Abstract

During the formation and development process, ethnic groups created for themselves a cultural complex which made a difference among these ethnic groups even if they lived near or coexist with one another. These cultural elements formed community cohesion throughout history. It was inevitable that cultural exchange among ethnic groups happened in this long course of history, contributing, on one hand, to the cultural enrichment of an ethnic group; on the other hand, many unsuitable cultural elements were lost. In the present day, in the process of globalization, integration and development, no ethnic groups can develop without joining that mainstream process. Fine integration and national growth require ethnic people to overcome their own limits on the scale of development. A lot of economic, cultural, historical factors contributing to the differences among ethnic groups are no longer appropriate in the current context. Integration and development must be seen as a historical inevitability, strictly requiring objective and scientific perspectives on economic, cultural, historical factors which exert great impacts on the development of ethnic groups, especially ethnic minorities. In developing countries such as Vietnam, ethnic minorities – in the process of integration and development, apart from the general characteristics of developing countries – have some of their own special features in common which need researching. On the basis of data and material collected from fieldwork, the paper focuses on the implementation of some research topics in some areas of the South and of Central Highlands, and on the presentation of some economic, cultural, historical factors influencing the development and sustained development of indigenous ethnic groups (on site) in the current setting.