An Giang is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It is located in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( or simply ), also known as the Western Region () or South-western region (), is the list of regions of Vietnam, region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong, Mekong River River delta, approaches and empties into the sea th ...

, in the country's southwestern part.

Geography

An Giang is located in the upper reaches of the

. The Hậu Giang and Tiền Giang branches of the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth-longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third-longest in Asia with an estimated l ...

are the province's dominant geographical features. With the exception of the west, most of An Giang is fairly flat and is criss-crossed by many canals and small rivers. This terrain has made An Giang a significant agricultural center, producing significant quantities of

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. The Cấm Mountains, also known as the Thất Sơn range or the "Seven Mountains", are located in the western Tịnh Biên District. Followers of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương tradition, founded in An Giang in 1849, refer to these mountains as ''Bửu Sơn'', "Precious Mountains".

Etymology

The province's name is derived from the Sino-Vietnamese word: 安江, meaning "peaceful river".

Administrative divisions

An Giang is subdivided into 11 district-level sub-divisions: * Districts: # An Phú: 3 towns and 11 rural communes # Châu Phú: 2 town and 11 rural communes # Châu Thành: 2 town and 11 rural communes # Chợ Mới: 3 towns and 15 rural communes # Phú Tân: 2 towns and 16 rural communes # Thoại Sơn: 3 towns and 14 rural communes #

Tri Tôn Tri Tôn is an urban municipality (''trấn thuộc huyện'') and town in the Tri Tôn District of An Giang Province, Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland So ...

: 3 towns and 12 rural communes * District-level town: # Tân Châu: 5 wards and 9 rural communes #

Tịnh Biên Tịnh Biên is a district-level town (''thị xã'') of An Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. As of 2022, the town had a population of 143,098. The town seat lies at Tịnh Biên ward. The Tịnh Biên frontier market is l ...

: 7 wards and 7 rural communes * Provincial cities: # Châu Đốc: 5 wards and 2 rural communes # Long Xuyên: 11 wards and 2 rural communes (capital of province) * They are further subdivided into 18 commune-level towns (or townlets), 110 communes, and 28 wards (156 in total).

Demographics

An Giang first became a province in 1832, having been settled by Vietnamese migrants moving southward in search of new land. It is believed that An Giang was once an important center of the 1st millennium

Óc Eo Óc Eo (Vietnamese language, Vietnamese) is an archaeological site in modern-day Óc Eo communes of Vietnam, commune of Thoại Sơn District in An Giang Province of southern Vietnam. Located in the Mekong Delta, Óc Eo was a busy port of the king ...

culture, presumably owing to its position on the river. Traditionally, An Giang has been known for its

silk Silk is a natural fiber, natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be weaving, woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is most commonly produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoon (silk), c ...

industry. An Giang is home to a substantial number of people from Vietnam's ethnic minorities. Due to the province's proximity to Cambodia, the Khmer Krom is the largest non-Vietnamese group. Other groups, such as the

Chams The Chams ( Cham: , چام, ''cam''), or Champa people ( Cham: , اوراڠ چمڤا, ''Urang Campa''; or ; , ), are an Austronesian ethnic group in Southeast Asia and are the original inhabitants of central Vietnam and coastal Cambodia be ...

and ethnic Chinese ( Hoa), are also found in An Giang. As of 2020, An Giang Province covers an area of 3,536.83 square kilometers with a population of 1,904,532 people, resulting in a population density of 539 people per square kilometer. The province is home to 24,011 households of ethnic minorities, comprising 114,632 people, accounting for 5.17% of the total provincial population.

Notable people

Tôn Đức Thắng Tôn Đức Thắng (; 20 August 1888 – 30 March 1980) was the second President of Vietnam under the leadership of General Secretary Lê Duẩn. The position of president is ceremonial and Tôn was never a major policymaker or even a member of ...

, a prominent Communist and former President of the

Democratic Republic of Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the French-suppor ...

, later became the first President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Long Xuyên). *

Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ (; vi-hantu, 26 May 190812 June 1976) was a South Vietnamese politician who was the first vice president of South Vietnam, serving under President Ngô Đình Diệm from 1956 until Diệm's overthrow and assassinati ...

, vice-president of the

Republic of Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the French Union, with it ...

before April 30, 1975 (Long Xuyên). * Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum, Khmer Krom and

Prime Minister of Cambodia The prime minister of Cambodia (, UNGEGN: , ; literally 'chief minister') is the head of government of Cambodia. The prime minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet of Cambodia, Cabinet and leads the executive branch of the Royal Government ...

in 1962. *

Vương Trung Hiếu Vương Trung Hiếu (born 1959) is a Vietnamese fiction writer, journalist, translator, and interdisciplinary scholar. He is the author of more than two hundred books (including genre writing; novels; anthologies and translations). Many of his w ...

, writer (Thoại Sơn). * Trịnh Bửu Hoài, writer (Châu Đốc). * Hoàng Hiệp, musician (Chợ Mới). *

Võ Tòng Xuân Võ Tòng Xuân (6 September 1940 – 19 August 2024) was a Vietnamese agricultural expert who was provost of Tân Tạo University (TTU), rector of An Giang University (AGU) and vice rector of Can Tho University. He was also a member of the Bo ...

, academic, agronomist and former rector of An Giang University (Tri Tôn). * Huỳnh Phú Sổ, founder of the

Hòa Hảo Hòa Hảo is a Vietnamese new religious movement. It is described either as a Syncretism, syncretistic Vietnamese folk religion, folk religion or as a sect of Buddhism. It was founded in French Cochinchina, Cochinchina in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú S ...

sect of Buddhism (Phú Tân). * Thoại Ngọc Hầu, general of

Nguyễn dynasty The Nguyễn dynasty (, chữ Nôm: 茹阮, chữ Hán: 朝阮) was the last List of Vietnamese dynasties, Vietnamese dynasty, preceded by the Nguyễn lords and ruling unified Vietnam independently from 1802 until French protectorate in 1883 ...

(Chợ Mới). *Đoàn Minh Huyên, founder of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương tradition. * Vũ Cát Tường, singer.

References

External links

*
An Giang province: To open job transaction floor 2015
{{Authority control Provinces of Vietnam