Âu Lạc in the context of "Hanoi"

Cổ Loa Citadel (Vietnamese: Thành Cổ Loa) is an important fortified settlement and archaeological site in present-day Hanoi's Đông Anh District, roughly 17 kilometers north of present-day Hanoi, in the upper plain north of the Red River. Various relics of the Bronze Age Phùng Nguyên culture and Đông Sơn culture have been found in Cổ Loa, although it was later established as the capital of Âu Lạc Kingdom during the 3rd century BCE (about 257 BCE). It might be the first political center of the Vietnamese civilization. The settlement’s concentric walls resemble a snail’s shell; it had an outer embankment covering 600 hectares.

Vietnam, with its coastal strip, rugged mountainous interior, and two major deltas, became home to numerous cultures throughout history. Its strategic geographical position in Southeast Asia also made it a crossroads of trade and a focal point of conflict, contributing to its complex and eventful past. The first Ancient East Eurasian hunter-gatherers arrived at least 40,000 years ago. Around 4,000 years ago during the Neolithic period, Ancient Southern East Asian populations, particularly Austroasiatic and Austronesian peoples, began migrating from southern China into Southeast Asia, bringing with them rice-cultivation knowledge, languages, and much of the genetic basis of the modern population of Vietnam. In the first millennium BCE the Đông Sơn culture emerged, based on rice cultivation and focused on the indigenous chiefdoms of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc.

Following the 111 BCE Han conquest of Nanyue, much of Vietnam came under Chinese dominance for a thousand years. The period nonetheless saw numerous uprisings, and Vietnamese kingdoms occasionally enjoyed de facto independence. Buddhism and Hinduism arrived by the 2nd century CE, making Vietnam the first place which shared influences of both Chinese and Indian cultures.

Hanoi (/hæˈnɔɪ/ han-OY; Vietnamese: Hà Nội [hàː nôjˀ] ) is the capital and second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red and Black Rivers). The city encompasses an area of 3,358.6 km (1,296.8 mi), and as of 2025 has a population of 8,807,523. Hanoi had the second-highest gross regional domestic product of all Vietnamese provinces and municipalities at US$48 billion in 2023, behind only Ho Chi Minh City.

In the third century BCE, the Cổ Loa Capital Citadel of Âu Lạc was constructed in what is now Hanoi. Âu Lạc then fell under Chinese rule for a thousand years. In 1010, under the Lý dynasty, Vietnamese emperor Lý Thái Tổ established the capital of the imperial Vietnamese nation Đại Việt in modern-day central Hanoi, naming the city Thăng Long [tʰɐŋ loŋ], 'ascending dragon'). In 1428, King Lê Lợi renamed the city to Đông Kinh [ɗoŋ kīŋ̟], 'eastern capital'), and it remained so until 1789. The Nguyễn dynasty in 1802 moved the national capital to Huế and the city was renamed Hanoi in 1831. It served as the capital of French Indochina from 1902 to 1945 and French protectorate of Tonkin from 1883 to 1949. After the August Revolution and the fall of the Nguyễn dynasty, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) designated Hanoi as the capital of the newly independent country. From 1949 to 1954, it was part of the State of Vietnam. It was again part of the DRV ruling North Vietnam from 1954 to 1976. In 1976, it became the capital of the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In 2008, Hà Tây Province and two other rural districts were annexed into Hanoi, almost tripling Hanoi's area.

The Dong Son culture, Dongsonian culture, or the Lạc Việt culture (named for modern village Đông Sơn, a village in Thanh Hóa, Vietnam) was a Bronze Age culture in ancient Vietnam centred at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam from 1000 BC until the first century AD. Vietnamese historians attribute the culture to the states of Văn Lang and Âu Lạc. Its influence spread to other parts of Southeast Asia, including Maritime Southeast Asia, from about 1000 BC to 1 BC.

The Đông Sơn people were skilled at cultivating rice, keeping water buffalos and pigs, fishing and sailing in long dugout canoes. They also were skilled bronze casters, which is evidenced by the Dong Son drum found widely throughout northern Vietnam and Guangxi in China.