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105-566: Kampuchea Krom continues to be home to many ethnic Khmer Krom , with some Khmer estimating their numbers to be between seven million and over ten million, despite the government's census of the population of Khmer Krom in Vietnam at 1.32 millions by 2019. It’s a hope that a rough of ten of millions would receive their freedoms as they are fighting hard at the UN. The Khmer term "Kampuchea Krom" can be translated as "Lower Cambodia". An alternative name for

210-555: A drainage area of 795,000 km (307,000 sq mi), discharging 475 km (114 cu mi) of water annually. From its headwaters in the Tibetan Plateau , the river runs through Southwest China (where it is officially called the Lancang River ), Myanmar , Laos , Thailand , Cambodia , and southern Vietnam . The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of rapids and waterfalls in

315-758: A calque of the original Khmer names such as Sa Đéc (Khmer: Phsar Dek), Sóc Trăng (Khmer: Srok Khleang), Trà Vinh (Khmer: Preah Trapeang), Bạc Liêu (Khmer: Pol Leav), Cà Mau (Khmer: Toek Khmau), Mỹ Tho (Khmer: Me Sar); Đồng Nai (Khmer: Don Nai). Some Vietnamese names were translated from the meaning of the original Khmer names such as Bến Tre (Khmer: Kampong Roessei), Bến Nghé (Khmer: Kampong Krabei). Khmer Krom The Khmer Krom ( Khmer : ជនជាតិខ្មែរក្រោម , Chónchéatĕ Khmêr Kraôm , [cɔnciət kʰmae kraom] ; lit.   ' Lower Khmer people ' or 'Southern Khmer people'; Vietnamese : người Khmer Nam Bộ, người Khmer Việt Nam, người Việt gốc Miên (used before 1975)) are ethnically Khmer people living in or from

420-789: A connection to the South China Sea. Although the hydraulic relationships between the Mekong and the Tonle Sap Great Lake systems during the Holocene are not well understood, it is clear that between 9,000 and 7,500 years ago the confluence of the Tonle Sap and the Mekong was in proximity to the South China Sea. The present river morphology of the Mekong Delta developed over the last 6,000 years. During this period,

525-604: A generic word for major rivers. To the early European traders, the Mekong River was also known as Mekon River , May-Kiang River and Cambodia River . The local names for the river include: The Mekong rises as the Za Qu ( Tibetan : རྫ་ཆུ་ , Wylie : rDza chu , ZYPY : Za qu ; Chinese : 扎曲 ; pinyin : Zā Qū ) and soon becomes known as the Lancang River ( simplified Chinese : 澜沧江 ; traditional Chinese : 瀾滄 江 ; pinyin : Láncāng Jiāng , from

630-478: A high evaporation rate means it is classified as a semi-arid region. Consequently, although the Mun and Chi basins drain 15% of the entire Mekong basin, they only contribute 6% of the average annual flow. Sandy and saline soils are the most common soil types, which makes much of the land unsuitable for wet rice cultivation. In spite of poor fertility, however, agriculture is intensive. Glutinous rice, maize, and cassava are

735-482: A large extent from maritime access to the outside world"; (2) the removal of "large portions of territory and tens of thousands of ethnic Khmer from Cambodian jurisdiction"; and (3) the placement of Cambodia in a vise between its two powerful neighbors of Siam and Vietnam. As implied by its alternate name of Kampuchea Lik Tuk, or "Flooded Cambodia", Kampuchea Krom sees an abundance of water, with events like high flooding, high rainfall, and seawater incursions varying with

840-468: A major distinction in the low-flow hydrology of the river. One fraction comes from melting snow in China and Tibet and the rest from over-season catchment storage in the lower basin. This has implications for the occurrence of drought conditions. For example, if runoff from melting snow in any given year is very low, then flows upstream of Vientiane - Nong Khai would be lower. In a large river system like

