boat people

Table of Contents

Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

Read Next

Migrants cross the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, the United States on July 25, 2022. Immigrants immigration border crisis U.S and Mexico river

What’s the Difference Between a Migrant and a Refugee?

Vietnam War. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson awards the Distinguished Service Cross to First Lieutenant Marty A. Hammer, during a visit to military personnel, Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam, October 26, 1966. President Johnson

Vietnam War Timeline

Vietnam War. Fall of Saigon. Helicopter pilot radio transmissions during the United States Saigon evacuation dated: April 29, April 30, 1975. Partial text: 200 Americans left... Do not let South Viets follow too closely. Use Mace...do not fire...

40th Anniversary of the Fall of Saigon

President Richard M. Nixon smiles and gives the victory sign as he boards the White House helicopter after his resignation on August 9, 1974 in Washington, D.C.

Timeline of the 1970s

Bar graph of the United States Death Toll during major events. Infogram chart.

U.S. Death Toll During Major Events

Discover

General Pershing's troops moving into Mexico in 1917 during World War I.

Timeline of World War I

Artist interpretation of a Space meteoroid impact. Meteor impact. Asteroid, End of the world, danger, destruction, dinosaur extinct, Judgement Day, Planet Earth, Doomsday Predictions, comet

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution

The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution

Queen Elizabeth II addresses at opening of Parliament. (Date unknown on photo, but may be 1958, the first time the opening of Parliament was filmed.)

All 119 References in “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Explained

The Sun Was Eaten: 6 Ways Cultures Have Explained Eclipses

Eid al-Fitr

Adolf Hitler (Nazi, nazism, German leader).

9 Things You Might Not Know About Adolf Hitler

History & Society

boat people

refugees

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 12, 2024 • Article History

Vietnamese boat people

See all media

Category: History & Society

Related Topics:: refugee

See all related content →

boat people, refugees fleeing by boat. The term originally referred to the thousands of Vietnamese who fled their country by sea following the collapse of the South Vietnamese government in 1975. Crowded into small vessels, they were prey to pirates, and many suffered dehydration, starvation, and death by drowning. The term was later applied to waves of refugees who attempted to reach the United States by boat from Cuba and Haiti and also to Afghan and other refugees seeking asylum in Australia.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.