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Location: Southeastern Asia, bordering the Gulf of Thailand,
Gulf of Tonkin, and South China Sea, alongside China, Laos, and
Cambodia
Geographic coordinates: 16 00 N, 106 00 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area:
total: 329,560 sq km
land: 325,360 sq km
water: 4,200 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly larger than New Mexico
Land boundaries:
total: 4,639 km
border countries: Cambodia 1,228 km, China 1,281 km, Laos
2,130 km
Coastline: 3,444 km (excludes islands)
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental
margin
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
Climate: tropical in south; monsoonal in north with hot,
rainy season (mid-May to mid-September) and warm, dry season (mid-October
to mid-March)
Terrain: low, flat delta in south and north; central highlands;
hilly, mountainous in far north and northwest
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Ngoc Linh 3,143 m
Natural resources: phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite,
chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests, hydropower
Land use:
arable land: 17%
permanent crops: 4%
permanent pastures: 1%
forests and woodland: 30%
other: 48% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 18,600 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: occasional typhoons (May to January) with
extensive flooding
Environment - current issues: logging and slash-and-burn
agricultural practices contribute to deforestation and soil degradation;
water pollution and overfishing threaten marine life populations;
groundwater contamination limits potable water supply; growing urban
industrialization and population migration are rapidly degrading
environment in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol,
Nuclear Test Ban
Geography:
Lying on the Indochinese
peninsula, Vietnam borders on China to the North; Laos and Cambodia
to the West and looks out to the sea in the East and the South like
a long balcony reaching the Pacific ocean.
Vietnam has the shape of an elongated S. It is a bridge connecting
the continental part of Southeast Asia to the scattering archipelogoes
in the Eastern Sea.
Vietnam owns 329,600 square km in the tropical and subtropical zone,
this lovely country benefits a great amount of sunshine all year
round.
Its 3,300 km of coastline offers a satisfactory choice of resorts,
hotels and wonderful sandy beaches.
Vietnam has five main land regions: (1) the Northern Highlands,
(2) the Red River Delta, (3) the Annamite Range, (4) the Coastal
Lowlands, and (5) the Mekong Delta.
Climate:
The North of Vietnam has 4 clear
cut seasons. The sunny season lasts from October till June however
the South has dry and wet seasons. It usually showers in the evening
or early morning.
The higlands have temperate climate. The humidity degree varies
from 80% to 100%. Every year, Vietnam receives approximately 600
billion tons of rainfall. The average temperature changes from 22
to 27 degress centigrade.
Some places like Dalat and Sapa have a maximum temperature of 20
degress in the summer. No monsoons, neither big floods at all occur
in the South of Vietnam.
Visitors can come to Vietnam all year round with no climatic disadvantages.
Vietnam is a tropical country in Southeast Asia. It extends south
from China in a long, narrow S-curve.
Laos and Cambodia lie west of Vietnam, and the South China Sea lies
to the east. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City
is the largest city.
France occupied all of Vietnam by 1884. Independence was declared
after World War II, but the French continued to rule until 1954
when they were defeated by communist forces under HO Chi Minh, who
took control of the north.
US economic and military aid to South Vietnam grew through the 1960s
in an attempt to bolster the government, but US armed forces were
withdrawn following a cease-fire agreement in 1973.
Two years later North Vietnamese forces overran the south. Economic
reconstruction of the reunited country has proven difficult as aging
Communist Party leaders have only grudgingly initiated reforms necessary
for a free market.
Vietnam
GEOGRAPHY
Size: Approximately 331,688 square kilometers.
Topography: Hills and densely forested mountains,
with level land covering no more than 20 percent. Mountains account
for 40 percent, hills 40 percent, and forests 75 percent. North
consists of highlands and the Red River Delta; south divided into
coastal lowlands, Giai Truong Son (central mountains) with high
plateaus, and Mekong River Delta.
Climate: Tropical and monsoonal; humidity averages
84 percent throughout year. Annual rainfall ranges from 120 to 300
centimeters, and annual temperatures vary between 5°C and 37°C.