945-591: A maximum of about 4.5 m (15 ft) above present levels in the early Holocene about 8 ka. At this time the shoreline of the South China Sea almost reached Phnom Penh and cores recovered from near Angkor Borei contained sediments deposited under the influence of tides, and salt marsh and mangrove swamp deposits. Sediments deposited in the Tonle Sap Great Lake about this time (7.9–7.3 ka) also show indications of marine influence, suggesting

1050-468: A number of strategies employed by the Khmer to utilize local precipitation for the purposes of agriculture and consumption, even during the dry season. These strategies differ across its geomorphically distinct sub-regions. One key strategy is that of harvesting fresh rain water stored within the phno , a strategy that is particularly prominent within the northern coastal complex. The northern coastal complex

1155-584: A safe haven to launch their operations inside Vietnam. The "White Scarves" arrived in Kiri Vong District in 1976, making overture to the Khmer Rouge and appealing to the leader Khieu Samphan directly for assistance. The force was disarmed and welcomed initially. Subsequent orders from the Khmer Rouge leadership however had Samouk Sen arrested, taken to Phnom Penh, tortured, and killed. His force of 67 Khmer Krom fighters were all massacred. During

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1260-589: A stretch of some 2,200 km (1,400 mi). Here, it drops 4,500 m (14,800 ft) before it enters the lower basin where the borders of Thailand, Laos, China, and Myanmar come together in the Golden Triangle. Downstream from the Golden Triangle, the river flows for a further 2,600 km (1,600 mi) through Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia before entering the South China Sea via a complex delta system in Vietnam . The upper basin makes up 24% of

1365-473: A version of Old Khmer may have been used by the end of the Funan period. A further theory is that ethnic distribution within the region may have varied with elevation within the landscape, with Khmer speakers living on higher ground, and Malayo-Polynesian - and later Vietnamese - speakers occupying the lower-lying areas. The period spanning the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries saw an unprecedented expansion of

1470-556: Is a "flange of flat, salt-impregnated land lying between the mouths of the Mekong and Bassac Rivers and bounded by the ocean to the east", an area often perceived as the "quintessential Khmer region of Vietnam" by researchers and tourists alike. The region sees annual wet and dry seasons. Its rainy season lasts from May to December and covers the majority of the region with water. During the dry season however, soil surfaces crack and drinking water becomes extremely scarce. Taylor identifies

1575-699: Is as follows: Sóc Trăng (362,029 people, constituting 30.18% of the province's population and 27.43% of all Khmer in Vietnam), Trà Vinh (318,231 people, constituting 31.53% of the province's population and 24.11% of all Khmer in Vietnam), Kiên Giang (211,282 people, constituting 12.26% of the province's population and 16.01% of all Khmer in Vietnam), An Giang (75,878 people), Bạc Liêu (73,968 people), Bình Dương (65,233 people), Hồ Chí Minh City (50,422 people), Cà Mau (26,110 people), Đồng Nai (23,560 people), Vĩnh Long (22,630 people) each constituting less than 10% of all Khmer in Vietnam. Other estimates vary considerably, with

1680-477: Is flooded during the rainy season. The impact of road embankments and similar infrastructure developments on the movement of this flood water is an increasingly important consequence of development. Table 2 summarises the mean annual flows along the mainstream. The mean annual flow entering the lower Mekong from China is equivalent to a relatively modest 450 mm (18 in) depth of runoff. Downstream of Vientiane this increases to over 600 mm (24 in) as

1785-528: Is heterogeneous and active, and is the major factor controlling the course of rivers and the landscapes they carve out. The elevation of the Tibetan Plateau during the Tertiary period was an important factor in the genesis of the south-west monsoon , which is the dominant climatic control influencing the hydrology of the Mekong Basin. Understanding the nature and timing of the elevation of Tibet (and

1890-531: Is little evidence from the last 45 years of data of any systematic changes in the hydrological regime of the Mekong. The internal drainage patterns of the Mekong are unusual among those of large rivers. Most large river systems that drain the interiors of continents, such as the Amazon , Congo , and Mississippi , have relatively simple dendritic tributary networks that resemble a branching tree. Typically, such patterns develop in basins with gentle slopes where

