Red River Delta

The Red River Delta (Vietnamese: Đồng bằng sông Hồng, or Châu thổ sông Hồng) is the flat low-lying plain formed by the Red River and its distributaries merging with the Thái Binh River in northern Vietnam. The delta has the smallest area but highest population and population density of all regions. The region measuring some 15,000 square km is well protected by a network of dikes. It is an agriculturally rich area and densely populated. Most of the land is devoted to rice cultivation.

Eight provinces together with two municipalities, the capital Hanoi and the port Haiphong form the delta. It has a population of almost 19 million.

The Red River Delta is the cradle of the Vietnamese nation. Water puppetry originated in the rice paddies here.

The region was bombed by United States warplanes during the Vietnam War.

The region was designated as the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve as part of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme in 2004.

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

By the rich natural resources and favorable natural conditions, the delta has become an area of active economic development and high population density. 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.

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