Đông Bắc (literally "Northeast" from ) is the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

to the north of the

Red River Delta The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta ( vi, Châu thổ sông Hồng) is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in northern Vietnam. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese wor ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

, bordering China. It is called ''Northeast'' to distinguish it from the Tây Bắc () or "Northwest", but it is actually in the north and northeast of Hanoi, wider than

Việt Bắc Việt Bắc (''Northern Vietnam'') is a region of Vietnam north of Hanoi that served as the Việt Minh's base of support during the First Indochina War (1946–1954). Việt Bắc is also called the capital of northernmost Vietnam because this a ...

() or "Northern Vietnam". The Northeast is one of three sub-regions of

Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam ( vi, Bắc Bộ) is one of three geographical regions within Vietnam. It consists of three administrative regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng S ...

(the other two sub-regions are the

Northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

and the Red River Delta). Sometimes the Northeast includes the

Geography

Location

The Northeast region encompasses the provinces northeast of

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi i ...

, near the border with China. It has a population of about ten million.

Geographics

Geographical boundaries to the west of the Northeast are not clear, mainly due to the lack of consensus about the geography of Vietnam on the boundary between the Northwest and Northeast to be the Red River or the

Hoàng Liên Sơn Huang (; ) is a Chinese surname that originally means and refers to jade people were wearing and decorating in ancient times. While ''Huáng'' is the pinyin romanization of the word, it may also be romanized as Hwang, Wong, Waan, Wan, Waon, Hwo ...

. The Northeast is limited to the north and east by the Vietnam-China border, while the Southeast overlooks the

Gulf of Tonkin The Gulf of Tonkin is a gulf at the northwestern portion of the South China Sea, located off the coasts of Tonkin ( northern Vietnam) and South China. It has a total surface area of . It is defined in the west and northwest by the northe ...

. The southern limit is composed of the

Tam Đảo TAM may refer to: Biology * Thioacetamide, an organosulfur compound * Tumor-associated macrophage, a class of immune cells * Transparent Anatomical Manikin, an educational model Technology * Tanque Argentino Mediano, the main battle tank of A ...

mountain range and the

. It is also mountainous in the midlands, the mountainous include

massif In geology, a massif ( or ) is a section of a planet's crust that is demarcated by faults or flexures. In the movement of the crust, a massif tends to retain its internal structure while being displaced as a whole. The term also refers to a ...

s, and

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...

mountains. The western side, is limited by the Red River valley and the Chảy River's source, above, is composed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

and limestone plateau. In essence, this is the edge of the Yunnan Plateau. The high mountains of the Northeast are concentrated here, as Tây Côn Lĩnh, Kiêu Liêu Ti. The northern part junction with Vietnam-China border are the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

(

highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

) turns from west to east are: Bắc Hà, Quản Bạ, Đồng Văn. Two first plateau has an average elevation of 1000-1200 m. Đồng Văn Plateau is 1600m. Rivers and streams flowing through the plateau created long and deep

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency to cut ...

s. There are also some small plains, like Thất Khê,

Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn () is a city in far northern Vietnam, which is the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1. History Due to its ge ...

, Lộc Bình, and

Cao Bằng Cao Bằng () is a city in northern Vietnam. It is the capital and largest settlement of Cao Bằng Province. It is located on the bank of the Bằng Giang river, and is around away from the border with China's Guangxi region. According to the ...

. To the east, from the Gâm River's middle into the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

, which is lower than many mountains arc turned eastward turn from east to west is the Gâm River's anticline, Ngân Sơn-Yên Lạc Bow, Bắc Sơn Massif, Đông Triều Mountain range. Mountains rising above the sea form the famous scenery of

Hạ Long Hạ Long () is the capital city and first-class provincial city of Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. The name Hạ Long () means "descending dragon". The city was founded in 1993, when the old capital, Hòn Gai, was merged with Bãi Cháy – ...

. The arc of these mountains are mostly covered tail at

. Southwest, from

Phú Thọ Phú Thọ () is a district-level town in Phú Thọ Province, Vietnam. As of 2003, the town had a population of 63,333. The town covers an area of 64 km². Geography Phú Thọ is bordered by Phù Ninh to the north, Thanh Ba to the sout ...

, southern

Tuyên Quang Tuyên Quang () is a city in Vietnam, and is the capital of Tuyên Quang Province. History The French post at Tuyên Quang was defended for four months against 12,000 troops of the Yunnan Army and the Black Flag Army by two companies of the Fr ...

, southern

Yên Bái Yên Bái () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Yên Bái Province, in the north-east region of Vietnam. The city borders Yên Bình District and Trấn Yên District. The city is a settlement along the banks of the Red River, approxima ...

and

Thái Nguyên Thái Nguyên () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital and largest city of Thái Nguyên Province. The city is listed as a first class city and is the ninth largest city in Vietnam. It has long been famous throughout Vietnam for its Tân Cư� ...

, lower toward the plain. It is called as the "

midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Mercia, Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in ...

". The height of this section is about 100–150 m. The Northeast has many rivers flow through, including the major river of the

Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

, Chảy, Lô, Gâm (the

Red rivers system The Red River system is a network of rivers surrounding the main river - Red River in North Vietnam. These branches of the system contribute to or receive water from Red River. Red River system, joining with the Thái Bình river system in the n ...

), Cầu, Thương, Lục Nam (in Thái Bình river system), Bằng,

Bắc Giang Bắc Giang () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Bắc Giang Province. Its name, deriving from that of the Province Sino-Vietnamese, means "north of the river." The location is very convenient for transportation: it is 50 km north ...

, Kỳ Cùng... Northeast's sea region has many large and small islands, nearly 2/3 the number of Vietnam's

sea islands The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the Southeastern United States. Numbering over 100, they are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of South Caroli ...

(including the Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa).

History

During the multiple eras of

Vietnam under Chinese rule Vietnam under Chinese rule or ''Bắc thuộc'' (北屬, lit. "belonging to the north") (111 BC-939, 1407-1427) refers to four historical periods when several portions of modern-day Northern Vietnam was under the rule of various Chinese dynasties ...

, this region was often controlled by

Chinese dynasties Dynasties in Chinese history, or Chinese dynasties, were hereditary monarchical regimes that ruled over China during much of its history. From the legendary inauguration of dynastic rule by Yu the Great circa 2070 BC to the abdication of the ...

for almost a thousand years, beginning from the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

when they had conquered Nanyue. It left a legacy whereby this region is the most heavily sinicized in Vietnam. Even today, many cross-border changes occur with the contemporary

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

(PRC). Many of the individuals who live here have partial Chinese ancestry, and it is not uncommon for Chinese languages to be heard in this region, such as in cities like

(谅山) and

Móng Cái Móng Cái () is a city of Quảng Ninh Province in northern Vietnam. Located on China–Vietnam border, it sits on the southern bank of Beilun River across Dongxing city of China's Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alte ...

(芒街).

Provinces

* The two provinces

Lào Cai Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwest ...

and

are usually seen as part of the Northwest region.

Gallery

File:Halong Bay in Vietnam.jpg, Vịnh Hạ Long File:Mau Son road.JPG, Mẫu Sơn mountains File:CaoBang.jpg, Rice fields in Cao Bằng File:Ba Be Lake 6464.jpg, Ba Bể Lake in Bắc Kạn File:Sapa, church.jpg, Church at Sa Pa

External links

{{coord, 21, 42, 05, N, 106, 13, 17, E, type:adm1st_source:kolossus-itwiki, display=title Regions of Vietnam Geography of Vietnam