Hà Giang Province

Hà Giang ( listen) is a province in the Northeast region of Vietnam. It is located in the far north of the country, and contains Vietnam's northernmost point. It shares a 270 km long border with Yunnan province of southern China, and thus is known as Vietnam's final frontier. The province covers an area of 7945.8 square kilometres and as of 2008 it had a population of 705,100 people.

The provincial capital, also called Hà Giang, is connected by Highway 2 and is 320 km away from Hanoi. The border crossing is at Thanh Thủy, 25 km from the capital, Hà Giang city. It is one of the poorest provinces of Vietnam as it has mountainous topography with the least potential for agricultural development.

The province borders China with a length of over 270 kilometres (170 mi); the border gate is known as the Thanh Thủy. In addition, there are three smaller gates namely, the Phó Bảng, the Xín Mần and Săm Pun.

Etymology

The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese 河江.

Geography

Hà Giang is bounded by Cao Bằng, Tuyên Quang, Lào Cai, and Yên Bái provinces and has common international border with China in the north. Hà Giang has many high rocky mountains, limestone formations and springs; the important mountains are the Cam and Mo Neo. The major rivers of the region are the Lô River (Hà Giang town is located on its left bank) and Mien River.

Hà Giang

Hà Giang ( listen) is a city located on the banks of the Lô River in the north-east region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Hà Giang Province. The city has an area of 135.33 km² and a population of 71,689 inhabitants. The population is composed of 22 different ethnicities, of which 55.7% are Kinh and Tày people.

History

Up until the 19th century the settlement of Vị Xuyên, to the south of Hà Giang (chu Han: 河江), was the principal market town in the area. Under the Nguyễn dynasty the town of Hà Giang, in what is now the Trần Phú District, began to grow in size. In 1842 the town was included in the former Tuyên Quang Province. The town became an important French military outpost after 1886.

On August 12, 1991, The province of Hà Giang was re-established and separated from Tuyên Quang Province. When separated, Hà Giang Province contained 10 administrative units, and Ha Giang town became the provincial town of Hà Giang.

On September 27 of 2010, Hà Giang town was officially upgraded into a provincial city.