The 1954 division of Vietnam was arbitrary and imposed upon the Vietnamese population. Although it was one nation, from the cultural and ethnic point of view, polarization of ideologies and politics led to the 1954 division of Vietnam (map) through the Geneva Agreements on Indochina. This Southeast region had been a French colony, which was composed of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Losing the Battle of Dien Bien Fu was what forced France into signing the Geneva Agreements. This military engagement had been the last major battle of the French Indochina War, losing the northern half of the country to the Vietminh guerrilla, led by Ho Chi Minh. The final document of the Geneva Accords was signed on July 21, 1954.
The 17th Parallel line was agreed upon to be the political and ideological border between the two halves of one nation, with the United States of America financially and politically backing South Vietnam government, which was then ruled by Emperor Bao Dai and his Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. Hanoi became the capital of North Vietnam, and Saigon the government seat of South Vietnam. In 1964, the United States would become involved a long armed conflict known as the Vietnam War.
Below, a 1954 map of Vietnam with its political division at the 17th Parallel. You can see Laos, in the north, and Cambodia, in the south, being its western neighboring countries.
