The Geography of Vietnam

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

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

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

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

“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.)

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

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

“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 husksto 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?