Early Vietnam - Âu Lạc

The word Âu Lạc is exceptionally interesting. It's an amalgam of the words Lạc Việt and Âu Việt, the two major cultures that existed in northern Vietnam during the bronze age. But there's more to the name if you consider Vietnam's origin myth. The 100 children of the dragon lord and the daughter of the faeries were separated. Fifty accompanied their father, Lạc Long Quân, to the coast. They were called Lạc, after the dragon lord. The other fifty went to the mountains with Âu Cơ, their mother, and were thereafter called Âu. When these two groups merged and formed Âu Lạc, the cultural significance means that the descendants of the dragon and the faery were once again reunited.

For eighteen generations, the Hồng Bàng dynasty ruled the Lạc Việt people near modern day Đông Sơn, which is considered to be the first Vietnamese civilization. Meanwhile, a confederacy of tribes called the Âu Việt lived in the northern mountains, where Vietnam, Guangdong and Guangxi meet.

The Âu Việt were not the most powerful group in Vietnam. They did not enjoy the privilege of location that the Lạc Việt had. The trade-route between China and Southeast Asia passed through the flat coastal plains where the Lạc Việt held their kingdom. To be situated along this route was a very advantageous position for trade and prosperity. We know that the Lạc Việt engaged in far-reaching trade. Their bronze artifacts have been unearthed as far away as Java and Bali.

In 258 B.C.E. the Âu Việt seized control of Lạc Việt. A man named Thục Phán led an army from the mountains against the civilization on the coastal plains. Where Thục came from is still a matter of scholarly debate, whether he was ethnically Chinese, or native Vietnamese. In either case, historians agree that he defeated the 18th Hùng king, and he merged the Âu Việt and Lạc Việt cultures into one, called Âu Lạc. Whether his primary goal was the reunification of the descendants of the dragon and faery, or if it was to gain the advantageous position along the Southeast Asian trade-route, I can't say.

The Thục dynasty ruled Âu Lạc in Cổ Loa, just north of present day Hanoi. It lasted fifty years, until conquered by an army under the first emperor of unified China, and became Nam Việt under China's Qin Dynasty.

Far to the south, the Sa Huỳnh culture remained relatively isolated from Chinese influence. The cultural contributions that they and their successors made upon Vietnam are considerable, although less significant than the influence of the Chinese. We'll explore this culture a little bit tomorrow.