 |
VIETNAM
INFORMATION |
GENERAL PHYSICAL
FEATURES OF VIETNAM
-
Inland area: 330,991 km2
-
Continental shelf area:
1,000,000 km2
-
Population: (in 1997) 75,664,800
inhabitants
-
Inland coordinates:
-
Latitude 102010’ –
109030’
-
Longitude 8030’ – 23022’
North
VIETNAM LOCATION
AND AREA
The socialist Republic of Vietnam
is situated almost in the center of Southeast Asia region with
China to the north and the Indian subcontinent to the west. It
stretches along the Pacific coast not far from the shipping
lanes to the Indian Ocean and has an S – shape on the map.
Vietnam has a population composed of fifty-four large and
small ethnic groups. Its capital is Hanoi, formerly known as
Thang Long (the Soaring Dragon).
Vietnam’s mainland covers an area
of about 331,689 square kilometers. On May 12, 1977, the
Vietnamese Government declared its 12 nautical mile inner
territorial waters from the country’s coastline and an
adjacent 12 nautical mile area. An exclusive economic zone
with the sea territorial water was extended to 200 miles off
the coast. In another statement dated June 5, 1984, the
Vietnamese Government defined the airspace of Vietnam as the
space over the main land, inner waters areas, sea territorial
waters and islands of Vietnam.
The mainland extends from the
northernmost point of Lung Cu commune, Dong Van District, Ha
Giang Province at latitude 23o230’ north Muong Te
District, Lai Chau Province at longitude 102o08’
east, to the easternmost point Mui Doi in Hon Gom Peninsula,
Khanh Hoa Province, at longitude 109o27 east. With
the Paracel and Sepratly archipelagoes, the sea areas and
continental shelf under Vietnamese…grid references of Vietnam
are 5o25o’ N, 117o20’ E and
101o57’ E, The mainland of Vietnam lies in the 7
GMT Zone.
Topography:
Vietnam’s northern half, from the
northern border to Hai Van Pass, is characterized by mountains
and rivers that seem to align themselves in a northwest
southeast direction, typical of the Red River features in this
landscape. East of the Red River, a curved range of limestone
mountains looms and seems to turn their back to the east. Here
also the Gam and the Ngan Son Rivers run almost parallel,
embracing the old mountains at the source of the Chay River.
The rugged mountains of Bac Son and Dong Trieu plunge into the
sea creating the mountain islands of Ha Long Bay. The islands
form blades, like those of a colossal hand-held fan with a
handle which is the Tam Dao Mountain.
The Red River divides Bac Bo
(north Vietnam) into two parts. The western part contains the
Northwest Region with mountains and plateaus stretching from
the northwest to the southeast, from the Vietnam-China-Laos
border to the Tonkin Gulf, in the same direction as the Red
River. The Northwest Region has rolling mountains with
Fansipan summit (3,143) as the highest on the Indochinese
peninsula.
All rivers flow in a direction
parallel to the Red River. Lying between mountains and
plateaus, they create valleys and bring alluvium to the sea
and have shaped the Red River delta and the plains of the Ma
and Lam rivers.
From Hai Van Pass to the south,
the terrain is more simple. Instead of long rages of limestone
mountains, huge blocks of granite stand, sometimes jutting
into the sky. Successive plateaus make up the Central
highlands of Tay Nguyen the eastern edge of which rose to from
the Truong Son range with many sections sloping down to the
East Sea (South China) and gradually lowers at the southern
tip where the Dong Nai and Cuu Long (Mekong) Rivers make up
the large Mekong Delta
Vietnam swells at its two ends.
The plains of Bac Bo and Nam Bo with their fertile rice fields
are its granaries. Trung Bo (Central Vietnam) consists mostly
of mountains and long and narrow plateaus, that is why from
ancient times it has been compared to a shoulder pole carrying
two baskets of rice. And on this land, mountains and rivers,
though not so high and so long as in other countries, are very
harmoniously arranged by nature.
“Mountains are blue, waters
blue
Landscape is like a painting of
love”
(TANDA)
|