1995-675: Is the beginning of the Mekong Delta. The two rivers, the Bassac to the west and the Mekong to the east, enter Vietnam shortly after this. In Vietnam, the Bassac is called the Hậu River (Sông Hậu or Hậu Giang); the main, eastern, branch of the Mekong is called the Tiền River or Tiền Giang. In Vietnam, distributaries of the eastern (main, Mekong) branch include the Mỹ Tho River , the Ba Lai River ,

2100-475: Is used for large rivers and Khong is the proper name referred to as "River Khong". However, Khong is an archaic word meaning "river", loaned from Austroasiatic languages , such as Vietnamese sông (from * krong ) and Mon kruŋ "river", which led to Chinese 江 whose Old Chinese pronunciation has been reconstructed as /*kˤroŋ/ and which long served as the proper name of the Yangtze before becoming

2205-580: The Bassac River . After establishment of the Nguyễn dynasty , emperor Minh Mạng enacted compulsory assimilation policies upon the Khmer such as forcing them to adopt Sino-Vietnamese surnames, culture, and clothing. Minh Mang sinicized ethnic minorities including the Cambodians, in line with Confucianism as he diffused Vietnamese culture with China's Han civilization using the term Han people 漢人 for

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2310-570: The Central Highlands of Vietnam) therefore helps explain the provenance of sediment reaching the delta and the Tonle Sap Great Lake today. Studies of the provenance of sediments in the Mekong delta reveal a major switch in the source of sediments about eight million years ago (Ma) . From 36 to 8 Ma the bulk (76%) of the sediments deposited in the delta came from erosion of the bedrock in the Three Rivers Area . From 8 Ma to

2415-583: The Hairy-nosed Otter and the Dugong . A further at least 37 species of birds, and 470 species of fish of conservation significance have been recorded. However, the high use of fertilisers and pesticides to support the intensification of agriculture in the region, has resulted in nutrient and pesticide runoff, endangering aquatic biodiversity in the region. Khmer farmers affiliated to Wat Bei Chhau observe that local fish stocks have declined, attributing

2520-591: The Hàm Luông River , and the Cổ Chiên River . The Mekong Basin is frequently divided into two parts: the "upper Mekong basin" comprising those parts of the basin in Tibet , Yunnan and eastern Myanmar , and the "lower Mekong basin" from Yunnan downstream from China to the South China Sea . From the point where it rises to its mouth, the most precipitous drop in the Mekong occurs in the upper Mekong basin,

2625-554: The Khmer Kampuchea-Krom Federation claiming that there are about 7 million Khmer Krom . A significant number of Khmer Krom also fled to Cambodia, estimated at 1.20 million by one source. In other parts of the world, there are approximately 40,000 Khmer Krom emigrants notably in the United States (30,000), France (3,000), Australia (1,000), Canada (500). Khmer Krom emigrant communities in

2730-699: The Khmer Rouge , with Vietnam occupying Kampuchea and set up the People's Republic of Kampuchea . Many independent NGOs report that the human rights of the Khmer Krom are being violated by the Vietnamese government. Khmer Krom are reportedly forced to adopt Vietnamese family names and speak the Vietnamese language . As well, the Vietnamese government has cracked down on non-violent demonstrations by

2835-657: The Mekong Delta (Tây Nam Bộ), the south western part of Vietnam known in Khmer as Kampuchea Krom ( Khmer : កម្ពុជាក្រោម , Kâmpŭchéa Kraôm [kampuciə kraom] lit.   ' Lower Cambodia ' ). The Khmer Krom people are considered an the indigenous people of parts of Southern Vietnam and have the oldest extant recorded history of inhabiting in the region. In Vietnam, they are recognized as one of Vietnam's fifty-three ethnic minorities . In Accordance to Resolution 117-CT/TƯ issued September 29, 1981 of

