The book describes the history of two civilization spheres in the territory of present-day Vietnam: The Viet culture in the north, developing under a direct influence of China, and the Champa culture in the south, formed by small independent indianised communities. By the 15th century, the growth of the Viet statehood reached its peak in the creation of a centralized realm. On the other hand, Champa was driven back by the expanding Viets, a far-reaching defeat resulting in their gradual regress in the following centuries. The authors offer a chronological explanation based on Vietnamese and Chinese chronicles. They present two main trends: The transition from a thousand-year-old Chinese domination to independence, and the power shift from the Buddhist sangha to military rulers and neo-Confucian civil administration.