Binh Thuan is the sounthernmost coastal province of the South Central Vietnam, which is located in the area influenced by the Southern key economic region. The capital of Binh Thuan province is Phan Thiet city, 183 km to Ho Chi Minh city toward the south, 250 km to Nha Trang and 1,520 km to Hanoi Capital toward the North by National Highway 1A. Binh Thuan has a 192 km long coastline, stretching from Da Chet cape, which is adjacent to Ca Na in Ninh Thuan province, to Binh Chau mudflat in Ba Ria – Vung Tau province.
Geography
Binh Thuan province is the place where the terrain shape begins to shift from South to West of the rest of Vietnam on the S-shape map. The coordinates of Binh Thuan is from 10o33'42" to 11o33'18" north latitude, and 107o23'41" to 108o52'18"east latitude. Binh Thuan is adjacent to Lam Dong province on the north, Ninh Thuan province on the northeast, Dong Nai province on the west, and Ba Ria – Vung Tau province on the southwest. The east and the south of the province is the East Sea with 192 km long coastline.
Natural conditions
Binh Thuan’s terrain is mainly the low mountains and hills, narrow coastal plains; the terrain is horizontally narrow from the northeast to the southwest, and distributed into 4 main types including 18.22% of beaches and sand dunes, 9.43% of alluvial delta, 31.65% of hills and 40.7% of low mountains.
Located in the tropical equatorial monsoon climate with plenty of sunshine and wind, no winter and driest place in the country. The climate here is divided into 2 distinct seasons: rainy and dry. The rainy season usually starts from May to October, and the dry season starts from November to April of the following year. In fact, the rainy season falls mostly on 3 months from August to October, therefore, the actual dry season usually lasts longer.
Binh Thuan has 10 types of soil with 20 different groups, with broadleaf wood forest, deciduous forest, mixed forest with coniferous predominant, mixed forest and pure bamboo. Besides, Binh Thuan has many diverse mineral deposits such as gold, wolfram, lead, zinc, mineral water and non-minerals. In particular, mineral water, clay, construction stone have commercial and industrial value.
River system in Binh Thuan are short with irregular flows. The water is stronger in the rainy season, and drought in the dry season. There are four major rivers: Luy, Long Song, Cai, and Caty in the province.
Long Song River originates from the mountain range between the two provinces of Ninh Thuan – Binh Thuan, flows the North-South direction and along the boundary of Tuy Phong and Phan Ly Cham districts. This river is about 40 km long (from the head to the sea).
Luy River originates from Tuyen Duc Plateau. From the watershed to Hoa Đa district, the river flows the North-South direction for 40 km; then heading to the sea, the river flows the West-East direction for over 20 km. The river bed is narrow and winding; it often causes floods in rainy season.
Cai River originates from Lam Dong Highland, flows through Thien Giao territory, then flows the North-South direction and is about 40 km long.
Ca Ty River originates the plateau in the West, flows the East-South direction, and is 27 km long.
Administration
Binh Thuan has 1 capital city, 1 city and 8 districts. There are 127 administrative units, including 12 towns, 19 wards, and 96 communes.
Population
As of 2015, the population of the province reached 1,266,228 people. 49% of the population lives in urban areas and 51% in rural areas. The population distribution is uneven between districts, towns, and cities. Most concentrated area is Phan Thiet City (2015): 272,457 people, which accounted for nearly a quarter of the province’s population, followed by Phan Ri Cua, La Gi Town. The population is sparse at Bac Binh, Tanh Linh, Ham Tan districts.
There are 34 ethnic groups in Binh Thuan, of which the largest is Kinh people; followed by Cham, Ra Glai, Hoa (concentrated in Duc Nghia ward – Phan Thiet City), Co Ho, Tay, Cho Ro, Nung, Muong.
Culture
Binh Thuan has long history and culture, especially Champa culture with Po Sah Inu Towers, Po Klong MohNai Temple and over 100 rare and precious orinial Champa Royal treasures preserved by Mrs. Nguyen Thi Them, a descendant of Champa King, including the crowns, royal suits and shoes, bracelets of the king and the queen.
Cham people was one of the first to discover the usefulness of Binh Thuan mineral water. They used this mineral water in health treatment and aromatic water for cleaning the holy statues. By using Binh Thuan mineral water, they cured successfully the leprosy for their King Che Man in the 13th century. The princess Huyen Tran, daughter of King Tran and also the queen of King Che Man was very surprised at the miracle and mysterious of this mineral water, and named it Vinh Hao (meaning “good forever”). The French had exploited Vinh Hao mineral water from 1920. Up to now, Vinh Hao mineral water has been well-known in the contry and gradually exporting to other contries in the region and the world.