The
Mekong Delta ( “Nine Dragon river delta”) is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southeastern
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
of
http://www.arcbc.org.ph/wetlands/vietnam/vnm_mekdel.htm. The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.
Provinces
Statistics
| No. |
Provinces/Municipality |
Area |
Population (2004) |
Pop. density |
sq miThe square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
>
(persons/km²) |
(persons/sq mi) |
| 1 |
Can Tho Cần Thơ , the name comes from "cầm thi giang" - river of poems, is a city in Vietnam. The city, regarded as "Western capital", with an estimated population of 1,121,000 as of 2004, is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. The city is located on the south bank of the Hậu River, the bigger branch of...
|
| 1,139,900 |
|
| 2 |
An Giang An Giang is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country, sharing a border with Cambodia to the northwest.-Geography:...
|
| 2,210,400 |
|
| 3 |
Bạc Liêu Bac Lieu is a Province of Vietnam. It is a coastal province, and is situated in the Mekong Delta region of the southern part of the country.-Administration:Bạc Liêu is divided into six districts:*Dong Hai*Giá Rai*Hòa Binh...
|
| 820,100 |
|
| 4 |
Ben TreBen Tre is a province of Vietnam. It is one of the country's southern provinces, being situated in the delta of the Mekong River.-Administration:Politically, Bến Tre is divided into seven districts:*Ba Tri*Bình Đại...
|
| 1,353,300 |
|
| 5 |
Ca MauCà Mau is a province of Vietnam, named after its capital city. It is located in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, and is the southernmost of Vietnam's 59 provinces...
|
| 1,232,000 |
|
| 6 |
Dong ThapĐồng Tháp Province is a province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. The eastern part of the province is largely dominated by Dong Thap Muoi marsh.-Administrative divisions:...
|
| 1,667,800 |
|
| 7 |
Hau Giang Hậu Giang Province became Cần Thơ Province during/after 1975. Cần Thơ was the capital of Cần Thơ Province. It is located in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam.In late 2004, Cần Thơ City and some surrounding cities became Cần Thơ Municipality ....
|
| 796,900 |
|
| 8 |
Kien GiangKiên Giang is a province of Vietnam, located in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. It is known for fishing and rice farming. The provincial capital city is Rach Gia....
|
| 1,684,600 |
|
| 9 |
Long An Long An Province is a province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam.The province comprises one town and 14 districts:#Bến Lức#Cần Đước#Cần Giuộc...
|
| 1,423,100 |
|
| 10 |
Soc TrangSóc Trăng is a province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, with its capital in Sóc Trăng. The province occupies an area of 3,223 km², and has a population of approximately 1,213,400.-Etymology:...
|
| 1,276,200 |
|
| 11 |
Tien GiangTiền Giang Province is a province in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam.The province comprises one city , one town , and seven districts:#Gò Công Đông#Gò Công Tây#Chợ Gạo#Châu Thành#Tân Phước#Cai Lậy#Cái Bè...
|
| 1,717,400 |
|
| 12 |
Tra Vinh Trà Vinh is a province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The capital is Trà Vinh Town.-Administrative divisions:Tra Vinh Province comprises one town and seven districts:#Càng Long#Châu Thành#Cầu Kè#Tiểu Cần#Cầu Ngang#Trà Cú#Duyên Hải...
|
| 1,036,800 |
|
| 13 |
Vĩnh Long Vĩnh Long is a province located in the Mekong River Delta of southern Vietnam. Its capital is Vĩnh Long. Its population is 1,023,400 and its area is 1,475 km².-Administrative history:...
|
| 1,057,000 |
|
Major cities
The most renowned places in the Mekong Delta are Mỹ Tho and
Caí BèCái Bè is a river-land mixed town in Vietnam. It is a district of Tien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. Along the river, there are docks that handle passengers and goods, and the floating market....
near
Ho Chi Minh CityHo Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) (Vietnamese: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh is the largest city in Vietnam. It was known as Prey Nokor before being annexed by the Vietnamese in the 17th century. Under the name Saigon (Vietnamese: Sài Gòn; ), it was the capital of...
