Recent archaeological finds indicate the presence of early man throughout the wider region from at least the late Paleolithic Era. However, a discernible link between prehistoric settlement and the peoples of modern Việt Nam cannot be established until the emergence of the sophisticated Đông Sơn culture in the north between the 3rd and 1st centuries BCE. It was in the twilight of this period that the Lạc Việt, Austro-Asian ancestors of the Việt or Kinh people, established a prosperous agrarian kingdom known as Văn Lang, governed from a citadel near Việt Trì by the kings of the Hùng dynasty.

Following the collapse of the Qin dynasty in 208 BCE, Triệu Đà, the Chinese military commander of Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces, seized the northern kingdom of Âu Lạc and incorporated it into an independent kingdom known as Nam Việt. However, following the rise of the Han dynasty in China an expeditionary force was dispatched south in 111 BCE and proceeded to conquer Nam Việt, incorporating it into the newly-constituted Chinese empire. Thus began a millennium of Chinese political and cultural dominance over what is now northern Việt Nam.

The kingdom of Champa evolved during the 2nd century CE, perhaps in direct succession to the earlier Sa Huỳnh civilisation, along the coastal belt which runs southwards from present-day Đà Nẵng. In the centuries which followed the Chăm (or Chàm) profited from maritime trade and grew in strength, becoming steadily more indianised through commercial relations with South Asia; by the 4th century Hinduism had been adopted and Sanskrit was in use as a sacred language. From the 4th to the 9th centuries the principal administrative centre of the Chăm kingdom was Trà Kiệu (Simhapura) in modern Quảng Nam Province, with nearby Mỹ Sơn as its spiritual and intellectual capital. In 875 power was transferred to Đồng Dương (Indrapura) following the adoption of Buddhism by King Indravarman II. The Chăm kings presided over an extraordinary flowering of Hindu art and architecture representing, in the view of many scholars, some of the finest that the region has ever produced. This flowering is evidenced by the many decorated brick temple complexes constructed throughout southern Việt Nam. - for further details see Champa.

The historic victory of the Bạch Đằng River, secured in 938 under the leadership of Việt king Ngô Quyền, brought to an end almost 1,000 years of Chinese suzerainty over what is now northern Việt Nam and led to the establishment of the first truly independent Vietnamese state. Anarchy followed Ngô Quyền's death in 944, but in 967 the kingdom was reunified under the name Đại Cồ Việt by Đinh Tiên Hoàng (Đinh Bộ Lĩnh), who established a new capital at Hoa Lư (modern Ninh Bình Province) and reached an accommodation with the Chinese. Đinh Tiên Hoàng survived only until 980, when his government was overthrown by the short-lived Early Lê (980-1009), but Đinh Tiên Hoàng's legacy survived and was consolidated by Lý Thái Tổ, founder and first king of the Lý dynasty, who in 1010 established the kingdom of Đại Việt (literally 'great Việt'), moving the royal capital to Thăng Long (now Hà Nội). Henceforward, thanks largely to the success of such illustrious kings as Lý Thường Kiệt (1030-1105), Trần Hưng Đạo (1226-1300) and Lê Thái Tổ (Lê Lợi, 1385-1433) in repulsing successive invasions from China and Mongolia, the north was to enjoy a more or less unbroken period of independence lasting until well into the 19th century.

As soon as it had thrown off the Chinese yoke, Đại Việt began to expand at the expense of its neighbours. As early as 1000 King Lê Đại Hành seized and ransacked the Chăm citadel of Đồng Dương (Indrapura), obliging Chăm King Sri Yangpuku Vijaya to retreat southwards and establish a new capital at Đồ Bàn near Quy Nhơn. Thereafter the combined effects of destructive wars with the Khmers and the Việts and power struggles within the Chăm royal family fatally undermined the Chăm kingdom, leading to the destruction of Đồ Bàn in 1471 by the armies of Việt King Lê Thánh Tông (1460-1497). In the centuries which followed this catastrophy, Champa shrank to a small vassal territory in the vicinity of Nha Trang, finally disappearing altogether during the early 18th century.

Taking advantage of weak central authority during the sixteenth century under the Posterior Lê kings, two powerful aristocratic families, the Trịnh and the Nguyễn, became locked in a bitter power struggle. Following a sporadic civil war Đại Việt was eventually partitioned in 1674, with the Trịnh lords controlling the north from Thăng Long under the titular kingship of the Lê and the Nguyễn lords (who also nominally recognised the Lê kings) controlling the south from their stronghold at Huế. As early as 1623 the Nguyễn had married into the Khmer royal family, enabling them to establish a customs house at Prei Nokor (later Gia Định-Sài Gòn). Thereafter they brought increasing military pressure to bear on the Khmers, leading in 1749 to the cession of the lower Mekong Delta (Kampuchea Krom) to Việt Nam.

After the failure of the Tây Sơn Uprising (1771-1802), a popular revolt against misgovernment by the Nguyễn lords which overthrew the Lê dynasty, Nguyễn Ánh succeeded in restoring central authority with military assistance from the French. Unifying virtually the entire territory now embraced by the modern Vietnamese state, he took the throne as King Gia Long (1802-1819), moved the capital from Thăng Long to Huế and changed his country's name to Việt Nam (literally 'the Việts of the south').

The colonial era began in the 1860s. Eager to control trade in this important gateway to China, the French captured Sài Gòn in 1859 and three years later forced King Tự Đức to cede control of the south, establishing the Protectorate of 'Cochinchina'. By the late 1880s the Protectorates of 'Annam' (central Việt Nam) and 'Tonkin' (north Việt Nam) had also been created. The legacy of the French colonial period is clearly perceptible today in many aspects of Vietnamese society, including its language, its arts, its architecture and even its culinary traditions.

The struggle for independence began in earnest during the 1930s with the establishment of the Indochina Communist Party, turning into armed struggle following the French Vichy government's pact with the Japanese. The Việt Minh were established to fight for liberation from French and Japanese control, and the First Indochina War (1945-1954) which followed led ultimately to the defeat of the French at Điện Biên Phủ and the division of the country along the 17th parallel.

Within a few years armed conflict had escalated between North and South Việt Nam, taking on a new and dangerous dimension with the entry of the United States of America into the war on the side of the South. The Second Indochina War (1954-1975), known in America as the Việt Nam War and in Việt Nam as the American War, cost 57,000 American and nearly two million Vietnamese lives, leading ultimately to victory by the north and the Reunification of the country as the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam.