Transcript Document

Geography of Vietnam
Vietnam is part of Southeast Asia which
includes Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand,Myanmar,Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines, Singapore, and East Timor.
Vietnam has a population of 84 million
and a land mass the size of New Mexico.
The lowland areas have a homogeneous
population. 80% of the people are Kinh.
85% of the people live in lowland areas.
The area we know today as Vietnam was
influenced by two other great cultures.
Northern Vietnam was influenced by
Chinese culture and religions while
southern Vietnam was influenced by
Indian culture and religion.
This area was colonized by the French
during the nineteenth century. Modern
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam were all
made colonial possessions of the French.
The area was divided into regions to
make it easier to govern.
This modern population map shows the
populations of this entire area. Vietnam
has areas of large population but no
mega cities. Hanoi in northern Vietnam
and Ho Chi Minh City in southern
Vietnam are very large urban centers.
But neither city is as large as the mega
cities found in China.
A mountainous view from the Central
Highlands of Vietnam. This is where
many minorities live so there is great
diversity of languages spoken as well as
much greater poverty. The people are
seen as less sophisticated because they
do not grow rice. They have been
marginalized economically as a result.
Vietnam’s geography has a profound
impact on the wealth of provinces within
this nation. The richer areas tend to be in
the south while the Central Highlands
tend to be much poorer. There is also
significant poverty in the north near the
Chinese border.
Vietnam has been compared to a
shoulder pole. The southern and northern
rice growing areas represent two rice
bowls connected by a skinny shoulder
pole. The Central Highlands are that
skinny shoulder pole. They have poorer
soil here and often used slash and burn
methods of farming. This has been
discouraged by the government.
Slash and burn agriculture or
swidden
Wet rice cultivation
Vietnamese view water as white
while the Chinese see water as black.
The rivers in SE Asia flow north to
south. The largest population density
is found in the Red river delta in the
north near Hanoi and the Mekong
river delta in the south.
Vietnam has seasonal monsoons which
have impacted the ability to trade. In the
past, merchants could only travel when
the winds could carry them. Many
merchants had 2 families. One in their
trading port and one in their home port.
When the husband was away, often the
woman ran the business. Vietnamese
women have always been involved in
trade and business.
Notice the types and amounts of
forest lands in this 1970 map of
vegetation .
By contrast, notice the vegetation
patterns in the 1990 version.
Most of our students know at least a
little about the war in Vietnam. It
would be interesting to ask them
why they think these two maps show
such differences in vegetation .
Between 1968 and 1972 there were
19,000 flights spraying defoliants across
Vietnam. Most mangroves were
destroyed. The US dropped 44 million
liters of Agent Orange in Vietnam.
Mangrove swamps are extremely
important to southern Vietnam because
they have anchored the soil and
prevented erosion. Many of the
mangroves have been killed, leaving the
coastal areas more vulnerable to erosion.
This impact was seen clearly in the
Tsunami which hit Thailand. The
mangroves could have helped protect
some coastal areas.
Spraying a defoliant across Vietnam
during the war.
Second photo shows its impact in an
area.
This next slide shows the Mekong river
delta in southern Vietnam. The Mekong
is fed by waters from the Himalayas and
during the spring it receives so much
water that it actually reverses course and
flows backwards. This creates the Ton Le
Sap Lake in Cambodia for about 4
months a year.
A current concern in Vietnam is over
the building of several dams on the
Mekong river inside China. There
are three under construction and
more are planned. This could have a
major impact if they slow the
amount of water which reaches
Vietnam and Cambodia .
A new area of concern is the small
off shore areas which contain oil/
natural gas. Several nations have
begun to claim areas and this could
lead to future conflict in the region.