2940-1133: The Mekong Delta , which used to be the southeasternmost territory of the Khmer Empire until its incorporation into Vietnam under the Nguyễn lords in the early 18th century. This marks the final stage of the Vietnamese " March to the South " ( Nam tiến ). Khmer Krom people have been members of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization since 15 July 2001. According to the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) "the Khmer Krom people face serious restrictions of freedom of expression, assembly, association, information, and movement". The majority of Khmer Krom live in Southern Vietnam . According to Vietnamese government figures (2019 census), there are 1,319,652 Khmer Krom in Vietnam. Their distribution

3045-591: The Nam Ngum , Nam Theun , Nam Hinboun, Se Bang Fai , Se Bang Hieng and Se Done Rivers. The Mun - Chi river system from the right bank in Thailand enters the mainstream within this reach. Reach 4: Pakse to Kratie . The main hydrological contributions to the mainstream in this reach come from the Se Kong , Se San , and Sre Pok catchments. Together, these rivers make up the largest hydrological sub-component of

3150-818: The Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Resolution 122-CT issued on May 12, 1982 from the Vietnamese Ministry Committee, the term Khmer (as well as its Vietnamese transliteration Khơ Me and Khơ-me ) was sanctioned by the government as the only state-recognized ethnonym of the Khmer Krom people, stated that all other colloquial exonyms previously used by Vietnamese to refer to Khmer people "are incorrect and have negative racial connotations." Both Resolutions declared that any acts of misuse to misspelling that intended to incite and direct hate speech and discrimination toward

3255-465: The Richter magnitude scale and is unlikely to cause material damage. The difficulty of navigating the river has meant that it has divided, rather than united, the people who live near it. The earliest known settlements date to 210 BCE, with Ban Chiang being an excellent example of early Iron Age culture. The earliest recorded civilization was the 1st century Indianised -Khmer culture of Funan , in

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3360-826: The Three Parallel Rivers Area in the Hengduan Mountains , along with the Yangtze to its east and the Salween River (Nu Jiang in Chinese) to its west. Then the Mekong meets the China–Myanmar border and flows about 10 km (6 mi) along that border until it reaches the tripoint of China, Myanmar and Laos . From there it flows southwest and forms the border of Myanmar and Laos for about 100 km (60 mi) until it arrives at

3465-527: The Tonlé Sap . When the Mekong is low, the Tonle Sap is a tributary : water flows from the lake and river into the Mekong. When the Mekong floods, the flow reverses: the floodwaters of the Mekong flow up the Tonle Sap. Immediately after the Sap River joins the Mekong by Phnom Penh, the Bassac River branches off the right (west) bank. The Bassac River is the first and main distributary of the Mekong. This

3570-633: The Yunnan component makes up almost 30% of the average dry season flow. A major concern is that the ongoing and planned expansion of dams and reservoirs on the Mekong mainstream in Yunnan could have a significant effect on the low-flow regime of the lower Mekong basin system. Reach 2: Chiang Saen to Vientiane and Nong Khai . This reach is almost entirely mountainous and covered with natural forest although there has been widespread slash and burn agriculture. Although this reach cannot be termed "unspoiled",

3675-475: The phno , or "elevated ridges of coarse sandy soil, between one to five metres high", as crucial to the sustenance of life within the northern coastal complex, constituting both cosmological and strategic significance for the Khmers in the region. According to Taylor's interlocuter, a Pali teacher in the region, the phno were the first land to emerge, and comprised the ancient lands of Suvannaphum through which

3780-547: The 1950s to around 50% in the mid-1990s. Agricultural expansion and population pressure are the major reasons for land use and landscape change. Both drought and flood are common hazards in the Delta, which many people believe is the most sensitive to upstream hydrological change. Table 1: Country share of Mekong River Basin (MRB) and water flows By taking into account hydrological regimes, physiography land use, and existing, planned and potential resource developments,

