Dong Hoi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Đồng Hới pronunciation is a capital city of Quảng Bình province, in central Vietnam. The city area: 155.54 km² (60 square miles), population in 2005 : 130,000. It is located at around , around 500 km (310 mi) south of Hà Nội (Hanoi), 260 km (160 mi) north of Đà Nẵng (Danang), 1,200 km (750 mi) north of Hồ Chí Minh City (Saigon). It borders Laos on the west, South China Sea on the east, Hà Tĩnh province on the north and Quảng Ninh County in the south.
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[edit] Climate
Like all provinces in north and north central of Vietnam, there are 4 distinct seasons in Đồng Hới. In the spring, it is cool, humid and foggy. The temperature is around 18 to 25 degrees celsius. The summer sees the hot, dry weather with the temperature may be as high as 35 degrees celsius. This is largely due to the dry southwest wind from Gulf of Thailand (this flow of wind is wet but when it passes to Vietnam, Truong Son mountain range keeps its humidity to cause rains in Laos but drought in central Vietnam). It is rainy in the fall but the weather is comfortable with the temperature around 25 to 30 degrees celsius. In the winter, due to the northeast wind blowing from the Chinese mainland, the temperature may go down as low as 12 degrees celsius, and it may be rainy.
[edit] Tourism
Đồng Hới is endowed with beautiful beachs with fine sand and clean water of Nhat Le. The Da Nhay and Ly Hoa beaches (60 km north of the city) are popular tourist destinations. The Bang spa (hot mineral spring) is ideal for those who enjoy spa baths. The city is situated 50 km south of the World Heritage Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park which is ideal for cave and grotto exploration and biological research activities. Đồng Hới is accessible by road (National Highway 1A, Hồ Chí Minh Highway), by rail at Đồng Hới Railway Station on the Hà Nội-Hồ Chí Minh City Railway, or by air from Hà Nội or Hồ Chí Minh City at Đồng Hới Airport. The city provide tourists with 98 hotels and guest-houses from 1 to 3-star hotels like Cosevco Hotel, Saigon-Quảng Bình Hotel and especially the 4-star resort of Sun Spa Resort. The available cuisine includes seafood, the traditional "hot pot", Vietnamese and European-style meals. In 2005, the city welcomed nearly 300,000 visitors.
[edit] Economy
The Hòn La port (Vietnamese: Cảng Hòn La), a deep-water sea port, is currently (as of 2006) under construction north of Đồng Hới, the port when finished will be able to accommodate ships up to 50,000 metric tons. Two industrial parks (Northwest Đồng Hới Industrial Park and Hòn La Industrial Park) are also under construction and partially available now to investors. The city achieved an average economic growth rate of 12.5% during 2001-2005 period. The economic contributors for 2005 were as follows: industry and construction accounting for 35.5%, services 50.9%, agriculture-forestry-fishery 13.6%. GDP per capita in 2005 was $750.
[edit] History
Human settlement in Đồng Hới can be traced to 5 million years ago. Many relics and remnants have been found by the Vietnamese and French archaeologists in Bau Tro, a lake in the city. Most of the finds here belong to the Stone Age period. Around 2880 BC, the site of modern Đồng Hới was a territory of Viet Thuong tribe of Văn Lang (Vietnam) during the reign of king Hùng Vương. The site was long a disputed territory between the Champa kingdom and Đại Việt. It officially became Đại Việt territory in 1306 after the political marriage of the Trần Dynasty princess, Huyen Trần, to Champa king, Jaya Sinhavarman III (Vietnamese: Chế Mân). Princess Huyen Trần was king Trần Nhân Tông's daughter and king Trần Anh Tông's younger sister. Political matches made to acquire land was a traditional practice by Champa kings. Thanks to this marrige, Đại Việt acquired lands (as dowry) of what is now Quảng Bình province, Quảng Trị Province, and Thừa Thiên–Huế Province provinces (then known respectively as Chau O and Chau Ri or Chau Ly).
During the time of the Trịnh-Nguyễn War (1558-1775), Vietnam was divided into two countries: Dang Trong (South) and Dang Ngoai (North) with the Gianh River as frontier line. Đồng Hới was an important fortress of the southern Nguyễn Lords. The Đồng Hới Wall (Vietnamese: Thành Đồng Hới) was considered the barrier which protected the Nguyễn Lords from the attack by northern Trịnh family. During the Indochina War (between the French and the Viet Minh in 1950s), the Đồng Hới airbase was used by the French to attack both the Viet Minh in north-central Vietnam and the Laotian Pathet army in central and southern Laos. During the Vietnam War, Đồng Hới was heavily devastated by bombardments from the U.S. B-52 due to its location near Parallel 17 and the Demilitarized Zone between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. This city is also the narrowest land of Vietnam (around 40 km from the east to the west) After the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, Quảng Bình province was merged into Bình Trị Thiên province (Bình Trị Thiên is the abbreviation of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên provinces). In 1990, Bình Trị Thiên was once again separated into three provinces as it had been before. Đồng Hới then became the capital of Quảng Bình province.
