Central Intelligence Agency]. [4]:25 In the north, the climate is monsoonal with four distinct seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) while in the south (areas south of the Hải Vân Pass), the climate is tropical monsoon with two seasons (rainy and dry). It borders the Gulf of Thailand, Gulf of Tonkin, and Pacific Ocean, along with China, Laos, and Cambodia. [2] The ancestral home of the ethnic Vietnamese, the delta accounted for almost 70% of the agriculture and 80% of the industry of North Vietnam before 1975. Among the territorial infringements cited was the Chinese occupation in January 1974 of the Paracel Islands, claimed by both countries in a dispute left unresolved in the 1980s. party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution (MARPOL 73/78), Wetlands. A tributary entering the river at Phnom Penh drains the Tonlé Sap, a shallow freshwater lake that acts as a natural reservoir to stabilize the flow of water through the lower Mekong. Floodwaters back up into the Tonlé Sap, causing the lake to inundate as much as 10,000 square kilometers. On the landward side, the Dãy Trường Sơn rises precipitously above the coast, its spurs jutting into the sea at several places. The Mekong Delta, covering about 40,000 square kilometers, is a low-level plain not more than three meters above sea level at any point and criss-crossed by a maze of canals and rivers. These central mountains, which have several high plateaus, are irregular in elevation and form. Central Intelligence Agency. In reality, the DMZ extended about a mile on either side of the Ben Hai River and west to east from the Lao border to the South China Sea. AACR2, Annotated to show itinerary of trip to South Vietnam by Charlotte Moton Hubbard. During the Vietnam War, South Vietnam was divided into four Corps Tactical Zones, also called Military Regions, and the Special Capital Zone (Saigon area) for purposes of military operations. [4]:27, In summer, the general wind pattern are southwesterly winds in the southern parts of Vietnam and southeasterly winds in northern Vietnam. The Red River Delta (also known as the Sông Hồng), is a flat, triangular region of 15,000 square kilometers,[1] is smaller but more intensely developed and more densely populated than the Mekong Delta. [9] Generally, these seven different climatic regions are grouped into two main types: The North (includes Northwest, Northeast, North Delta (Red River Delta), North Central (North Central Coast)) which includes all areas north of the Hải Vân Pass and the South (South Central Coast, Central Highlands and the extreme south) which includes all areas south of the Hải Vân Pass. An extensive system of dikes and canals has been built to contain the Red River and to irrigate the rich rice-growing delta. 1968 Vintage Map of Vietnam provided by Richard Rooker . Stars and stripes map of war area : [Vietnam War]. Bản đồ vùng ... chiến thuật /. Map torn at edges and fold-lines. [4]:26 The South is subdivided into the Southeast for the southeastern provinces and the Mekong Delta for the southwestern provinces. "), the coastal lowlands, and the Mekong Delta in the south. South Vietnam, administrative divisions and military regions, July 1968. Satellite Imagery of the A Shau Valley in Vietnam. Map torn at edges and fold-lines. [4]:27 This leads to cold temperatures where temperatures drop by 4 to 5 °C (7 to 9 °F). "Viet Nam Assessment Report on Climate Change (VARCC)", "Viet Nam's Second National Communication to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change", "Extreme climatic events over Vietnam from observational data and RegCM3 projections", Groundwater extraction, land subsidence, and sea-level rise in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html, Council for National Defense and Security, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geography_of_Vietnam&oldid=963016375, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Library of Congress Country Studies, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the World Factbook, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 June 2020, at 09:10.