Publisher's Synopsis
Drawing on archeological evidence that reveals the emergence of a culturally distinct human occupation of the region up to 10,000 years ago, Vu Hong Lien and Peter D. Sharrock show that these early societies had a sophisticated agricultural and technological culture much earlier than previously imagined. They explore the great variety of cultures that have existed in this territory, unshackling them from the confined histories of outsiders, imperial invaders, and occupiers in order to show that the country has been central to the cultural, political, and ethnic development of Southeast Asia for millennia. Unrivaled in scope, this comprehensive account will be the definitive history of the Vietnamese people, their culture, and their nation.