Data as of December 1987
Vietnam
GEOGRAPHY
Vietnam is located in the southeastern extremity of the Indochinese
peninsula and occupies about 331,688 square kilometers, of which
about 25 percent was under cultivation in 1987. The S-shaped country
has a north-to-south distance of 1,650 kilometers and is about 50
kilometers wide at the narrowest point. With a coastline of 3,260
kilometers, excluding islands, Vietnam 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.
The boundary with Laos, settled, on an ethnic basis, between the
rulers of Vietnam and Laos in the mid-seventeenth century, was formally
defined by a delimitation treaty signed in 1977 and ratified in
1986. 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 Hanoi, until some unresolved
border issues were finally settled in the 1982-85 period. The land
and sea boundary with China, delineated under the France-China treaties
of 1887 and 1895, is "the frontier line" accepted by Hanoi that
China agreed in 1957- 58 to respect. However, in February 1979,
following China's limited invasion of Vietnam, Hanoi complained
that from 1957 onward China had provoked numerous border incidents
as part of its anti-Vietnam 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 .
Vietnam is a country of tropical lowlands, hills, and densely forested
highlands, with level land covering no more than 20 percent 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 Chaξne Annamitique, sometimes referred to simply as the Chaine),
the coastal lowlands, and the Mekong River Delta in the south.
The Red River Delta, a flat, triangular region of 3,000 square
kilometers, 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
meters into the gulf annually. The ancestral home of the ethnic
Vietnamese, the delta accounted for almost 70 percent of the agriculture
and 80 percent of the industry of North Vietnam before 1975.
The Red River (Song Hong in Vietnamese), rising in China's Yunnan
Province, is about 1,200 kilometers 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 meters 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 meters above sea level, and much of it is one meter or
less. The area is subject to frequent flooding; at some places the
high-water mark of floods is fourteen meters 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 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 Vietnam'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 meters 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.
Within the southern portion of Vietnam is a plateau known as the
Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen), approximately 51,800 square kilometers
of rugged mountain peaks, extensive forests, and rich soil. Comprising
5 relatively flat plateaus of basalt soil spread over the provinces
of Dac Lac and Gia Lai-Kon Tom, the highlands accounts for 16 percent
of the country's arable land and 22 percent of its total forested
land . Before 1975 North Vietnam 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 Vietnam
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.
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.
The Mekong, which is 4,220 kilometers 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 stabilize 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 kilometers. 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 meters.
The Mekong delta, covering about 40,000 square kilometers, is a
low-level plain not more than three meters 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 meters into the sea every
year. An official Vietnamese source estimates the amount of sediment
deposited annually to be about 1 billion cubic meters, or nearly
13 times the amount deposited by the Red River. About 10,000 square
kilometers 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.
Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, with humidity averaging
84 percent throughout the year. However, because of differences
in latitude and the marked variety of topographical relief, the
climate tends to vary considerably from place to place. During the
winter or dry season, extending roughly from November to April,
the monsoon winds usually blow from the northeast along the China
coast and across the Gulf of Tonkin, picking up considerable moisture;
consequently the winter season in most parts of the country is dry
only by comparison with the rainy or summer season. During the southwesterly
summer monsoon, occurring from May to October, the heated air of
the Gobi Desert rises, far to the north, inducing moist air to flow
inland from the sea and deposit heavy rainfall.
Annual rainfall is substantial in all regions and torrential in
some, ranging from 120 centimeters to 300 centimeters. Nearly 90
percent of the precipitation occurs during the summer. The average
annual temperature is generally higher in the plains than in the
mountains and plateaus. Temperatures range from a low of 5°C
in December and January, the coolest months, to more than 37°C
in April, the hottest month. Seasonal divisions are more clearly
marked in the northern half than in the southern half of the country,
where, except in some of the highlands, seasonal temperatures vary
only a few degrees, usually in the 21°C-28°C range.
Data as of December 1987
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