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The Indochinese peninsula as a whole was originally populated by settlers from Indonesia. About two thousand BC Thai and Khmer invaders from the north-west developed settlements in the Mekong delta. Some time later seafaring people from India came to central Vietnam. There they founded an own kingdom. However, the Vietnamese people come after the Chinese, whose ancestors migrated from their original country to settle in the Mekong delta. This small country has always been oppressed by the neighbours in the north.
They were independent until 208 B.C, when a Chinese warlord decided to conquer the territory. Regardless of names imposed by China, the Viets never lost their sense of a national identity. Though hey borrowed the Chinese system of ideograms for writing, their religion and the mandarin traditions based on the Confucian code. In history the population has always tried to reject the oppression by other countries. The first revolt against the foreign rule occured already 2000 years ago and was led by a titled Vietnamese lady.
Nevertheless this country still had to preserve its freedom in the following centuries, when the independence was menaced by several Chinese invasions. Most of the time the Viets were to weak to fight against the enemies and so they turned to the techniques of guerrilla warfare. With many small wars they broke the other soldiers until they were strong enough to expel them from their country. The last big invasion was at the time of the Ming dynasty in China, but after a overwhelming victory the independence of Vietnam was finally recognised. After this defeat of the Chinese emperors a golden age commenced in this country. A political and bureauristic structure was establishes, the culture prospered and the territory was extended.
Meanwhile in 1612 Roman Catholic missonars from France reached the kingdom. They were tolerated and one monk, called Alexandre de Rhodes, undertook to transliterate the Vietnamese language into a written form, using the Roman alphabet. Although the vast majority remained under the religion of Buddhism some people were converted and became Christians. In the meantime the kingdom was split into two pieces, which were ruled by two opposing parties. However, after some decades these both kingdoms were swept up in the great Tay Son Rebellion (1772 - 1802). Its causes are not entirely clear, but they surely involved the Mandate of Heaven, a Confucian concept.
Under this Mandate, the ruler had to reign in observance of the tradition and he had to law in a perceived harmonious relationship with the universe. The mandarins were supposed to ensure harmony. If these cases were not totally fulfilled a revolt was justified. Even today the word revolution is expressed by a Vietnamese term that roughly means translated: change the mandate.
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