Peninsula in Southeast Asia
. It is bordered by China
to the north, Laos
to the northwest, Cambodia
to the southwest, and the South China Sea
– referred to in Vietnam as the East Sea – to the east. With an estimated 90.5 million inhabitants as of 2011, Vietnam is the world's 13th-most-populous country, and the eighth-most-populous Asian country.
The Vietnamese became independent from Imperial China in 938 AD, following the Battle of Bạch Đằng River.
1226 Tran Thu Do, head of the Tran clan of Vietnam, forces Ly Hue Tong, the last emperor of the Ly dynasty, to commit suicide.
1400 The Tran Dynasty of Vietnam is deposed after 175 years of rule by Ho Quy Ly, a court official.
1803 Emperor Gia Long orders all bronze wares of the Tây Sơn Dynasty to be collected and melted into nine cannons for the Royal Citadel in Huế, Vietnam.
1862 As the Treaty of Saigon was signed, ceding parts of southern Vietnam to France, the guerrilla leader Truong Dinh decides to defy Emperor Tu Duc of Vietnam and fight on against the Europeans.
1885 A peace treaty is signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam - most of present-day Vietnam - to France.
1944 World War II: The People's Army of Vietnam is formed to resist Japanese occupation of Indo-China, now Vietnam.
1945 Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1945 Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
1946 Ho Chi Minh signs an agreement with France which recognizes Vietnam as an autonomous state in the Indochinese Federation and the French Union.
1954 President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.