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 Home●Geography
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Overview |
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ViętNam is located
in the southeastern extremity of the Indochinese peninsula and occupies about
331,688 square kilometres, of which about 25% was under cultivation in 1987.
The S-shaped country has a north-to-south distance of 1,650 kilometres and is
about 50 kilometres wide at the narrowest point. With a coastline of 3,260
kilometres, excluding islands, ViętNam claims 12 nautical miles as the limit of
its territorial waters, an additional 12 nautical miles as a contiguous customs
and security zone, and 200 nautical miles as an exclusive economic zone.
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Border - China |
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The land and sea
boundary with China, delineated under the France-China treaties of 1887 and
1895, is "the frontier line" accepted by Ha Noi that China agreed in 1957- 58 to
respect.
However, in February 1979, following China's limited invasion of ViętNam, Ha Noi
complained that from 1957 onward China had provoked numerous border incidents as
part of its anti-ViętNam policy and expansionist designs in Southeast Asia.
Among the territorial infringements cited was the Chinese occupation in January
1974 of the Paracel Islands, claimed by both countries in a dispute left
unresolved in the 1980s. |
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Border - Laos |
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The boundary with Laos, settled, on an ethnic
basis, between the rulers of ViętNam and Laos in the mid-Seventeenth Century,
was formally defined by a delimitation treaty signed in 1977 and ratified in
1986. |
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Border - Cambodia |
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| The frontier with
Cambodia, defined at the time of French annexation of the western part of the
Mekong River Delta in 1867, remained essentially unchanged, according to Ha Noi,
until some unresolved border issues were finally settled in the 1982-85 period.
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Synopsis |
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| ViętNam is a
country of tropical lowlands, hills, and densely forested highlands, with level
land covering no more than 20% of the area. The country is divided into the
highlands and the Red River Delta in the north; and the Giai Truong Son (Central
mountains, or the Chaîne Annamitique, sometimes referred to simply as the
Chaine), the coastal lowlands, and the Mekong River Delta in the south.
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Red River Delta |
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The Red River
Delta, a flat, triangular region of 3,000 square kilometres, is smaller but more
intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta.
Once an inlet of the Gulf of Tonkin, it has been filled in by the enormous
alluvial deposits of the rivers, over a period of millennia, and it advances one
hundred metres into the gulf annually.
The ancestral home of the ethnic Viętnamese, the delta accounted for almost 70%
of the agriculture and 80% of the industry of North ViętNam before 1975.
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Red River |
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The Red River (Song
Hong in Viętnamese), rising in China's Yunnan Province, is about 1,200
kilometres long.
Its two main tributaries, the Song Lo (also called the Lo River, the
Riviere Claire, or the Clear River) and the Song Da (also called the
Black River or Riviere Noire), contribute to its high water volume, which
averages 500 million cubic metres per second, but may increase by more than 60
times at the peak of the rainy season.
The entire delta region, backed by the steep rises of the forested highlands, is
no more than three metres above sea level, and much of it is one metre or less.
The area is subject to frequent flooding; at some places the high-water mark of
floods is fourteen metres above the surrounding countryside. For centuries flood
control has been an integral part of the delta's culture and economy. An
extensive system of dikes and canals has been built to contain the Red River and
to irrigate the rich rice-growing delta.
Modeled on that of China, this ancient system has sustained a highly
concentrated population and has made double-cropping wet-rice cultivation
possible throughout about half the region.
The Red River valley is a tectonic transform. |
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Highlands
and Mountain Plateaus |
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The highlands and
mountain plateaus in the north and northwest are inhabited mainly by tribal
minority groups. The Giai Truong Son originates in the Xizang (Tibet) and Yunnan
regions of southwest China and forms ViętNam's border with Laos and Cambodia. It
terminates in the Mekong River Delta north of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly
Saigon).
These central mountains, which have several high plateaus, are irregular in
elevation and form. The northern section is narrow and very rugged; the
country's highest peak, Fan Si Pan, rises to 3,142 metres in the extreme
northwest.
The southern portion has numerous spurs that divide the narrow coastal strip
into a series of compartments. For centuries these topographical features not
only rendered north-south communication difficult but also formed an effective
natural barrier for the containment of the people living in the Mekong basin.
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Central Highlands - Tay Nguyen |
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Within the southern
portion of ViętNam is a plateau known as the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen),
approximately 51,800 square kilometres of rugged mountain peaks, extensive
forests, and rich soil.
Comprising 5 relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil spread over the provinces
of Dak Lak and Gia Lai-Kon Tom, the highlands accounts for 16% of the country's
arable land and 22% of its total forested land.
Before 1975 North ViętNam had maintained that the Central Highlands and the Giai
Truong Son were strategic areas of paramount importance, essential to the
domination not only of South ViętNam but also of the southern part of Indochina.
Since 1975 the highlands have provided an area in which to relocate people from
the densely populated lowlands. |
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Lowlands |
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| The narrow, flat
coastal lowlands extend from south of the Red River Delta to the Mekong River
basin. On the landward side, the Giai Truong Son rises precipitously above the
coast, its spurs jutting into the sea at several places. Generally the coastal
strip is fertile and rice is cultivated intensively. |
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Mekong
River |
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The Mekong, which
is 4,220 kilometres long, is one of the 12 great rivers of the world. From its
source in the Xizang plateau, it flows through the Xizang and Yunnan regions of
China, forms the boundary between Laos and Burma as well as between Laos and
Thailand, divides into two branches - the Song Han Giang and Song Tien
Giang - below Phnom Penh, and continues through Cambodia and the Mekong
basin before draining into the South China Sea through nine mouths or cuu
long (nine dragons).
The river is heavily silted and is navigable by seagoing craft of shallow draft
as far as Kompong Cham in Cambodia.
A tributary entering the river at Phnom Penh drains the Tonle Sap, a
shallow fresh- water lake that acts as a natural reservoir to stabilise the flow
of water through the lower Mekong.
When the river is in flood stage, its silted delta outlets are unable to carry
off the high volume of water. Floodwaters back up into the Tonle Sap,
causing the lake to inundate as much as 10,000 square kilometres.
As the flood subsides, the flow of water reverses and proceeds from the lake to
the sea. The effect is to reduce significantly the danger of devastating floods
in the Mekong delta, where the river floods the surrounding fields each year to
a level of one to two metres. |
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Mekong
Delta |
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The Mekong delta,
covering about 40,000 square kilometres, is a low-level plain not more than
three metres above sea level at any point and criss-crossed by a maze of canals
and rivers.
So much sediment is carried by the Mekong's various branches and tributaries
that the delta advances sixty to eighty metres into the sea every year. An
official Viętnamese source estimates the amount of sediment deposited annually
to be about 1 billion cubic metres, or nearly 13 times the amount deposited by
the Red River.
About 10,000 square kilometres of the delta are under rice cultivation, making
the area one of the major rice-growing regions of the world. The southern tip,
known as the Ca Mau Peninsula (Mui Bai Bung), is covered by dense jungle
and mangrove swamps. |
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