Early kingdoms

Evidence of the earliest established society other than the Đong Sơn culture in Northern Vietnam was found in Co Loa, the ancient city situated near present-day Ha Noi. According to Vietnamese myths the first Vietnamese peoples descended from the Dragon Lord Lạc Long Quân and the Immortal Fairy Au Cơ. Lac Long Quan and Au Cơ had 100 sons before they decided to part ways. 50 of the children went with their mother to the mountains, and the other 50 went with their father to the sea. The eldest son became the first in a line of earliest Vietnamese kings, collectively known as the Hung kings (Hung Vương or the Hong Bang Dynasty). The Hung kings called the country, which was then located on the Red River delta in present-day northern Vietnam, Van Lang. The people of Văn Lang were referred to as the Lac Viet.

Map of Văn Lang - 500 BC.In ancient times, many tribes living south of the Yangtze River called themselves the Yue (Việt in Vietnamese). Most of these tribes were linguistically related to the northern Chinese; even today, Cantonese people and their language are still referred to as Yue. The Lạc Viet, however, were linguistically more closely related to other Southeast Asian peoples. The Van Lang culture is theorized to have evolved from natives who had settled on the Red River delta since pre-historic times, rather than from migrating tribes from the North, as suggested in some Chinese legends.

Van Lang was thought to be a matriarchal society, similar to many other matriarchal societies common in Southeast Asia and in the Pacific islands at the time. Various archaeological sites in northern Vietnam, such as Đong Son have yielded metal weapons and tools from this age. Most famous of these artifacts are the large bronze drums, probably made for ceremonial purposes, with sophisticated engravings on the surface, depicting life scenes with warriors, boats, houses, birds and animals in concentric circles around a radiating sun at the center.

Many legends from this period offer a glimpse into the life of the people. The Legend of the Rice Cakes is about a prince who won a culinary contest; he then wins the throne because his creations, the rice cakes, reflect his deep understanding of the land's vital economy: rice farming. The Legend of Giong, about a youth going to war to save the country, wearing an iron armor, riding an armored horse, and wielding an iron staff, showed that metalworking was sophisticated. The Legend of the Magic Crossbow, about a crossbow that can deliver thousands of arrows, showed extensive use of archery in warfare.

By the 3rd century BC, another Viet group, the Au Viet, emigrated from present-day southern China to the Red River delta and mixed with the indigenous Van Lang population. In 258 BC, a new kingdom, An Lac, emerged as the union of the Au Viet and the Lạc Viet, with Thuc Phan proclaiming himself "King An Duong Vuong". At his capital Co Loa, he built many concentric layers of walls around the city for defensive purpose. These walls, together with skilled Au Lac archers, kept the capital safe from invaders for a while. However, it also gave rise to the first story of espionage in Vietnamese history, which resulted in the downfall of king An Dương Vương.

In 207 BC, an ambitious Chinese warlord named Trieu Đa (Chinese: Zhao Tuo) defeated king An Dương Vương by having his son Trong Thuy (Chinese: Zhong Shi) act as a spy after marrying An Dương Vương's daughter. Trieu Đa annexed the kingdom of Au Lac into his domain in present-day Guangdong, southern China, then proclaimed himself king of a new independent kingdom, Nam Viet (Chinese: Nan Yue). Trong Thuy, the supposed crown prince, felt deeply remorseful and drowned himself in Cổ Loa because his wife was killed in the war.

Some Vietnamese consider Trieu's rule a period of Chinese domination, since Trieu Đa was a former Qin general. Others consider it an era of Viet independence as the Trieu family in Nam Viet were assimilated to local culture. They ruled independently of what then constituted China (Han Dynasty). At one point, Trieu Đa even declared himself Emperor, equal to the Chinese Han Emperor in the north.