, then, more to the heart of the region,
Vĩnh Long Vĩnh Long is a town in Vietnam. It is the capital of the Vĩnh Long Province in the Mekong Delta....
,
Sa ĐécSa Dec is a city in Đồng Tháp Province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam. It is a river port and agricultural, industrial trading center, During the Vietnam War, it was the site of an American Swift Boat base....
, and
Cần ThơCần Thơ , the name comes from "cầm thi giang" - river of poems, is a city in Vietnam. The city, regarded as "Western capital", with an estimated population of 1,121,000 as of 2004, is the biggest city in the Mekong Delta. The city is located on the south bank of the Hậu River, the bigger branch of...
, from whence it is possible to reach the remotest confines of the delta, South towards the
mangroveMangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater , to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater,...
s and the
South China SeaThe South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of mainland China and Taiwan,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,*north east of the Malay peninsula and Singapore, and...
, North towards
Châu ĐốcChâu Đốc is a district and town in An Giang province, bordering Cambodia, in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. As of 2003 the district had a population of 112,155. The district covers an area of 100 km²....
, or West towards the island of Phú Quốc.
History
Archeological discoveries at
Oc EoÓc Eo is an archaeological site in Thoại Sơn District in southern An Giang Province, Vietnam, in the Mekong River Delta region of Vietnam. It is also one of the modern day communes of Vietnam. Óc Eo may have been a busy port of the kingdom of Funan between the 1st and 7th centuries A.D...
and other
FunanFunan was an ancient pre-Angkor Indianized kingdom located around the Mekong Delta. The ethno-linguistic nature of the people; whether they were mostly Mon-Khmer or Austronesian, is the subject of much discussion among specialists....
sites shows that the area has been an important part of the Funan Kingdom, bustling with trading ports and canals as early as in the first centur C.E. and extensive human settlement in the region may have gone back as far as the 4th century B.C.E.
The region, originally known as
Khmer KromThe Khmer Krom - Khmer people living in the Delta and the Lower Mekong area. Mostly regarded as the indigenous ethnic Khmer minority living in southern Vietnam...
was mainly inhabited by the
Khmer peopleThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
prior to the 17th century with some Chinese and Vietnamese outposts. During late 17th century,
Mac CuuMạc Cửu is a Chinese Vietnamese general who started to explore the Mekong Delta....
, a Chinese anti-Qing general, began to expand Vietnamese and Chinese settlements deeper into Khmer lands. In 1698, the Nguyen Lords ordered
Nguyen Huu CanhLễ Thành Hầu Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh or Nguyễn Hữu Kính, Hán tự:阮有鏡, was a general of Lord Nguyễn Phúc Chu. He is considered the one who established territorial sovereignty for Vietnam in Saigon and Gia Dinh regions in 1698...
to invade Cambodia. During the Tay Son wars and the subsequent Nguyen dynasty, Vietnam's boundaries were pushed as far as Ca Mau Cape. The area became
CochinchinaCochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1948. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, France's first colony in Vietnam in 1867 and later, part of
French Indochina||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
.
Following independence from
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, the Mekong Delta was part of the Republic of Vietnam and eventually the country of
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
.
Vietnam War
During French colonialism in
CochinchinaCochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1948. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
, and followed by the
First Indochina WarThe First Indochina War was fought in French Indochina from December 19, 1946, until August 1, 1954, between the French Union’s French Far East Expeditionary...
, the French patrolled and fought on waterways with their “Dinassaut” and was copied later by the US Navy Mobile Riverine Force.
During the
Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War was a Cold War military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1959 to 30 April 1975...
, the Delta region saw fighting between Viet Cong (NLF)
guerrillasGuerrilla warfare is the irregular warfare warfare and combat in which a small group of combatants use mobile military tactics in the form of ambushes and raids to combat a larger and less mobile formal army....
and units of the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
's swift boats and
hovercraftA hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over relatively smooth surfaces supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air, ejected against the surface below, and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by the air, they are not usually considered to be aircraft.Hovercraft are...
s (
PACVThe Patrol Air Cushion Vehicle was a United States Navy river patrol hovercraft used during the Vietnam War.The PACV was based on the British SR.N5, which was built by Bell as the SK-5, and adapted for American military use in 1965. The SR.N6 was an extended version of the SR.N5, also used by...
s).
