Geography

Vietnam is located on the eastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula and occupies about 329,560 square kilometers. Its S-shaped territory stretches for 1,650 kilometers long from north to south, bordering China in the north, Laos and Cambodia in the west, and the East Sea or South China Sea and Pacific Ocean in the east. Vietnam's coastline is 3,260 kilometers, excluding islands. If measure its width, the widest point is a 600-kilometer-stretch from east to west in the northern part of the country, and 400 kilometers at the widest point in the south. The narrowest point of the country is only 50 kilometers in the Quang Binh province on the central coast.

Topographically, Vietnam is covered with a tapestry of forested mountains, plateaus and fertile deltas. Its territory can be divided into three principal areas: the northern, the central, and the southern regions.

The northern part of Vietnam is mostly mountainously rugged, covered with dense jungles. The highest peak of Vietnam and the Indochinese peninsular stands in this area of the Fansipan Mountain which levitates 3,143 meters above sea level. The mountainous areas are inhabited by the diverse minorities of the country. The scenery of this area is also very breathtaking, characterized by karsts and strange rock formations - Ha Long Bay is one of its highlights. Rock formations and soaring mountains offer the natural wonders as visitors can see many wonderful grottoes and waterfalls scattering around the region. Then the terrain dips down to a vast flat to the east nourished by the Red River which creates a fertile delta providing the water necessities in both agriculture and industry in the northern region. The Red River Delta covers the areas of 3,000 square kilometers, smaller but more intensively developed and more densely populated than the Mekong River Delta in the south. The Delta is fertile in alluvium deposited by the river, creating the vast land of cultivations in the region. The ancient Viet people first settled in this region and established the wet rice civilization.

The central region of Vietnam is characterized by the high temperate plateaus known as the Central Highlands (Tay Nguyen) and coastal lowland. The Truong Son Mountain Range or Annamite Cordillera, which runs almost the whole length of Vietnam along its borders with Laos and Cambodia, formed several plateaus rich in volcanic soil in the region. The mountain range is paralleled by a coastal strip on the eastern side. The Central Highlands accounts for 16 percent of the country's arable land and 22 percent of its total forested land. Several groups of minority people are the dominant inhabitants in this region, concentrating in the towns of Sapa, Kon Tom, and Pleiku. The region is also famous for its picturesque scenery of forested mountains and waterfalls, Hai Van pass, Phong Nha Grotto, and Silver waterfall are ones of its highlights. The rare species of flora and fauna can be found in this region as well, especially in Dalat, a popular resort town of Vietnam.

The southern region is featured by a low-level plain of the Mekong Delta which covers about 40,000 square kilometers and a crisscross of numerous canals and rivers. Various branches and tributaries of the Mekong River bring a great amount of sediment every year, creating a broad delta of which 10,000 square kilometers are under rice cultivation. The region is thus one of the major rice-growing regions of the world, and absolutely a granary of the country. Many fruits orchards and mangrove swamps scatter around the region.

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