For the archipelago with the same name, see Thổ Châu islands.

Thổ Châu Island (Vietnamese: Đảo Thổ Châu[1]) is the largest island of Thổ Châu Islands in the Gulf of Thailand. It constitutes Thổ Châu Township (Vietnamese: Thị trấn Thổ Châu[1]) belonging to Thổ Châu island district of Kiên Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

History

Here lies the administrative center of Thổ Châu Island District as Thổ Châu township (thị trấn Thổ Châu),[2] Kiên Giang Province, Vietnam. In the West,[note 1] the island is also known as Pulau Panjang or Pulo Panjang.[note 2][note 3][note 4]

During the Republic of Vietnam regime, Thổ Châu Island was under the administration of An Xuyên Province.

On May 10, 1975, the Khmer Rouge occupied the island and, as reported by the Government of Vietnam, "destroyed villages, killed many people, and abducted 515 inhabitants of the island".[3] From May 24 to May 27, 1975, Vietnamese militia forces attacked the occupiers and recaptured the island. In 1977, the Khmer Rouge raided Thổ Châu Island once again but were defeated.[4]

On April 27, 1992, under the arrangement of the People's Committee of Kiên Giang Province, six families with about thirty people moved to Thổ Châu Island and settled there. On April 24, 1993, the Vietnamese government decided to establish Thổ Châu Commune which has been in charge of administrating the whole archipelago.[5]

On March 8, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lost contact with ground while flying by Thổ Châu island (search for the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, suspected to have crashed nearby).[6]

Geography

Topography

Thổ Châu Island is located to the southwest of Phú Quốc Island and Rạch Giá and to the northwest of Cape Cà Mau, specifically 55 nautical miles (102 km; 63 mi), 220 kilometres (140 mi) and 85 nautical miles (157 km; 98 mi) away.[7][5] There are four beaches on the island (Bai Ngu, Bai Dong, Bai Mun and Bai Nhat) of which the largest are Bai Ngu (literally "Royal Beach") and Bai Dong.[8]

Environment

Satellite image of the island.

Thổ Châu Island has a diverse natural environment with high-density coral reefs, white sand beaches and pristine forests. A majority of 99 species of coral present here belong to the two genera Montipora and Acropora of Acroporidae. The flora consists of about two hundreds of species, mostly Clusiaceae, Fabaceae và Sapotaceae.[9] The island is also home to endemic gecko species Cyrtodactylus thochuensis. However, Thổ Châu is being threatened by environmental pollution since domestic waste is dumped into the sea.[8]

Demography

The majority of inhabitants are navy personnel and border guards who chose to settle on the island. As of early 2023, there are 549 households with about 1,900 people[10][11] who mainly reside at Bai Ngu and Bai Dong. The residents' lives are not easy as they have to move around the island twice a year to avoid storms. In the southwest monsoon from April to August, people move from Bai Ngu to Bai Dong and in the northeast monsoon from September to March, they reverse their migration.[12]

Culture

Thổ Châu Island has only one electric generator for Bãi Ngự. The island does not have a water supply network so military personnel and civilians have to dig wells to get water.[5] Mobile information services of Viettel, MobiFone and Vinaphone have reached the island.[13] Thổ Châu Island Lighthouse was set up on January 25, 2000. Its range is 29 nmi (54 km; 33 mi) during daytime and 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) in the nighttime.[14]

In addition, the island has a primary-high school (trường liên cấp Thổ Châu), a post office and a temple commemorating the victims of the Khmer Rouge.[8]

Economy

In general, the economy of Thổ Châu Island is still difficult.[12] Local residents live mainly by fishing, including seafood trading and fisheries logistics.[15] The efficiency in the exploitation of marine resources is only at low level.[16]

According to Decision No. 18/2009/QĐ-TTg by Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng, Thổ Châu Island is planned to become a large fisheries service center of the region.[17]

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Cochinchine française : excursions et reconnaissances (in French). Vol. 1. Imprimerie du Gouvernement. 1879. p. 59.
  2. ^ The Project Gutenberg EBook of Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat, by Edmund Roberts. Page 228.
  3. ^ Please see An Nam đại quốc họa đồ, southmost of Việt Nam.
  4. ^ Westerners call it by Malay Pulau Panjang. Pulau: island ; Panjang: long.