Economy
The region is famous as a large rice growing area. It produces about half of the total of Vietnam's rice output. Vietnam is the second largest exporter of rice globally after Thailand.
http://www.irri.org/science/ricestat/pdfs/WRS2006-Table12.pdf. In fact, the delta produces more rice than Korea and Japan altogether.
Additionally, the region is home to large aquacultural industry of
basa fishThe basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and Chao Phraya basin in Thailand. These fish are important food fish with an international market...
, Tra
catfishCatfish are a diverse group of hairey fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores , and even to a tiny...
and
shrimpShrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
, much of which is exported.
The Mekong Delta has recently been dubbed as a 'biological treasure trove'. Over 1,000 new species have been discovered in previously unexplored areas of Mekong Delta, including a species of rat thought to be extinct.
http://news.aol.com/article/new-species-found-in-mekong-delta/279707
Demographics
The inhabitants of the Mekong Delta region are largely ethnic
VietThe Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from what is now northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, with
KhmerThe Khmer people; ខ្មែរ ; are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon-Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
minority populations living primarily in the
Trà VinhTrà Vinh is a province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The capital is Trà Vinh Town.-Administrative divisions:Tra Vinh Province comprises one town and seven districts:#Càng Long#Châu Thành#Cầu Kè#Tiểu Cần#Cầu Ngang#Trà Cú#Duyên Hải...
,
Sóc TrăngSóc Trăng is a province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam, with its capital in Sóc Trăng. The province occupies an area of 3,223 km², and has a population of approximately 1,213,400.-Etymology:...
, and
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
ChămThe Cham people are an ethnic group in Southeast Asia. They are concentrated between the Kampong Cham Province in Cambodia and central Vietnam's Phan Rang-Thap Cham, Phan Thiet, Ho Chi Minh City and An Giang areas. Approximately 4,000 Chams also live in Thailand; many of whom have moved south to...
in Tan Chau, by
An GiangAn Giang is a province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the southwestern part of the country, sharing a border with Cambodia to the northwest.-Geography:...
provinces. There are also sizeable
HoaHoa refers to a minority in Vietnam consisting of persons considered to be ethnic Chinese . They are often referred to as either Chinese Vietnamese, Sino-Vietnamese, or ethnic Chinese in/from Vietnam by the Vietnamese populace, Overseas Vietnamese, and other ethnic Chinese...
(ethnic Chinese) populations in the
Kiên GiangKiên Giang is a province of Vietnam, located in the Mekong Delta region of southern Vietnam. It is known for fishing and rice farming. The provincial capital city is Rach Gia....
and
Trà VinhTrà Vinh is a province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The capital is Trà Vinh Town.-Administrative divisions:Tra Vinh Province comprises one town and seven districts:#Càng Long#Châu Thành#Cầu Kè#Tiểu Cần#Cầu Ngang#Trà Cú#Duyên Hải...
provinces.
Culture
Life in the Mekong Delta revolves much around the river, and many of the villages are often accessible by rivers and canals rather than by road.
The region is home to
cai luongTuồng cải lương or cải lương in short, which can be roughly translated as "reformed theater" or "renovated theater" in English, is a form of modern folk opera in Vietnam...
, a form of Vietnamese folk opera.
See also
- Greater Mekong Sub-region Academic and Research Network
The Greater Mekong Sub-region Academic and Research Network is a network of academic and research institutions in a Greater Mekong sub-region....
- GMS Environment Operations Center
Greater Mekong Subregion Environment Operations Center was established in early 2006 to serve as the information and knowledge clearing house for environmental management in the Greater Mekong Subregion and is responsible for facilitating the timely and effective implementation of the GMS Core...
- The Journal of GMS Development Studies
is a multidisciplinary publication that seeks to promote better understanding of development issues in the GMS. The journal is published twice a year, in June and December, respectively, by the Asian Development Bank under the auspices of the Phnom Penh Plan for Development Management--- a regional...
- Mekong River
External links