3885-573: The Buddha traversed during his travels across the world. According to the Abbot of Wat Knong Srok, Buddhist Khmer thought further explains the stratification of the world and its elements, where humans live upon the land, water supports the land, and water rests on air, otherwise expressed in Khmer as: Kyo tro tuk [air supports water] Tuk tro dei [water supports land] Dei tro munnou [land supports people] Alongside this cosmological explanation of

3990-780: The Great Lake via the Tonle Sap River . Phnom Penh also marks the beginning of the delta system of the Mekong River. Here the mainstream begins to break up into an increasing number of branches. In Cambodia, wet rice is the main crop and is grown on the flood plains of the Tonle Sap, Mekong, and Bassac (the Mekong delta distributary known as the Hậu in Vietnam) Rivers. More than half of Cambodia remains covered with mixed evergreen and deciduous broadleaf forest, but forest cover has decreased from 73% in 1973 to 63% in 1993. Here,

4095-763: The Khmer Krom were recruited by the United States Armed Forces to serve in MIKE Force . The force fought on the side of South Vietnam against the Viet Cong but in time the militia regrouped as the "Front for the Struggle of Kampuchea Krom" ( French : Front de Lutte du Kampuchea Krom ). Headed by a Khmer Krom Buddhist monk , Samouk Sen, the group was nicknamed the "White Scarves" ( Khmer : Kangsaing Sar ; Vietnamese : Can Sen So ) and allied itself with FULRO against South Vietnam. FULRO

4200-542: The Khmer Krom. Unlike some other minority people groups in Vietnam , the Khmer Krom are largely unknown by the Western world, despite efforts by associations of exiled Khmer Krom such as the Khmers Kampuchea-Krom Federation to publicize their plight with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation . No Western government has yet raised the matter of the Khmer Krom's human rights with

4305-703: The Khmer people are prohibited by the law. In fact, the term Khmer Krom is not popularly used due to its association with Khmer separatism as well as anti-Vietnamese and anti- government rhetorics. In Khmer , Krom ( ក្រោម kraôm ) means 'low' or 'below'. It is added to differentiate from the Khmers in Cambodia . Most Khmer Krom live in Tây Nam Bộ , the southern lowland region of historical Cambodia covering an area of 89,000 square kilometres (34,363 sq mi) around modern day Ho Chi Minh City and

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4410-411: The Khmer. However, due to the new rice varieties' dependence on pesticides, canals, rivers, and ponds in the area had been contaminated. By the mid-1990s, Taylor argues that the Khmer "faced conditions of water scarcity even more dire than in the pre-canal period", with no safe water sources. The delta region of Kampuchea Krom supports a diverse biota, including two mammals of conservation significance,

4515-734: The Kingdom of Thailand which is the mechanism for cooperation with regard to riverine trade on the upper stretches of the Mekong. The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. Only the Amazon boasts a higher level of bio-diversity. Biota estimates for the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) include 20,000 plant species, 430 mammals, 1,200 birds, 800 reptiles and amphibians, and an estimated 850 freshwater fish species (excluding euryhaline species mainly found in salt or brackish water, as well as introduced species ). The most species rich orders among

4620-478: The Laos-Thailand border for some 850 km (530 mi) as it flows first east, passing the capital of Laos, Vientiane , then turns south. A second time, the river leaves the border and flows east into Laos soon passing the city of Pakse . Thereafter, it turns and runs more or less directly south, crossing into Cambodia . At Phnom Penh the river is joined on the right bank by the river and lake system

4725-514: The Maritime and Colonial Review to argue that the Chợ Gạo Canal, despite opening to great success and fanfare in 1877, quickly became unnavigable within the short span of several months. The flatness of the delta, and the tides of the sea had resulted in the formation of bars of silt that choked off all but one of the canal's waterways. Drawing on a later example in the mid-1980s, Taylor examines

4830-527: The Mekong delta. Excavations at Oc Eo , near modern An Giang , have found coins from as far away as the Roman Empire . This was succeeded by the Khmer culture Chenla state around the 5th century. The Khmer empire of Angkor was the last great Indianized state in the region. From around the time of the fall of the Khmer empire, the Mekong was the front line between the emergent states of Siam and Tonkin (North Vietnam), with Laos and Cambodia, then on

