Trails in the jungle
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a system of trails, roads, bicycle paths and stretches of river. The North Vietnamese built the network, starting with its war against the French colonialists, then against the United States.
There had probably been trails for trade for centuries in Laos and Vietnam. The mountains in this border region can reach up to 2,500 metres. Since there was also a lot of jungle and very few people lived there, there were no roads.
War against the French
In 1887, the French took control of what is now modern Vietnam. They divided it into three 'protectorates'. Tonkin was the north. Annam was the centre. Cochinchina was in the south. At first the capital was Saigon in Cochinchina. Saigon is now called Ho Chi Minh City.
During the second world war, the Japanese occupied Vietnam. Nearly 2 million people died in a famine. The Viet Minh independence movement helped organise food supplies to the people. This made them very popular. At the end of the war in 1945, the Viet Minh government declared independence. But the French reoccupied the south and the Chinese supervised disarming of the Japanese army in the north. The stage had been set for war.