According to archeological findings, people have been living in Vietnam already about a half a million years ago, and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam was one of the first areas in East Asia where agriculture was being practiced. Dong So Culture significantly advanced the level of civilization in Vietnam during the Bronze Age, and the area became an attractive target also for foreign invaders. In 111 BC, the Chinese army conquered the country, and Vietnam remained under the rule of different Chinese dynasties until 938 AD, when Vietnam finally regained their independence. However, during this period of relative independence, Vietnam was ruled by many different dynasties and lords, both Vietnamese and foreign in different parts of the country. Later in 1859, the French attacked different parts of Vietnam and made it part of French Indochina for about a hundred years until 1954. After the French rule, which ended after the World War 2, Vietnam was even more divided into two sides, communist North and non-communist South. This led to The Vietnam War between 1963 and 1973, in which other nations such as the US and China were deeply involved. In 1975, the Communists took over the whole country and a year after in 1976, Vietnam became Socialist republic of Vietnam which it still is today. During the following few decades, Vietnam was involved in few less serious armed conflicts with their neighboring countries. However, today Vietnam is a peaceful nation and despite the official status of a socialist country, it has adopted several characteristics of capitalism and democracy in order to gain wealth and prosperity.