4935-467: The Mekong is divided into six distinct reaches : Reach 1: Lancang Jiang or Upper Mekong River in China . In this part of the river, the major source of water flowing into the river comes from melting snow on the Tibetan plateau . This volume of water is sometimes called the "Yunnan component" and plays an important role in the low-flow hydrology of the lower mainstream. Even as far downstream as Kratie,

5040-465: The Mekong make navigation difficult. Even so, the river is a major trade route between Tibet and Southeast Asia. The construction of hydroelectric dams along the Mekong in the 2000s through the 2020s has caused serious problems for the river's ecosystem , including the exacerbation of drought . The Mekong was originally called Mae Nam Khong from a contracted form of Tai shortened to Mae Khong . In Thai and Lao, Mae Nam ("Mother of Water[s]")

5145-655: The Mekong, seasonal flows can be quite variable from year to year. Although the pattern of the annual hydrograph is fairly predictable, its magnitude is not. The average monthly flows along the mainstream are listed in Table 3, providing an indication of their range and variability from year to year. At Pakse , for example, flood season flows during August would exceed 20,000 m /s (5,300,000 US gal/s) nine years out of ten, but exceed 34,000 m /s (9,000,000 US gal/s) only one year in ten. Table 3: Mekong Mainstream monthly discharge, 1960–2004 (m /s). There

5250-442: The Mun and Chi Rivers, that drain a large part of northeast Thailand. Laos lies almost entirely within the lower Mekong basin. Its climate, landscape and land use are the major factors shaping the hydrology of the river. The mountainous landscape means that only 16% of the country is farmed under lowland terrace or upland shifting cultivation . With upland shifting agriculture (slash and burn), soils recover within 10 to 20 years but

5355-408: The US are located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , and in Washington state . The Khmer Krom identify ethnically with the Khmer people , who founded the Khmer Empire under the rule of King Jayavarman II in 802 C.E. They retain deep linguistic, religious, customary and cultural links to Cambodia . The Mekong Delta region constituted for more than 800 years an integral part of the empire and

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5460-409: The Vietnamese government. The "Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review Working Group" was visited by the Khmer Kampuchea Krom Federation. Mekong The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia . It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of 4,909 km (3,050 mi) and

5565-451: The Vietnamese immigrants to operate a custom house at Prey Nokor, then a small fishing village. The settlement steadily grew soon becoming a major regional port, attracting even more settlers. In 1698 the Nguyễn Lords of Huế commissioned Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh , a Vietnamese noble to organize the territory along Vietnamese administrative lines, thus by de facto detaching it from the Kingdom of Cambodia and incorporating it into Vietnam. With

5670-536: The Vietnamese state into Kampuchea Krom. Historian Barbara Andaya identifies Vietnamese internal feuding and the Trịnh–Nguyễn Civil War of the early seventeenth century as motivating the dispersal of the Vietnamese population into Khmer speaking areas. In particular, Khmer sources note that Vietnamese immigrants flooded into the regions of Prey Nokor (known as the present-day Ho Chi Minh City ), Baria, and Daun Nay (Kampong Sroka Trei), following requests by Vietnamese missionaries to King Chey Chettha (1618–1628). Following

5775-446: The Vietnamese. Minh Mang declared that "We must hope that their barbarian habits will be subconsciously dissipated, and that they will daily become more infected by Han [Sino-Vietnamese] customs." These policies were directed at the Khmer and hill tribes. Khmer nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh (1908–77) was a Khmer krom, born in Trà Vinh , Vietnam. Thanh was active in the independence movement for Cambodia. With Japanese support he became

5880-411: The ancient Khmer empire . There is no clear consensus on the ethnic makeup of those living within the region during the earlier Funan and Chenla polities. Linguistic evidence from the period - by way of inscriptions - supports the theory that inhabitants spoke a pre-Khmer Austronesian language . However, archaeologists and historians also contend that this language may have been similar to Khmer, and that

