The Red River Delta or Hong River Delta () is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Bình River in

Northern Vietnam Northern Vietnam or '' Tonkin'' () is one of three geographical regions in Vietnam. It consists of three geographic sub-regions: the Northwest (Vùng Tây Bắc), the Northeast (Vùng Đông Bắc), and the Red River Delta (Đồng Bằng Sôn ...

. ''Hồng'' (紅) is a Sino-Vietnamese word for "red" or "crimson". The delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

. The region, measuring some is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich and densely populated area. Most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation. Eight

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

, together with two municipalities (the capital

Hanoi Hanoi ( ; ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Vietnam, second-most populous city of Vietnam. The name "Hanoi" translates to "inside the river" (Hanoi is bordered by the Red River (Asia), Red and Black River (Asia), Black Riv ...

, and the port of Haiphong) form the delta. It had a population of almost 23 million in 2019. In 2021,

Paul Sidwell Paul James Sidwell is an Australian linguist based in Canberra, Australia, who has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian National University. Sidwell, who is also an expert and consultant in forensic linguistics, is most nota ...

proposed that the locus of Proto- Austroasiatic languages was in this area about 4,000–4,500 years before present.Sidwell, Paul. 2021
''Austroasiatic Dispersal: the AA "Water-World" Extended''SEALS 2021
.
Video)
/ref> The Hong River Delta is the cradle of the Vietnamese nation. Water puppetry originated in the rice paddies here. The region was bombed by

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

warplanes during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. The region was designated as the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve as part of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...

in 2004.

Provinces

* Quảng Ninh province,

Bắc Giang province Bắc Giang �ak˧˥:zaːŋ˧˧was a former Provinces of Vietnam, province in the Northeast (Vietnam), Northeast region of Vietnam. History Its oldest name was Kinh Bắc (京北, "north fcapital"), a sub-division has ever included two ...

, Thái Nguyên province and Phú Thọ province are sometimes included as a province of the Red River Delta. Alternatively, they are seen as part of the Northeast region. * Hà Tây province was merged into

in 2008.

Geography

Spanning some 150 km in width, the Red River Delta is located in the western coastal zone of 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 northern co ...

. The Red River is the second largest river in Vietnam and one of the five largest rivers on the East Asia coast. Its catchment covers parts of China and Vietnam and its water and sediment discharges greatly influence the hydrology in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Delta economy

In 2003, of the 78 million people in Vietnam, almost a third (24 million) live in the Red River basin, including over 17 million people in the delta itself. There are many large industrial zones in the Red River Delta clustering in Viet Tri, Hanoi, Haiphong and Nam Dinh. Most of the population works in rice cultivation but the delta region hosts other important economic activities such as

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a., fishing grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farm ...

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

for agriculture, harbor construction,

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

, etc. The socio-economic development in the delta is also affected by seasonal storms,

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant concern in agriculture, civi ...

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of Wind wave, waves, Ocean current, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts ...

, silting, salt water intrusion, etc. Though the Red River Delta makes up only 5% of Vietnam's land, 30% of the country's population live there, making it the most densely populated part of the country. 80% of the population are employed in agriculture, but the agricultural lands of the delta amount to only about .3-.5

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

s per household, making the limited supply of arable lands a significant constraint to improving living standards. Agriculturally the Red River Delta is the second most important rice-producing area in Vietnam, accounting for 20% of the national crop. Production of rice is close to optimal with very little yield gap to exploit and employing double cropping techniques to achieve close to maximum yields. However the rich soil of the delta does present a possibility of crop diversification and there is potential for further development of aquaculture. With these developmental pressures the estuarine environment and ecosystem face degradation due to threats of pollution, over-fishing and aquaculture destroying natural habitats.

Provinces

Geography

Delta economy

See also

Notes and references

Further reading