Âu Lạc

The country was created by Thục Phán, who served as its only monarch, ruling under the royal title of An Dương Vương and creating the Thục dynasty by uniting the mountainous Âu Việt region (comprising what is today northernmost Vietnam and parts of southern China) with the more southerly Lạc Việt (located in the Red River Delta of what is today northern Vietnam).[2] According to old Vietnamese historical records Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư and Khâm định Việt sử Thông giám cương mục, An Dương Vương (Thục Phán) was a son of prince Kaiming He of the state of Shu, pronounced Thục in Vietnamese), a descendant of Lô Tử Bá Vương (last ruler of Shu) in modern Sichuan Province, China.[5][6] Kaiming He as a little kid and his relatives sought refuge in southern Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Yunnan and second to move their people to modern-day northern Vietnam during the invasion of the Qin dynasty. Twenty-five years later Kaiming He got married with a Shu woman and born Phán. Phán was warrior style. His forces after successful resisted against the Qin invasion had annexed Văn Lang kingdom in Red River Delta. Some modern Vietnamese believe that Thục Phán came upon the Âu Việt territory (modern-day northernmost Vietnam, western Guangdong, and southern Guangxi, with its capital in what is today Cao Bằng Province).[7] After assembling an army, he defeated King Hùng Vương XVIII, the last ruler of the Hồng Bàng dynasty, around 258 BC. He proclaimed himself An Dương Vương ("King An Dương"). He then renamed Văn Lang as Âu Lạc, combining the names of the conquering and conquered peoples, and established a new fortress and capital at Co Loa on a rise overlooking the Red River about 16 km (10 mi) northeast of central Hanoi.[4] An Dương Vương still kept the Văn Lang's state model, but he reformed and centralised the state with the king to hold more solid powers. Blacksmiths and merchants highly developed. Towns and cities began forming, replaced the commune society of previous Văn Lang. Âu Lạc started trading with Qin Empire, Nanyue, Javanese and Indians.

Around 180 to 179 BC, Âu Lạc was conquered by Nam Việt, a kingdom that had its capital city, Panyu, around modern Guangzhou. Nam Việt rule lasted until 111 BC. In Vietnamese history, the rule of the Nam Việt kings is referred to as the Triệu dynasty.

Âu Lạc monarch family Thục probably spoke Sino-Tibetan language that closely to Ancient Chinese, but civilians in the kingdom mostly were southern non-sinitic agrarian people spoke various diversity of languages and cultures, such as Kra-Dai, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Japonic and Sino-Tibetan.[8]

• Taylor, Keith Weller. (1983). The Birth of Vietnam (illustrated, reprint ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 0520074173. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
• Contributor: Far-Eastern Prehistory Association Asian Perspectives, Volume 28, Issue 1. (1990) University Press of Hawaii. Retrieved 7 August 2013.