What is Vietnam DNA Ethnicity on Ancestry?

The results of our AncestryDNA tests may sometimes be what we expect or on occasion may be a big surprise. Either way, often we need a little more information regarding some of the regions that arise in our ethnicity estimates.

One region that is not at all uncommon is the Vietnam DNA region. Those who still live in this region already understand all about its history and culture. There are others, however, who may never have even visited or in fact been aware that they have ancestors from that area.

In this post we will go into more detail with regards to the history, geography and culture of the Vietnam region. We will also discuss what it means to be from this region and how easy or difficult it might be to trace our roots in the Vietnam Region.

What Is the Vietnam DNA Region?

The Vietnam DNA region on AncestryDNA covers the entirety of the Asian nation of Vietnam but it also bleeds over into some neighboring nations. In the north of the range you can find this DNA in the Chinese provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi. To the West this DNA appears in the border regions of Laos and Cambodia.

Vietnam DNA Region Subregions

There are two subregions in Vietnam which may help researchers discover more accurately where their ancestors came from in the region.

Northern Vietnam

Northern Vietnam is located as the name suggests in the extreme north of the country and also in the southern region of the provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi. To the west this subregion can also be found in northeast Laos.

Southern Vietnam

The Southern Vietnam region is separated by the north by central Vietnam so there is no real overlap between these subregions although central Vietnam probably contains equal proportions of people that may carry the common DNA that defines the two groups.

As the name suggests it does cover a vast area of Southern Vietnam as well as parts of southeastern Laos and southern Cambodia.

Vietnam Region History

Research suggests that hominid species have been living in the region we call Vietnam for roughly 500,000 years with evidence of homo erectus found from at least this far back. The first modern humans however appear to have arrived around 20,000 years ago. Known as the Hoabinhians these were hunter-gatherers who are thought to descend from ethnic groups who inhabited areas of Southeast Asia and the Andaman Islands.

Early settlement in Vietnam occurred around the Red River Valley region with evidence that peoples were living there around 2879 BC. The developed states of the early region are largely considered legendary so the first widely accepted peoples are the Dong Son culture dating back to Northern Vietnam, Guangxi (China) and Laos around 700 BC.

Austronesians

At some point Austronesians arrived in Vietnam from what is now Taiwan. This seafaring group began to expand through southeast Asia from 2,200 BC and must have settled in Central Vietnam establishing the Sa Huynh Culture.

The Sa Huynh seem to have flourished in the region between 1,000 BC – 200 AD with archeological sites found from the Mekong Delta to Quang Binh province.

Han Dynasty

Around 111 BC the Chinese Han dynasty took control of the regions known today as Guangdong and Guangxi in China. This placed them in an ideal position to sweep down from the north into Vietnam or Giao Chi as it would have been known at the time.

In 40 AD the Tru'ng sisters organized a rebellion of indigenous Vietnamese to try and push back against Chinese domination. It would ultimately be defeated but by the 2^nd century AD the Han dynasty had begun to diminish.

With China in political turmoil a second indigenous uprising was more successful and Vietnam finally became a free nation. In 192 AD the Cham who descended from the Sa Huynh culture formed the kingdom of Champa.

New Religions

It was during the 2^nd century that Buddhism and Hinduism started to arrive in Vietnam making it the first region in Southeast Asia to combine Chinese and Indian influences leading to several Indianized kingdoms.

Uprisings

In the space of a 1,000 years multiple uprisings and invasions saw the region switch between Chinese rule and independence. Several short periods of internal control saw the Trưng Sisters, Early Lý, Khúc and Dương Đình Nghệ in power but all eventually fell to the Chinese.

Finally Ngô Quyền became King of Vietnam, between 938–944 AD and restored sovereign power in the country. He achieved this with victory at the battle of Bach Dang River. The next millennium was advanced by the accomplishments of successive local dynasties including:

• Ngô
• Đinh
• Early Lê
• Lý
• Trần
• Hồ
• Later Trần
• Later Lê
• Mạc
• Revival Lê (Trịnh and Nguyễn)
• Tây Sơn
• Nguyễn

During this period however the country was ravaged by civil war and also saw external influences by the Song dynasty, Yuan dynasty, Cham, Ming, Siamese (Thailand), Qing dynasty, French, and Imperial Japan.

The French

Briefly the Ming Dynasty conquered the Red River Valley region before yet another uprising pushed them back. They would soon be replaced with the French Empire who would dub the region a French dependency. This would last for almost a century before the Japanese Empire occupied the region.

The French period was harsh on the local peoples with widespread malnutrition and brutality the norm. This period between the 1880s and when Japan invaded in 1940 left the Vietnamese with a sour feeling toward the French and by association during World War II the United States.

How Did You Get Vietnam Region DNA?

If you already know that you had family who came from Vietnam or any of the bordering Asian states then you know why you have Vietnam region DNA. If this result came as a surprise you may not know how exactly you came by DNA from this region.

If you have a sizable percentage of DNA from this region then it is likely you have an ancestor who was born in or close to the country of Vietnam.

Is the Result Accurate?

When it comes to ethnicity estimates the higher the percentage you have from a certain region the more likely it is to be accurate. If your percentage is low, however, then it is harder to pinpoint exactly where your most recent ancestors came from.

A low result could mean a distant ancestor from that region. It is best to focus on your highest rated region's matches to determine where your ancestors came from more recently. A low percentage can often be hard to locate because the ancestor in question could be many generations back in your tree.

How to Research my Ancestry from These Regions

The results of a DNA ethnicity test are of course a great place to start especially if there is an unexpected result found in the report. As always of course the DNA cannot tell the whole story and we need to actually do the research work.

A percentage on an ethnicity estimate means very little unless you follow through and start building up your family tree. The relevant ancestors may be several generations back and it may take a lot of research to discover who they were.

If you have specific regions mentioned in your report then you have a good idea of where your ancestor may have originated from. Ancestry DNA even has migratory information from some of these regions through to the final settlement places in the United States or elsewhere in the world.

Using Ancestry you may be able to determine not only who your ancestors were from the British Isles but perhaps the reason they decided to move.

Vietnamese Migration

There are roughly 2.2 million people of Vietnamese descent living in the US. Many of these would have arrived or would be descended from individuals that arrived from South Vietnam following the Vietnam war. Many of these people would have been boat people who were loyal to the now defunct South Vietnam. To avoid backlash and political persecution they were forced to flee.

Final Thoughts

The country of Vietnam as we know it today has had numerous names over the centuries and has seen multiple periods of internal and external rulership. For Centuries the region battled back and forth with Chinese dynasties but in more recent centuries the French and the Japanese have been major factors in the country's governance.

Since the Vietnam war in the 1970s an influx of Vietnamese immigrants have left the country mainly from the US supporting, southern region of the country. A more stable nation today those with this DNA in their ethnicity report are likely to know they have Vietnamese ancestry especially if their percentage of Vietnam Region DNA is high.

Neil Edwards

Genealogist and family-tree research specialist

Neil was born in Shropshire, England surrounded by centuries of living history. His interest in the past has been a lifelong passion leading to undergraduate degrees in both Economic History & Geography and History & Politics.

This interest in history quickly translated to family history when he moved to the U.S. in 2010. It was here that he began working on his own family tree as well as that of his American wife. That research allowed him to gain a wealth of experience working with both U.S. and European genealogical documents and studying their best uses in researching family history.

Following 9 years of honing his genealogical research skills, Neil was proud to have earned a certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University in late 2019. Neil also took part in the research process for a Duke University study into the families of 19th Century UK Members of Parliament.

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