Northern Vietnam, Central Vietnam and Southern Vietnam are the three main historical, geographical and cultural regions within Vietnam. Each region consists of subregions, with considerable cultural differences originating from each subregions.
Northern Vietnam (Bắc Bộ) includes the following subregions: Northeast (Đông Bắc Bộ) Northwest (Tây Bắc Bộ) Red River Delta (Châu thổ sông Hồng or Đồng bằng sông Hồng)
Central Vietnam (Trung Bộ) includes the following subregions: North Central Coast (Bắc Trung Bộ) South Central Coast (Duyên hải Nam Trung Bộ) Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên – "Western Highlands")
Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ) includes the following subregions: Southeast (Đông Nam Bộ) Mekong River Delta (Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long or Tây Nam Bộ - "Southwest")
Historical context
The Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam is the traditional homeland of the ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh people) where various Bronze Age cultures such as Phùng Nguyên and Đông Sơn originated over 4000 years ago, the first states appeared here, the region later was ruled by various Chinese dynasties until the independence in 939 and influenced by Chinese culture. After the division of Vietnam from 944, the country was unified and the Đinh Dynasty was established as the first Vietnamese one with the title of emperor in 968. Through migration and conquests, Vietnamese people gradually spread south in a process called Nam Tiến (Advancing South).
Central Vietnam was home to Cham people, a Malayo-Polynesian ethnic group who founded their distinct Indianised Kingdom over the Central Coast before being subdued by the Vietnamese during the 14th century. Their predecessors, people who are now known as the Sa Huỳnh culture, dated back from 1000 BCE.
The Mekong Delta in southernmost Vietnam was part of Funan, Chenla then Angkor Empire. Chinese and Vietnamese started migrating en masse to this region during the 16th to 17th century.
Northern and Southern Vietnam was a fluid concept that changed constantly during the course of history. During the Northern and Southern dynasties (1533–1592), Vietnam was partitioned with the Mạc dynasty holding the Red River Delta and Lê dynasty controlling the Central Region from Thanh Hóa to Bình Định while Champa and the Khmers still held their polities further south.
During the Trịnh–Nguyễn War and from 1627 to 1777, two ruling Lords existed in the country with the border (mostly) being the Gianh River in Quảng Bình Province. The North, called Đàng Ngoài (Outer Realm) was ruled by the Trịnh Lords and Nguyễn lords in the South, called Đàng Trong (Inner Realm) or Quảng Nam Quốc, with Lê emperors still nominally acting as head of state. The two sides ruled their own domain independent of the other, and frequently fought each other. The imposed separation encouraged the two regions to develop their own cultures.
After the Tây Sơn Wars (1771–1802) and the founding of the Nguyễn dynasty, the country started getting the present shape with the center of power now switched to Huế in Central Vietnam. During French colonialism, the French divided the country into three parts, directly ruling over Cochinchina (southern Vietnam) while establishing protectorates in Annam (central Vietnam) and Tonkin (northern Vietnam). Consequently, Cochinchina was more directly influenced by French culture than the other two regions. Hanoi, being the capital of French Indochina, was the only place in Northern Vietnam with significant French influence.
From 1954 to 1976, Vietnam was again divided into two separate countries, it divided by the Bến Hải River in Quảng Trị Province at the 17th parallel, with the North led by a communist government, and the South by one that was capitalist. Although the nation has been united since 2 July 1976, linguistic, cultural, and other differences serve to delineate the two regions from one another, with accompanying stereotypes.
The largest city in the North is Hanoi, the nation's capital; and the country's economic capital and largest city in the South today is Ho Chi Minh City (usually called Saigon).
Cultural differences
The cultural differences between the regions can be divided into two main categories: "tangible" cultural differences such as traditional clothing, cuisine, and so on; and "intangible" cultural differences dealing with stereotypes of behavior, attitude and such between the people of these two regions. Discussions of inherent differences between people in the North and in the South are prohibited and can be classified as "reactionary" in Vietnamese state-controlled media or ''undermining national unity''.