Chiefdoms -- Water, rice, and bronze: prehistoric Vit Nam -- Provinces -- Calming the waves: imperial conquest and indigenization, 221 BCE-540 CE -- Mountains and rivers of the Southern Kingdom: Annam and its neighbors, sixth to tenth centuries -- Kingdoms -- "Rice from the sky": assembling the spirits of Đi Vit, 940-1340 -- Smooth-flowing waters of government: the triumph of Confucianism, 1340-1570 -- Regions -- Inner and outer regions: contending shogunates, 1570-1770 -- Alternative unifications: rebellion and restoration -- Colonies -- "World tends" and French conquest, 1860-1920 -- Writing and revolution from colonialism to independence, 1920-54 -- Republics -- The American-Vietnamese War, 1954-75 -- The making of contemporary Việt Nam, 1975-2016.