Transcript The History of South Vietnam

The History of South
Vietnam
By Robert Cooley
Summary
► In
this project I will be mainly looking at Southern
Vietnam
► The South of the country was pro western and
worked with America during the war
► Vietnam was split into North and South in 1954
► The united states joined the war in 1957 because
of the dividing of Vietnam by the communist North
and America had air force bases in the South.
► The war was mainly a struggle between Americans
and communist southern rebels
Vietnam
Vietnam is a country located near to
Thailand it borders Cambodia and has
had a very war torn past.
Geography
► Although
many westerners still imagine the
Vietnam war in reality a country filled with
natural beauty and peaceful village life Its
highlands and rainforest regions are home
to many exotic animals
► Shaped like a big S Vietnam stretches all
along the side of Thailand and Cambodia
Population facts
► South
Vietnam also had a population of 16 million.
Its first proper leader was Ngo Dinh Diem who
was a fanatical catholic. As communism hated
religion Diem hated all that communism stood for
This is why he got America's support
► South Vietnam had a population of 16 million Its
first proper leader was Ngo Dinh Diem who was a
fanatical catholic As communism hated religion
Diem hated all that communism stood for This is
why he got Americas support
► Vietnam had a 16 million population before the
war
South Vietnam before the war
► Before
the war South Vietnam was ruled by
colonial French but was relatively peaceful
► It was widely inhabited by rural villages and
farmers
► This is the flag of South Vietnam
Ancient Vietnam
► Pre-historic
Vietnamese of the Hoa Binh culture
abandoned travelling life to settle in the Red River
valley. They were hunters but they also cultivated
plants for fruit and roots
► During the stone age period stone tools and
weapons improved there was other crafts too
including fabric making and rope making. Rice
became the main diet and some bronze tools were
introduced at around 4000 B.C
Language
► Vietnamese
is the spoken language its spoken by
an estimate of 86 percent of the people
► As the official language Vietnamese is thought in
schools throughout Vietnam Since 1940
► Vietnamese governments have made great
progress in raising literacy rates and
approximately 90 percent of the adult population
is literate During the twentieth century the
countries elite have learnt a variety of languages
like French Russian and English with English being
the mostly learned second language today
Language in south Vietnam
Ethnic Groups
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Vietnam is home to 54 ethnic groups most live in highland
areas although some large groups such the Chinese live in
lowland areas Since the1980s relations between ethnic
groups have been good but conflict has been there a lot
The biggest problem is the fight for food land etc between
groups Some group members feel discriminated against
and didn’t like government interfering in their lives
The government which at one level supports ethnic
diversity had bad times with groups it fears might become
involved in antigovernment activities This has been the
case with several highland groups in northern and central
Vietnam the ethnic Chinese many fled Vietnam at the time
of the Vietnam War and China's brief border war in 1979
A Typical ethnic groups home in
Vietnam
Food
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Vietnamese often accompany main dishes with leafy
vegetables and small bowls of salty sauces that they dip their
food Popular dishes include sauteed vegetables tofu a
seafood-based broth with vegetables called canh, and a
variety of pork fish or meat dishes
The main diet is rice and fish Vietnam is known in china for
having salty and very nice sauces to go with all types of food
The big cities have restaurants offering Vietnamese and
international foods but for most Vietnamese food consumed
outside of the home is taken at street side stalls or small
shops that only make one dish The most popular item is a
noodle soup with a clear meat broth called pho Many
Vietnamese regard this as a national dish Other foods
commonly consumed at these sites include other types of rice
or soups rice porridge desserts
Industries
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Industrial output is evenly split between all parts Since the
80s Vietnam has promoted foreign investment resulting in
a very fast growth in output by that part International
corporations have been most active in mining electronics
assembly and the production of clothes and shoes usually
for export Corruption and an unclear legal system have
really limited Vietnams ability to bring more foreign
investment since the 1997 A financial crisis Vietnamese
state owned factories produce a number of things for local
consumption like smokes alcohol fertilizer cement food
paper glass rubber and appliances like cookers for a house
saigon
► Ho
Chi Minh City began as a small fishing village
known as Prey Nokor The area that the city is in
now was swampland and was owned by Khmer
people for centuries before the arrival of the
Vietnamese the Khmer wanted that Southern
Vietnam was given to the Vietnamese government
as a place for the marriage of a Vietnamese
princess to a Khmer prince in order to stop
constant invasions and pillaging of Khmer villages
Famine
► In
the summer of 1945 a bad famine hit
Hanoi and some places around the city
eventually resulting in two million deaths
from starvation out of a population of ten
million The famine starts political unrest and
peasant revolts against the Japanese and
remnants of French colonial society Ho Chi
Minh capitalizes on the turmoil by
successfully spreading his Viet Minh
movement
Facts
►
In 1977 border clashes between Vietnam and Cambodia
were bad as well as accusations by its former ally Beijing
that Chinese residents of Vietnam were being persucuted
Beijing cut off all aid and took away 800 technicians.
►
Hanoi was also occupied with a continuing war in
Cambodia where 60000 Vietnamese troops had invaded
and overthrown the countrys Communist leader Pol Pot
and his pro-Chinese regime. In early 1979, Vietnam was
conducting a two-front war defending its northern border
against a Chinese invasion and supporting its army in
Cambodia, which was still fighting Pol Pots Khmer Rouge
guerrillas.
Facts
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The U.S lifted a Vietnamese trade embargo in Febuary 1994 that had
been in place since U.S involvement in the war
In November 2001 Vietnams national assembly approved a trade
agreement that opened U.S markets to Vietnams goods and services
tariffs on Vietnams products dropped to about 4% from rates as high
as 40% Vietnam in return opened its state markets to foreign
competition
Vietnam became the 150th member of the World Trade Organization in
January 2007 after waiting 12 years to join the group
Bibliography
► Vietnam,History,Geography,Government
► An
introduction to Vietnam
► Ask.com
► Ask about.com