• Officially the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
• Located in Southeast Asia, borders China, Laos, Cambodia
• Capital: Hanoi; Largest city: Ho Chi Minh City
• Population: over 102 million; Area: 331,000 square kilometers

• Inhabited since the Paleolithic era; states emerged in the first millennium BC
• Under Chinese rule from 111 BC until first dynasty in 939
• Surrendered to France in 1883; became part of French Indochina in 1887
• Declared independence in 1945 after WWII

• First Indochina War (France defeated in 1954)
• Vietnam War divided the country into North (communist) and South (anti-communist)
• Reunified under the Communist Party in 1976

• Shifted to a socialist-oriented market economy in 1986
• Developing country with upper-middle-income status, facing corruption and human rights issues
• Active in ASEAN, APEC, and other international organizations; held UN Security Council seat twice

List of newspapers published in Vietnam.