Vietnamese boat people refers to
refugees who fled
Vietnam by boat and ship after the
Vietnam War, especially during 1978 and 1979, but continuing until the early 1990s. The term is also often used generically to refer to all the Vietnamese (about 2 million) who left their country by any means between 1975 and 1995 (see
Indochina refugee crisis). This article uses "boat people" to apply only to those who fled Vietnam by boat.