Lạc Việt

The Lạc Việt or Luoyue (駱越 or 雒越; pinyin: Luòyuè ← Middle Chinese: *lɑk̚-ɦʉɐt̚ ← Old Chinese *râk-wat) were an ancient conglomeration of peoples inhabiting northern Vietnam, particularly the ancient Red River Delta, from approximately 700 BC to 100 AD, during the last stage of the Neolithic and the beginning of the period of classical antiquity. They spoke Kra-Dai and Austroasiatic languages. From archaeological perspectives, they were known as the Dongsonian. The Lạc Việt were known for casting large Heger Type I bronze drums, cultivating paddy rice, and constructing dikes. The Lạc Việt who owned the Bronze Age Đông Sơn culture, which centered at the Red River Delta (in Northern Vietnam), are proposed to be the ancestors of the modern Kinh Vietnamese; another population of Luoyue, who inhabited the Zuo river's valley (now in modern Southern China), are proposed to be the ancestors of the modern Zhuang people; additionally, the Luoyue population in southern China are proposed to be ancestors of the Hlai people.

The etymology of the ethnonym Lạc applied to this people is uncertain.

Based on Chinese observers' remarks that the Lạc people's paddies depended on water-control systems like tidal-irrigation & draining, so that the floody, swampy Red River Delta might be suitable for agriculture, many scholars opted to find the etymology of Lạc in the semantic field "water":

On the other hand, French linguist Michel Ferlus proposes that 駱/雒 (OC *rak) is monosyllabified from the areal ethnonym *b.rak ~ *p.rak by loss of the first element in the iambic cluster. The ethnonym *b.rak ~ *p.rak underlies *prɔːk, ethnonym of the Wa people, *rɔːk, ethonym of a Khmu subgroup, and possibly the ethnonym of Bai people (白族 Báizú). Ferlus also suggests that *b.rak ~ *p.rak underlies 百越 Bǎiyuè (< OC*prâk-wat)'s first syllable 百 Bǎi (< OC *prâk), initially just a phonogram to transcribe the ethnonym *p.rak ~ *b.rak yet later reconstrued as "hundred". Ferlus etymologises 百 bǎi < *p.rak and 白 bái < *b.rak, used to name populations south of China, as from etymon *p.ra:k "taro > edible tuber", which underlies Kra-Dai cognate words meaning "taro" (e.g. Thai เผือก pʰɨak^D1, Lakkia ja:k, Paha pɣaːk, etc.); and Ferlus additionally proposes that *p.ra:k was used to by rice-growers to designate taro-growing horticulturists.

According to a legend recorded in the Lĩnh Nam chích quái, the Lạc Việt founded a state called Văn Lang in 2879 BC. They formed a loose circle of power led by Lac lords and princes, the territory is subdivided into fiefs governed by hereditary chiefs. Their leaders were called Lạc kings (Hùng kings) who were served by Lạc marquises and Lạc generals. According to the Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, Âu Lạc was referred as the "Western Ou" (v. Tây Âu) and "Luo" (v. Lạc) and they were lumped into the category of Baiyue by the Sinitic Han Chinese peoples to the north of them.

The Warring States period's encyclopedia Lüshi Chunqiu mentioned the name Yueluo 越駱 (SV: Việt Lạc), which the Han historian and philosopher Gao You asserted to be a country's name (國名). However, neither Lüshi Chunqiu nor Gao You indicated where Yueluo was located. Sinologists Knoblock and Riegel propose that Yueluo 越駱 was probably a mistake for Luoyue 駱越.

According to a fourth century chronicle, Thục Phán (King An Dương) led the Western Ou (Âu) tribe or the Âu Việt subdued the Luo tribes and formed the kingdom of Âu Lạc in around 257 BC. The new Âu overlords established their headquarters in Xiwu (Tây Vu), where they built a large citadel, known to history as Cổ Loa or Cổ Loa Thành, "Ancient Conch Citadel." When Zhao Tuo, founder of Nanyue, conquered Âu Lạc and established his rule over the region in 179 BC, these Lac princes became his vassals. In 111 BC, a militarily powerful Western Han dynasty conquered Nanyue and annexed the lands of the Lac Viet into the Han empire, and established the Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Rinan commanderies.

Reacting against a Chinese attempt to colonialize and civilize, the Trung sisters revolted against the Sinitic ruling class in 39 AD. After gaining a brief independence amid the Trung sisters' rebellion, Lac chiefs along with its social elites were massacred, deported, and forced to adopt Han cultures in a reactionary military response led by Chinese general Ma Yuan.