Outline of Vietnam
Vietnam was under Chinese control for a thousand years before becoming a nation-state in the 10th century. Successive dynasties flourished along with geographic and political expansion deeper into Southeast Asia, until it was colonized by the French in the mid-19th century. Efforts to resist the French eventually led to their expulsion from the country in the mid-20th century, leaving a nation divided politically into two countries. Bitter fighting between the two sides continued during the Vietnam War, ending with a communist victory in 1975.
Nguyễn dynasty
In 1885, France conquered the rest of Vietnam and promoted development of the Mekong Delta by the Vietnamese. The Nguyễn dynasty nominally ruled the French protectorates of Annam and Tonkin, which were (like Cochinchina) territories of French Indochina. France added new ingredients to Vietnam's cultural stew: Catholicism and a Latin-based alphabet. The spelling used in the Vietnamese transliteration was Portuguese, because the French relied on a dictionary compiled earlier by a Portuguese cleric.