Cát Hải

Cát Hải
Cát Bà Islands and Long Châu Isle
Cát Hải Special Zone of Hải Phòng City
Other official names
  • Vietnamese:Đặc khu Cát Hải trực thuộc thành phố Hải Phòng
    Quần đảo Cát Bà và đảo Long Châu
Panorama of Cát Bà harbour.
Cát Hải
Location of Cát Hải in Vietnam.
Coordinates: 20°49′01″N 107°00′00″E / 20.817°N 107.000°E / 20.817; 107.000
Country Vietnam
RegionRed River Delta
MunicipalityHải Phòng
EstablishmentXVIII century (sea fort)
XIX century (fish port)
April 22, 2025 (special zone)
Central hallNo.1, Hà Liên road, Cát Bà harbour, Cát Bà island, Cát Hải special zone
Government
 • TypeCommune-level authority
 • People Committee's ChairmanBùi Tuấn Mạnh
 • People Council's ChairmanHoàng Hồng Luân
 • Front Committee's ChairmanVũ Thị Mỹ Liên
 • Party Committee's SecretaryTrần Văn Phương
Area
325.6 km2 (125.7 sq mi)
Population
 (2019)
32,090
 • Density98/km2 (250/sq mi)
 • Urban
18,147
 • Metro
13,943
 • Ethnicities
Kinh
Tanka
Time zoneUTC+7 (Indochina Time)
ZIP code
187300
WebsiteCathai.Haiphong.gov.vn
Cathai.Haiphong.dcs.vn

Cát Hải [kaːt˧˥:ha̰ːj˧˩˧] is an archipelago in the Gulf of Tonkin. Its full name is Cát Hải Special Zone of Hải Phòng City[1] (Vietnamese: Đặc khu Cát Hải trực thuộc thành phố Hải Phòng) belonging to Hải Phòng city in the Red River Delta of Vietnam.

History

Its name Cát Hải means "Cát Bà Long Châu Hải Dương Thương Chính Quan Phòng" in common Middle-age Annamese language.

All Cát Hải area's knowledge before the XVIII century was legendary and had very little things recorded by royal historians. However, according to the administrative documents of Hải Phòng city, this territory in the past included two archipelagos as Các Bà (the ladies) and Cửa Đức Ông (the gentlemen).[2][3] Over time, those names were wrongly called by folk to become Cát Bà and Long Châu.

Middle Ages

According to Đồng Khánh địa dư chí lược, at the beginning of the XIX century, the territory of Cát Hải rural district was two cantons Đôn Lương and Hà Liên, belonging Hoa Phong rural district (huyện Hoa Phong), Sơn Định prefecture, Quảng Yên province. Nghiêu Phong district has many different names : Động Phục Long, Ân Phong, Chi Phong.[note 1] Until the first year of Thiệu Trị (1841), it was renamed Nghiêu Phong to avoid the real name of Dowager Queen Hồ Thị Hoa.

Since the years of Đồng Khánh, Nghiêu Phong rural district (huyện Nghiêu Phong) has included three cantons Đôn Lương, Hà Liên and Vân Hải.

XX century

On August 19, 1890, Tonkinese viceroy Hoàng Cao Khải issued a decree to change Nghiêu Phong from a rural district into a prefecture. Because of that, Vân Hải canton has been raised to Vân Hải rural district, at the same time, Đôn Lương was merged with Hà Liên to become Cát Hải rural district. Its capital seated in Cát Bà street (phố Cát Bà), where was later expanded to the township (đại lí Cát Bà), then the town (thị xã Cát Bà).[note 2]

The territory of Cát Hải island district (huyện đảo Cát Hải) only consisted of two archipelagos Cát Bà and Long Châu. In particular, the area of ​​Cát Bà island was almost the area of ​​the special zone.

XXI century

On April 22, 2025, to meet promptly the plan to arrange and merge administrative units by the Government of Vietnam, the People's Committees of Hải Dương Province and Hải Phòng City passed a Resolution[4] on the dissolution of all rural-district level administrative units in new Hải Phòng City,[note 3] followed by another Resolution[5] on the merger of communes and the establishment of new communes with their new names.

According to the political document officially published for the press, Cát Hải island-district was also dissolved. The entire area and demography have been transformed to commune-level administrative unit, which is called as Cát Hải Special Zone of Hải Phòng City (Đặc khu Cát Hải trực thuộc thành phố Hải Phòng). Cát Hải special zone is directly under the management of expanded Hải Phòng City.

Geography

As of 2018 the Cát Hải special zone had a population of 43,187. The special zone covers an area of 295 km2 (114 sq mi). Its capital lies in Cát Bà island.

Economy

The islands are subject to major land developments. Vinfast has built an automobile factory on the Southern half of the island,[6] and Sun Group is developing a holiday resort on the northern half. A 5.44 km long bridge - the longest sea crossing in Vietnam - connects the island to Hai Phong.

See also

Notes and references

Notes

  1. ^ Ban chỉ huy quân sự huyện Cát Hải (2002). Huyện đảo Cát Hải, 55 năm kháng chiến, xây dựng và bảo vệ Tổ Quốc, 1945-2000. Nhà xuất bản Quân Đội Nhân Dân. tr. 9.
  2. ^ Vũ Văn Tỉnh (1970). Những thay đổi về địa lý hành chính các tỉnh Bắc Kỳ trong thời kỳ Pháp thuộc (PDF). tr. 54.
  3. ^ It includes the entire area and demography of Hải Dương Province and old-Hải Phòng City.

References

  1. ^ Gov't unveils plan to transform island districts into special zones
  2. ^ Legends of the name of Cát Bà
  3. ^ Introduction to Cát Bà - Discover the pearl of the Tonkin Gulf
  4. ^ Hải Phòng dự kiến thành lập hai đặc khu sau sắp xếp đơn vị hành chính cấp xã
  5. ^ Đồng thuận với chủ trương hình thành Đặc khu Cát Hải
  6. ^ "GM forms partnership with Vietnam's VinFast". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2022-12-24.

Further reading

Bibliography