Far East Kingdoms

Ha Long Culture (Neolithic Farmers / Bronze Age) (Vietnam)
c.3000 - 1000 BC

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Human history in Asia as a whole provides one of the earliest stories outside of the Near East and Africa. However, human history in South-East Asia is relatively obscure. Anatomically modern humans in the form of Homo sapiens reached the region around 60,000 BC, quickly expanding into Oceania and East Asia soon afterwards (see the Hominid Chronology feature link for more).

The Neolithic Ha Long succeeded the Cai Beo as the latest in a line of highly-localised archaeological cultures which were focussed on the western side of the Gulf of Tonkin. The gulf had been home to the second-earliest regional culture to emerge which was specific to Vietnam, the Soi Nhu, with it and its successors existing for millennia in a small expanse of territory which was centred on the gulf's Ha Long Bay.

This area of more than two thousand islands and islets and coastal stretches of freshwater swamp forest provided for a fishing-focussed people. They gradually brought in influences from dominant cultures, but very slowly and gradually, remaining archaeologically distinct at least until about 1500-1000 BC (variable dates are supplied and more investigation is required to narrow down this spread).

The Ha Long witnessed the later phases of the Neolithic in the region, and the beginnings of metalworking. Also referred to as the 'Sea culture', the Ha Long people occupied Ha Long, Bai Tu Long, and Lan Ha, focussing mainly on a fishing economy which was generally supplemented with some harvesting and fruit-collection. The Mai Pha culture on this area's northern flank survived for several more millennia, while the Ha Long eventually appears to have given way to the regionally-dominant Da But.

Many artefacts have been discovered on the islands and around the bay which can be associated with the area's coastal way of life - including nets, fishing implements, and the remains of boats. Today's Ha Long Bay supports more than fifteen hundred people, mainly concentrated in fishing villages on around forty of the hundreds of islands. They live on boats, or floating houses built on plastic barrels, and earn their living through fishing and aquaculture, or through trade and the lucrative tourism industry.

Archaeological finds are constantly being made, and archaeological cultures are frequently being updated with new information. Get in touch here if this page also requires updating.

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from Vietnam: A New History, Christopher Goscha, from Early Mainland Southeast Asia, C Higham (River Books Co, 2014), from Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopaedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor, Keat Gin Ooi (ABC-Clio, 2004), from The Macmillan Dictionary of Archaeology, Ruth D Whitehouse (Macmillan, 1983), and from External Links: Bradshaw Foundation, and Vietnam (Countrystudies), and Vietnam pre-historic era (Inside Travel), and Ha Long Bay (Tonkin Cruises), and Cultural & Historical Value of Ha Long (Paradise Vietnam), and Cultural and historical flows of Ha Long Bay (NhanDan).)

c.3000 BC

The Neolithic Ha Long emerges after a gap following the fading of the Cai Beo. It is another in a series of localised South-East Asian cultures which remain focussed on the western side of the Gulf of Tonkin, around the Ha Long Bay area. The Mai Pha continues to its north, while the Da But is dominant outside this small area of influence.

With its floating fishing village homes, Cai Beo in Ha Long Bay is considered to be the most important archaeological site in the sea area of north-eastern Vietnam

Many artefacts are discovered on the area's islands or around the bay which can be associated with the coastal way of life here, including nets, fishing implements, and the remains of boats. This way of life survives into the present day, although the spoken language and cultural appropriations may change along the way.