Jennifer Holmgren, the first six centuries of Chinese rule saw more Vietnamization of local Chinese than Sinicization of local Vietnamese. Compared to the first six centuries of Chinese rule when demographics were more stable, Chinese migration during the Tang period cause changes to certain portions of Vietnamese society in northern Vietnam. Most of these Chinese migrants came as soldiers or merchants, took a wife from the indigenous population, and settled down. They were individuals that settled down in a nuclear family, causing the average household size to decrease. While there was the increase of Chinese migrants to Vietnam, it was more constrained compared to Chinese migration to Guangdong and Guangxi due to the structure of Vietnamese society, which limited the ability of Chinese rulers to register and tax the local population. Some peoples like the Muong, Tay, and Nung people fled Chinese control into the uplands, where Chinese registers could not reach them. Non-Chinese foreign migration also occurred in the south due to pressures elsewhere such as the expanding Cham kingdom. In 938, the leader
Ngô Quyền who was a native of
Thanh Hóa, led forces to defeat the Chinese armada at
Bạch Đằng River. He proclaimed himself king over a polity that could be perceived as "Vietnamese".
Medieval and early modern period Ngô Quyền died in 944 and his kingdom collapsed into chaos and disturbances between twelve warlords and chiefs. In 968, a leader named
Đinh Bộ Lĩnh united them and established the Đại Việt (Great Việt) kingdom. With assistance of Buddhist monks, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh chose
Hoa Lư in the southern edge of the
Red River Delta as the capital instead of Tang-era
Đại La, adopted Chinese-style imperial titles, coinage, and ceremonies and tried to preserve the Chinese administrative framework. The independence of Đại Việt, according to Andrew Chittick, allows it "to develop its own distinctive political culture and ethnic consciousness". In 979, Emperor
Đinh Tiên Hoàng was assassinated, and Queen
Dương Vân Nga married Dinh's general
Lê Hoàn and appointed him as Emperor. Disturbances in Đại Việt attracted attention from the neighbouring Chinese
Song dynasty and
Champa Kingdom, and they were defeated by Lê Hoàn. A
Khmer inscription dated 987 records the arrival of Vietnamese merchants (Yuon) in
Angkor. Chinese writers Song Hao,
Fan Chengda and
Zhou Qufei all reported that the inhabitants of Đại Việt "tattooed their foreheads, crossed feet, black teeth, bare feet and blacken clothing". The 11th-century
Cham inscription of Chiên Đàn,
My Son, erected by king of Champa
Harivarman IV (r. 1074–1080), mentions that he had offered Khmer (Kmīra/Kmir) and Viet (Yvan) prisoners as slaves to local gods and temples of the citadel of Tralauṅ Svon. Some Kinh Vietnamese also lived in Champa and were assimilated, like other Austroasiatic groups living in the state. Successive royal families from the Đinh, Early Lê, Lý, Trần and Hồ dynasties, who had
Hoa/Chinese ancestry, ruled the kingdom from 968 to 1407. They practiced elitist marriage alliances between clans and nobles in the country. Mahayana Buddhism became state religion, with Cham, Indian and Chinese cultures influencing music instruments, dance and religious worship. Confucianism also gradually gained attention and influence. The earliest surviving corpus and text in the
Vietnamese language were dated to the 12th century whilst surviving
chữ Nôm script inscriptions were dated to the 13th century, showcasing influences of Chinese culture among the elites. The Mongol
Yuan dynasty unsuccessfully invaded Đại Việt in the 1250s and 1280s, while they sacked Hanoi. The
Ming dynasty of China conquered Đại Việt in 1406, brought it under Ming rule for 20 years, before they were driven out by leader
Lê Lợi. The fourth grandson of Lê Lợi, Emperor
Lê Thánh Tông (r. 1460–1497) had a reign recognized for administrative, military, education, and fiscal reforms he instituted, and a cultural revolution that replaced the old traditional aristocracy with a generation of literati scholars. He adopted Confucianism and transformed Đại Việt from a Southeast Asian style polity to a more bureaucratic state. Thánh Tông's forces, armed with
gunpowder weapons, overwhelmed the rival
Champa in 1471 and launched an unsuccessful invasion against the Laotian and
Lan Na kingdoms in the 1480s. After the death of Thánh Tông in 1497, extreme climate, failing crops, regionalism and factionism tore the kingdom apart. From 1533 to 1790s, four families – Mạc, Lê, Trịnh and Nguyễn – each ruled their own domains. In the northern polity of Đàng Ngoài (outer realm), the Lê emperors sat on the throne while the Trịnh lords held power of the court. The Mạc controlled northeast. The Nguyễn lords ruled the southern polity of Đàng Trong (inner realm). Thousands of ethnic Viet migrated south and settled on the old Cham lands, with Cham inhabitants assimilating into the new Viet state. Viet also settled in the
highlands of Vietnam and intermixed with the natives over centuries. European missionaries and traders from the sixteenth century brought new religion, ideas and crops to the Vietnamese (Annamese). By 1639, there were 82,500 Catholic converts throughout Vietnam. In 1651,
Alexandre de Rhodes published a 300-pages
catechism in
Latin and romanized-Vietnamese (
chữ Quốc Ngữ) or the
Vietnamese alphabet.
Modern period In 1802, Emperor
Gia Long, aided by French mercenaries, defeated the
Tay Son kingdoms. By 1847, the state under Emperor
Thiệu Trị, a people that were identified as "người Việt Nam" accounted for nearly 80% of the country's population. Between 1862 and 1867, the southern third of the country became the
French colony of Cochinchina. By 1884, the entire country had come under French rule, with the central and northern parts of Vietnam separated into the two protectorates of
Annam and
Tonkin. The three Vietnamese entities were formally integrated into the union of
French Indochina in 1887. The French administration imposed political and cultural changes on Vietnamese society. A Western-style system of education introduced new
humanist values into Vietnam. == Genetics ==