1. North Vietnam 2. South Vietnam
	1954 - 1975 North and South Vietnam The 1954 Geneva Accords divided Vietnam's territory into two zones separated at the 17th parallel. Tensions between the two regions were not alleviated, however, and fighting began again in 1955, gradually resulting in the direct intervention of the Americans between 1965 and 1975.

The Vietnam War, or the Second Indochina War, grew out of the conflict between North Vietnam, or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN), which was controlled by Ho Chi Minh's Communist Party and was supported by the Soviet Union and China, and South Vietnam, or the Republic of Vietnam (RVN), which was led by Ngo Dinh Diem and was supported by the United States. This war ended in April, 1975 with the Communist conquest of South Vietnam.

Drying rice on the side of the highway, Mekong Delta (Canadian International Development Agency Photo: Cindy Andrew - 975-58-05/92)

The economic devastation that Vietnam suffered as a result of the Vietnam War (1959-1975), the United States' economic embargo that followed and the dissolution of the Soviet Union is only now beginning to be ameliorated. Economic reforms are helping the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to rebuild its economy.

Vietnam Today More than 1.5 million Vietnamese people left Vietnam after 1975, and several thousand came to Canada. Today, more than 100,000 Vietnamese-Canadians contribute to enriching the fabric of Canadian society.