In 207 B.C. a Chinese general set up the Kingdom of Nam-Viet on the Red River. This kingdom was over-thrown by the Chinese under the Han Dynasty in 111 B.C., where upon the country became a Chinese province under the name of Giao-Chi, which was later changed to Annam or peaceful or pacified South. Chinese rule was maintained until 968, when the Vietnamese became independent until 1407 when China again invaded Viet Nam. The Chinese were driven out in 1428 and the country became independent and named Dai-Viet. Gia Long united the North and South as Dai Nam in 1802.
The Democratic Republic of Viet Nam, working through Viet Cong guerrillas, instigated subversion in South Viet Nam which led to US armed intervention and second Indochina War. This war, from the viewpoint of the North merely a continuation of the first (anti-French) war, was a bitter, protracted military conflict which came to a brief halt in 1973 (when a cease-fire was arranged and US and its other allied forces withdrew) but did not end until 30 April 1975 when South Viet Nam surrendered unconditionally. The National Liberation Front for South Viet Nam, the political arm of the Viet Cong, assumed governmental power when on 2 July 1976, North and South Vietnam were united as the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam with Hanoi as the capital.
The đồng (IPA: dɔŋ) (sign: ₫; code: VND) is the currency of Vietnam since May 3, 1978. It is issued by the State Bank of Vietnam. The word đồng is from the term “đồng tiền” (lit. money) which is a cognate of the Chinese “Tong1 Qian2” (Traditional Chinese:銅錢; Simplified Chinese:铜钱). The term refers to Chinese bronze coins which were used as currency during the dynastic periods of China and Vietnam. The term hào is a cognate of the Chinese "hao4" (Traditional Chinese: 毫) which means 1/10th a dollar unit.
Hồ Chí Minh (May 19, 1890 – September 2, 1969) was a Vietnamese Communist revolutionary and statesman who was Prime Minister (1946–1955) and President (1946–1969) of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). Ho led the Viet Minh independence movement from 1941 onward, establishing the communist-governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu. He lost political power inside North Vietnam in the late 1950s, but remained as the highly visible figurehead president until his death. He was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, while the former capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor.
Source: Wikipedia, Krause Publication
