Vietnam, formally the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a Southeast Asian nation. It encompasses 311,699 square kilometers and is located on the eastern fringe of continental Southeast Asia (120,348 sq mi). It is the world's fifth most populated nation, with a population of approximately 96 million people. Vietnam has maritime boundaries with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand and the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia via the South China Sea with China to the north and Laos and Cambodia to the west. Hanoi is the capital, while Ho Chi Minh City is the biggest city.
Vietnam has been inhabited since the Paleolithic period. During the first millennium BC, the earliest known states concentrated on the Red River Delta, which is currently situated in northern Vietnam. From 111 BC until the first dynasty formed in 939, the Han dynasty conquered and ruled Northern and Central Vietnam. Successive monarchical kingdoms absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism and spread southward to the Mekong Delta. The last imperial dynasty, the Nguyn, was colonized by the French in 1887. Following the August Revolution, the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh led the nationalist Viet Minh to declare independence from France in 1945.
Throughout the twentieth century, Vietnam was embroiled in protracted conflict. Following World War II, France attempted to recapture colonial sovereignty in the First Indochina War, which Vietnam won in 1954. Soon after, the Vietnam War broke out, dividing the country into communist North backed by the Soviet Union and China, and anti-communist South supported by the United States. Following the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified in 1976 as a unitary socialist state led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. The nation was plagued by an inadequate planned economy, a Western trade boycott, and conflicts with Cambodia and China. The Communist Party launched economic and political reforms in 1986, transitioning the nation into a market-oriented economy.
Vietnamese inclusion into the global economy and politics was aided by the reforms. Vietnam, a developing country with a lower-middle-income economy, is one of the fastest growing economies in the twenty-first century, with its total GDP expected to approach that of many wealthy countries by 2050. It is a member of international and intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, ASEAN, APEC, CPTPP, Non-Aligned Movement, OIF, and WTO. It has twice taken a seat on the United Nations Security Council.