Thổ Châu islands

Thổ Châu Commune

Xã Thổ Châu
Quần đảo Thổ Châu
Thổ Châu Commune Xã Thổ Châu; Quần đảo Thổ Châu
Comunne(Class-II)
	Thổ Châu island was seen from satellites in 2024.
	Flag Seal
	Coordinates: 9°18′N 103°29′E / 9.300°N 103.483°E
Country	Vietnam
Region	Mekong Delta; Gulf of Thailand
Province	Kiên Giang
Establishment	XVI century
Central hall	No.1, Bãi Ngự hamlet, Thổ Châu island
Government
• Type	Commune-level authority
• People Committee's Chairman	Đỗ Văn Dừng
• People Council's Chairman	Unknown
• Front Committee's Chairman	Unknown
• Party Committee's Secretary	Đỗ Văn Dừng
Area
• Total	13.98 km2 (5.40 sq mi)
Population (December 31, 2023)
• Total	1,829
• Density	130/km2 (340/sq mi)
• Ethnicities	Kinh; Tanka
Time zone	UTC+7 (Indochina Time)
ZIP code	91000–92515
Website	Thochau.Angiang.gov.vn; Thochau.Angiang.dcs.vn

Thổ Châu Islands (Vietnamese: Quần đảo Thổ Châu) is an archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand. It constitutes fully as Thổ Châu Commune of Kiên Giang Province belonging to previous Kiên Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

History

According to Đại Nam nhất thống địa dư chí, its name Thổ Châu^[1] was written as "土珠", which implies as a pearl in the middle of the sea. This way of calling has been assumed by the linguist Thiều Chửu to be similar to Pearl Harbor.^{[note 2]}

In the past, the archipelago was also known as Pulau Panjang (means "long island" in Malay language) or Pulo Panjang by navigators.^{[note 3]}

XX century

During the existence of the Republic of Vietnam, Thổ Châu Islands were under the administration of An Xuyên Province. However, the islands historically used to constitute a disputed territory between Cambodia and Vietnam, both nations claiming them to be within their territorial waters.^[2]

On May 10, 1975, Khmer Rouge occupied Thổ Châu Island and abducted about five hundred civilians to Cambodia, all of whom were massacred. From May 24 to May 27, 1975, Vietnamese forces attacked the occupiers and recaptured the island. In 1977, the Khmer Rouge raided Thổ Châu Island once again but were defeated.^[3]

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 (xã Thổ Châu).^[4]

XXI century

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lost contact with ground while flying by Thổ Châu island.

According to the Statement on the basis of the territorial width in the Tonkin Gulf^{[note 4]} and a number of related documents, Thổ Châu is considered by the Vietnamese press as the farthest place to the West to determine the above sovereignty of Vietnam on the ocean.

On February 24, 2025, at the 32nd Session of the 10th People's Council of Kiên Giang province, the delegates participated in the vote to officially approve the resolution of the establishment of Thổ Châu island district (huyện đảo Thổ Châu), which was based on the whole natural area and population of the islands or former commune.^[5]

Geography

Thổ Châu island district is basically the whole area of Thổ Châu archipelago, not divided into commune-level administrative units like other localities.^[6]

It consist of the following eight islands : Thổ Châu with 13.95 square kilometres (5.39 sq mi), Hòn Cao, Hòn Cao Cát, Hòn Khô, Hòn Mô (or sometimes Hòn Cái Bàn), Hòn Nhạn, Hòn Từ and Hòn Xanh.^{[note 5]}

In particular, Hòn Nhạn is base point A1 on Vietnam's baseline.

Number	Name	Coordinate	Acreage (hectare)	Population	Note
1	Thổ Châu	9°18′29″N 103°29′05″E / 9.307953°N 103.484781°E / 9.307953; 103.484781	1.240,2	1.912	The largest island.
2	Hòn Từ		91,10
3	Hòn Cao Cát	9°19′33″N 103°31′34″E / 9.325820°N 103.526223°E / 9.325820; 103.526223	41,82
4	Hòn Xanh		14,11
5	Hòn Nhạn	9°15′03″N 103°28′14″E / 9.250793°N 103.470515°E / 9.250793; 103.470515	3,37
6	Hòn Cái Bàn (Cao Cát Lớn)	9°22′59″N 103°38′20″E / 9.383051°N 103.638773°E / 9.383051; 103.638773	3,34
7	Hòn Đá Bạc (Cao Cát Nhỏ)		0,74
8	Hòn Khô		0,48

Topography

Map including the Thổ Châu Islands (inset) (AMS, 1956).

Thổ Châu Island - the largest entity of the archipelago - was first proposed as a marine protected area in 1995. Subsequently, Asian Development Bank proposed the establishment of a marine protected areas over Thổ Châu Island with an area of 22,400 hectares (86 sq mi), of which land area is 1,190 ha (4.6 sq mi) and sea area is 21,210 ha (81.9 sq mi).^[7]

Demography

Currently, Thổ Châu has about 500 households with nearly 2,000 inhabitants,^[8] most of whom are border guards and navy personnel who chose to settle on the islands; the rest are immigrants. Local residents' livelihood is providing service to fishing boats, small craft production, farming, animal husbandry and fishing along the coast.^[9]

Notes and references

Notes

^ An official code from December 31, 2023, to present.
^ Please see An Nam đại quốc họa đồ, southmost of Việt Nam.
^ The Project Gutenberg EBook of Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat, by Edmund Roberts. Page 228.
^ Nghị quyết số 68/NQ-UBTVQH15 ra ngày 14 tháng 02 năm 2025 của Ủy ban Thường vụ Quốc hội, Chính phủ Việt Nam, mang tên Tuyên bố về đường cơ sở dùng để tính chiều rộng lãnh hải Việt Nam trong vịnh Bắc Bộ.
^ "Hòn" means "isle" in Vietnamese language, but not "island".

References

^ Do not called Thổ Châu as "thổ chu" (vi)
^ Nguyen, Hong Thao (Autumn 1997). "Vietnam's First Maritime Boundary Agreement" (PDF). IBRU Boundary and Security Bulletin. 5 (3): 74–78.
^ (in Vietnamese) Hà Thành (April 27, 2009). "Quần Đảo Thổ Châu và chiến dịch giải phóng năm xưa". People's Army Newspaper Online. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved December 25, 2012.
^ (in Vietnamese) Việt Tiến (June 29, 2011). "Một lần đến Thổ Châu". Nhandan Online. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ Kiên Giang approved the resolution to agree with the policy of establishing Thổ Châu district (vi)
^ Kiên Giang approved the policy of establishing Thổ Châu district, without commune level (vi)
^ (in Vietnamese) "Khu đề xuất Bảo tồn Biển Thổ Châu" (PDF). Birdlife International in Indochina. February 15, 2004. Retrieved December 24, 2012.
^ (in Vietnamese) Hoàng Vân (May 20, 2011). "Xã đảo Thổ Châu hoàn thành công tác bầu cử". VietnamPlus (Vietnam News Agency). Retrieved December 25, 2012.
^ (in Vietnamese) Nguyễn Quốc Bình (February 8, 2010). "Kiên Giang: Thổ Châu - tiềm năng chưa được đánh thức". Communist Party of Vietnam Online Newspaper. Retrieved December 25, 2012.

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