Vietnam Geography

Location

Vietnam sits on the Southeastern end point of Indochina peninsula. It borders with China to the North and Laos and Cambodia to the West. The rest directions are adjacent to the sea, which gives Vietnam a tremendous amount of water based resources such as beaches and marine biodiversity. Vietnam has an S-shaped with 1,650 km in length and the narrowest width is about 50 km.

Photo : countryreports.org

Area

Land: 331.212 km2.

Coastline: 3,260 km

Terrace

A large part of Vietnam territory is covered by hills and mountains. Cultivatable area comprises less than 20%, mainly in the two delta: Red River delta in the North and Mekong delta in the South. Red river delta is smaller than its brother in the South yet more densely populated. This is also the cradle for Vietnamese early establishment.

Main cities and towns include Hanoi, Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, etc. To the South, Mekong delta has the largest agrarian land area and also produces the majority of rice and staple for domestic consumption and export. Because of the low land, there is rising concern that the Mekong Delta will be severely affected by global warming and rise in sea level.

The mountain area includes the Northern highland and Central highland. Harsh weather condition and specific land type make it hard to grow rice. However, in the Northern part, farmers apply the terraced paddy field method which makes use of the scanty water on the mountain to grow rice. Vietnam is also home to the highest mount of the Indochina peninsula- The Fansipan at 3143m.