Transcript The Geography of Vietnam

The Geography of Vietnam
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Vietnam is one of the ten
countries that compose
Southeast Asia
It is bordered by China
on the north, Cambodia
and Laos on the west, the
Gulf of Tonkin to the
northeast, the Gulf of
Thailand to the
southwest, and the South
China Sea to the east.
The country is divided
into 3 regions:
– North
– Central
– South
North Vietnam
With Hanoi as the urban center, northern
Vietnam developed more rapidly than
other sections of the country
 Fertile soil of the Red River allowed for an
agrarian-based society to develop and
prosper
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Central Vietnam
Central Vietnam is very narrow. In some
sections, only 50 kilometers separates
neighboring country, Laos, from the sea.
 Due to the limited land area, most
inhabitants are employed in sea-related
activities
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South Vietnam
Southern Vietnam corresponds to
America’s “Wild West”
 The frontier area is underdeveloped
compared to the rest of the country,
however, the rich land of the Mekong
Delta today makes the area the world’s
third leading exporter of rice
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Rain Forests
½ Vietnam covered
by jungle-like rain
forests
 4/5 covered by trees
& tropical vegetation
 Also sandy beaches &
grassy prairies
 Home to elephants,
wild boar, tigers
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“two baskets of rice slung on a pole.” The baskets are
the deltas of the Red River in the north and the
Mekong in the south, and the carrying pole is a series
of mountain chains along the western border.
Population
VN is size of New
Mexico
 12th most populous
nation in world
 70 million residents
(1/4 of U.S. pop.)
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Climate
Warm and Humid
 Monsoon season is from June to
November
 The monsoon brings intense heat and
typhoons, along with heavy rain
 Average yearly rainfall is 59 inches,
though Hanoi receives 72 inches annually
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Houses on the Red River and Mekong
Delta are elevated on poles as an
adaptation to thwart the powerful rivers
that regularly overflow their banks.
Rice is Life
Rice fields extend over
more than 12 million
acres
 The rice kernels
provide food, while the
rest of the plant is
utilized for making
flour, beer, wine, fuel,
fertilizer, straw mats,
and garments—nothing
goes to waste
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“A Farmer’s Calendar”
The twelfth moon for potato growing,
the first for beans, the second for eggplant.
In the third, we break the land
to plant rice in the fourth while the rains are
strong.
The man plows, the woman plants,
and in the fifth: harvest, and the gods are good—
an acre yields five full baskets this year.
I grind and pound the paddy, strew husks
to cover manure,
and feed the hogs with bran.
Next year, if the land is extravagant,
I shall pay the taxes for you.
In plenty or in want, there will still be you and me,
always the two of us.
Isn’t that better than always prospering, alone?