Vietnam is a long S-shaped country winding down the Eastern Side of the Indochinese peninsula bordered by Laos, Cambodia, and China. The weather is tropical in the south and monsoonal in the north with a hot rainy season May through September and a warm dry season October through March. Many Vietnamese will be quick to point out that the country is shaped like a don ganh, a bamboo pole with rice baskets hanging from either end. The baskets are formed by the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong Delta in the south. These low-lying deltas are the regions where most of Vietnam's rice is grown. The two deltas are joined by the narrow mounatinous stretch of central Vietnam.

Humans have been living in what is now Vietnam for more than 500,000 years. Roughly 85 million people now call Vietnam home. Vietnam's sophisticated culture reflects influences brought by Chinese, Mongol, Cham, Khmer, and French invaders during the last thousand years. The country gained independence from France after WWII, and faced decades of war before becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as it's now known. The country is experiencing dramatic economic growth following a Chinese model of economic liberalization without political liberalization.

Quick Facts

Official Country Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Size: 329,560 km², slightly larger than New Mexico

Population: 85,262,000

Government: Communist State

Currency: Vietnam Dong; US $1 is about d16,000

Official Language: Vietnamese