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| Viet people | |
|---|---|
| Name | Viet people |
| Native name | người Việt |
| Population | c. 95–100 million |
| Regions | Vietnam, United States, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, Laos, Cambodia |
| Languages | Vietnamese language |
| Religions | Mahayana Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Caodaism, Protestantism, Vietnamese folk religion |
| Related | Tai peoples, Mon people, Austronesian peoples, Han Chinese |
Viet people are the largest ethnic group of Vietnam and a major diaspora community worldwide. They are central to the formation of modern Hanoi-centered states and to cultural developments across the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta. Over centuries their identity has been shaped by interactions with neighboring polities, migration, and the circulation of ideas via Confucianism, Buddhism, and maritime trade networks.
The ethnonym "Viet" derives from Middle Chinese reconstructions linked to the ancient polities of the Bách Việt and the exonym used in Chinese historical texts such as the Book of Han and the Records of the Grand Historian. Alternative autonyms include "Kinh", a term codified during the Nguyễn dynasty and employed in modern Vietnamese language administrative classifications. Colonial-era European sources such as the Treaty of Saigon and accounts by travelers during the French Indochina period used variations like "Annamese" and "Cochinchinese", which appear in documents associated with the Second French Empire and the Treaty of Huế.
Early settlements in the Red River Delta and adjacent regions show links with the Dong Son culture and its metallurgy, which feature in archaeology referenced alongside the Han–Yue conflicts. From the 10th century, dynasties such as the Đinh dynasty, Lý dynasty, and Trần dynasty consolidated polities that resisted incursions by the Yuan dynasty and navigated tributary relations with Song dynasty China. Expansion southward, called "Nam tiến", brought contact and contest with the Champa Kingdom and the Khmer Empire, culminating in territorial incorporation of the Mekong Delta under the Nguyễn Lords and later the Nguyễn dynasty. The 19th and 20th centuries saw confrontation with French colonialism, anti-colonial movements including the Cần Vương movement and the Vietnamese Nationalist Party, and revolutionary developments centered on figures associated with the Indochinese Communist Party, the First Indochina War, the Geneva Conference (1954), the Vietnam War, and the Fall of Saigon (1975). Postwar reconstruction and reforms such as Đổi Mới reshaped society and international relations with states including China, United States, and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The majority of the population is concentrated in the Red River Delta and the Mekong Delta, with major urban concentrations in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. Significant overseas communities are established in cities such as Los Angeles, Paris, Toronto, Sydney, and Berlin, arising from migration waves after the Fall of Saigon (1975) and during subsequent economic migrations. Census projects by national statistical agencies and studies by institutions like the United Nations and the World Bank estimate total numbers including diaspora to be near 95–100 million. Internal migration driven by industrialization has altered demographics in regions formerly dominated by agricultural production, with labor flows linked to industrial zones promoted by legislation from Vietnam's National Assembly and bilateral investment frameworks with partners such as Japan and South Korea.
The primary language, Vietnamese language, belongs to the Austroasiatic languages family and is written in the Latin-based quốc ngữ orthography developed by missionaries such as Alexandre de Rhodes and institutionalized during colonial and republican periods. Major dialect groups include Northern (Hanoi), Central (Huế), and Southern (Saigon), with phonological and lexical differences visible across regions and in diaspora communities. Contact with Classical Chinese produced Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary found in administrative and scholarly registers tied to Confucianism and imperial examinations under dynasties like the Lê dynasty. Contemporary media outlets such as VTV and academic programs at Vietnam National University contribute to standardization and study of dialectal variation.
Cultural practices incorporate influences from Dong Son culture, Confucianism, and Buddhism, manifesting in rites, literature, and performing arts. Traditional forms include ca trù, water puppetry, and narrative genres linked to works studied in institutions such as the Temple of Literature (Hanoi). Social organization historically emphasized family lineages and kinship networks tied to village institutions and the ceremonial calendar of festivals such as Tết Nguyên Đán and Tết Trung Thu. Modern cultural production engages with film festivals, publishing houses, and contemporary art scenes centered in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, while museums such as the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology curate ethnographic narratives.
Religious life blends Mahayana Buddhism, Vietnamese folk religion, Taoism, and Confucianism, with institutional forms expressed in pagodas, ancestral worship in family altars, and communal houses. Catholicism, introduced via missionary activity and institutions like the French Catholic missions, remains significant alongside newer movements such as Caodaism and evangelical Protestantism communities. State-religion relations and legal frameworks shaped by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and international bodies influence registration, pilgrimage practices to sites like the Perfume Pagoda, and dialogue with global religious organizations.
Historically agrarian livelihoods centered on wet-rice cultivation in the Red River Delta and later in the Mekong Delta, linked to technologies documented in studies of Dong Son culture irrigation and craft production. Colonial-era cash-crop expansion, investment patterns under French Indochina, and postcolonial land reforms affected rural economies and urban labor markets. Since Đổi Mới, integration into global supply chains, participation in ASEAN trade agreements, and foreign direct investment from partners including China, Japan, and the European Union have diversified employment across manufacturing, services, and information technology sectors in cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Remittances from diasporas in United States, France, and Australia also contribute to household incomes and transnational entrepreneurship.