References

  1. ^ a b Do not called Thổ Châu as "thổ chu" (vi)
  2. ^ Nghị quyết số 76/NQ-HĐND năm 2017 về việc thống nhất đề nghị điều chỉnh địa giới đơn vị hành chính xã Thổ Châu, huyện Phú Quốc để thành lập huyện Thổ Châu thuộc tỉnh Kiên Giang
  3. ^ Kiernan, Ben (2008). The Pol Pot Regime : Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. Yale University Press. p. 104. ISBN 978-0300142990.
  4. ^ (in Vietnamese) Hà Thành (April 27, 2009). "Quần Đảo Thổ Châu và cuộc chiến giải phóng đảo". People's Army Newspaper Online. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
  5. ^ a b c (in Vietnamese) Việt Tiến (June 29, 2011). "Một lần đến Thổ Châu". Nhandan Online. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  6. ^ Where is Flight MH370?
  7. ^ (in Vietnamese) Lê Huy Hải (January 9, 2012). "Kiên Giang vẫn chưa có giải pháp đề khắc phục "nhà di động" trên đảo Thổ Châu". Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Vietnam. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  8. ^ a b c (in Vietnamese) Quốc Bình (August 7, 2012). "Đảo Thổ Châu : Thiên đường nơi đầu sóng". Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper. Archived from the original on April 21, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  9. ^ (in Vietnamese) "Khu đề xuất Bảo tồn Biển Thổ Châu" (PDF). Birdlife International in Indochina. February 15, 2004. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  10. ^ "Thổ Châu vươn mình giữa biển Tây". Báo Kiên Giang (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2024-10-27.
  11. ^ "Sức sống mới trên quần đảo Thổ Châu". Báo Nhân Dân điện tử (in Vietnamese). 2023-05-15. Retrieved 2024-10-27.
  12. ^ a b (in Vietnamese) Nguyễn Anh (June 13, 2011). "Những hòn đảo trên biển Tây Nam". Website on Viet Nam's sovereign boundaries. Archived from the original on June 18, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  13. ^ (in Vietnamese) Trọng Nghĩa (January 29, 2012). "Vững mạnh Thổ Châu". SGGP Online. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  14. ^ (in Vietnamese) Đào (February 16, 2009). "Thổ Châu – vùng địa đầu Tây Nam đất nước". Dat Mui Pictorial. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  15. ^ (in Vietnamese) Thế Hạnh (February 10, 2012). "Người trưởng ấp duy nhất nơi đảo xa". Dai doan ket. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
  16. ^ (in Vietnamese) Bá Hiên ; Xuân Cường (February 15, 2010). "Thổ Châu vẫy gọi". People's Army Newspaper Online. Archived from the original on 2013-03-31. Retrieved December 24, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ (in Vietnamese) "Quyết định phê duyệt Quy hoạch tổng thể phát triển kinh tế - xã hội vùng biển và ven biển Việt Nam thuộc Vịnh Thái Lan thời kỳ đến năm 2020". Vietnam Government Web Portal. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 24, 2012.

Further reading

Bibliography

Vietnamese
  • Sơn Nam, Nói về miền Nam (Talk about the South), publishing by Lá Bối, Saigon, 1967.
  • Sơn Nam, Văn minh miệt vườn (The Civilization of the Countryside), publishing by An Tiêm, Saigon, 1970.
  • Sơn Nam, Lịch sử khẩn hoang miền Nam (History of Reclamation in the South), publishing by Đông Phố, Saigon, 1973.
  • Sơn Nam, Cá tính miền Nam (The Personality of the South), publishing by Đông Phố, Saigon, 1974.
  • Sơn Nam, Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long - nét sinh hoạt xưa (The Mekong Delta and Its Old Lifestyle), publishing by Hochiminh-City Publishing House, Saigon, 1985.
  • Sơn Nam, Danh thắng miền Nam (Famous Landscapes of the South), publishing by Đồng Tháp P. H., Cao Lãnh, 1998.
  • Sơn Nam, Tiếp cận đồng bằng sông Cửu Long (Access to the Mekong Delta), publishing by Trẻ P. H., Saigon, 2000.
  • Trần Ngọc Thêm. Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam (The Foundation of Vietnamese Culture), 504 pages. Publishing by Nhà xuất bản Đại học Tổng hợp TPHCM. Saigon, Vietnam, 1995.
  • Trần Quốc Vượng, Tô Ngọc Thanh, Nguyễn Chí Bền, Lâm Mỹ Dung, Trần Thúy Anh. Cơ sở văn hóa Việt Nam (The Basis of Vietnamese Culture), 292 pages. Re-publishing by Nhà xuất bản Giáo Dục Việt Nam & Quảng Nam Printing Co-Ltd. Hanoi, Vietnam, 2006.
  • Tập bản đồ hành chính Việt Nam (Vietnamese administrative maps), Nhà xuất bản Tài nguyên – Môi trường và Bản đồ Việt Nam, Hà Nội, 2013.
English
French
  • Cochinchine française : Excursions et reconnaissances (in French). Vol. 1. Imprimerie du Gouvernement. 1879. p. 59.
  • The Pol Pot Regime : Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-79. Vol. 1. Yale University Press. 2008. p. Tho Chau Island.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%E1%BB%95_Chu_Island
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