5985-423: The basin are small. Only 14 have catchment areas that exceed 1,000 km (400 sq mi), yet the greatest amount of loss of forest cover in the entire river system per square kilometer has occurred in this region due to heavy unchecked demand for natural resources. In the south of Yunnan, in Simao and Xishuangbanna Prefectures, the river changes as the valley opens out, the floodplain becomes wider, and

6090-508: The blocking of fish migration pathways, and the trapping of nutrient and sediment, resulting in erosion and the loss of arable land. Climate change and rising sea levels in the long term are expected to result in a significant loss of land in the region, as well as the loss of coastal habitats as brackish water becomes saline and freshwater areas become brackish or saline. Taylor suggests that these instances of environmental decline and changes in biodiversity have convinced many Khmers in

6195-428: The border of Laos with Thailand. Khon Pi Long is a series of rapids along a 1.6 km (1.0 mi) section of the Mekong River dividing Chiang Rai and Bokeo Province in Laos. The name of the rapids means 'where the ghost lost its way'. It then turns east into the interior of Laos, flowing first east and then south for some 400 km (250 mi) before meeting the border with Thailand again. Once more, it defines

6300-417: The coast, torn between their influence. The first European to encounter the Mekong was the Portuguese António de Faria in 1540. A European map of 1563 depicts the river, although even by then little was known of the river upstream of the delta. European interest was sporadic: the Spanish and Portuguese mounted some missionary and trade expeditions, while the Dutch Gerrit van Wuysthoff led an expedition up

6405-420: The decline to high-yield rice varieties' need for pesticides and comparing the new rice varieties with seasonal rice grown in the past that required no pesticides, and did not kill the fish. Continued human activities within the region, including overfishing, and the construction of dams and other irrigation efforts are expected to have further ill effects on the biodiversity of the region. These effects include

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6510-440: The delta advanced 200 km (120 mi) over the continental shelf of the South China Sea, covering an area of more than 62,500 km (24,100 sq mi). From 5.3 to 3.5 ka the delta advanced across a broad embayment formed between higher ground near the Cambodian border and uplands north of Ho Chi Minh City . During this phase of its development the delta was sheltered from the wave action of long-shore currents and

6615-452: The delta. For much of its length the Mekong flows through bedrock channels, i.e., channels that are confined or constrained by bedrock or old alluvium in the bed and riverbanks. Geomorphologic features normally associated with the alluvial stretches of mature rivers, such as meanders , oxbow lakes , cut-offs, and extensive floodplains are restricted to a short stretch of the mainstream around Vientiane and downstream of Kratie where

6720-435: The elements, Taylor cites people at the Tra Vinh museum of Khmer culture and other locals to suggest that it is the height of the phno , and the numerousness of the phno in the region, that has made the northern coastal dune complex habitable, and one of the oldest inhabited places in Kampuchea Krom. Further, though groundwater in the region is salinated throughout the year, the absorption and retention of fresh rain water by

6825-410: The fall of the Ming dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century, Ming loyalists began to migrate across East and Southeast Asia, including towards Kampuchea Krom. Historian Claudine Ang argues that this migration of Ming loyalists into the Mekong delta, or Kampuchea Krom, and their alliance with the southern Vietnamese rather than the Khmer or the Siamese, "gave the Nguyễn lords of the southern Vietnamese state

6930-415: The first humans. Throughout history, the area known in Khmer as Kampuchea Krom has been situated within numerous ancient polities, including Nokor Phnom ( Funan ), Chenla , and the Khmer Empire . Archaeological research at the Óc Eo site between Rạch Giá and Long Xuyên in present South Vietnam dates Vietnamese incursion in the region to the sixteenth century, prior to which the area was located within

7035-450: The following months, some 2,000 "White Scarves" fighters crossing into Kampuchea were systematically killed by the Khmer Rouge. In the late 1970s, the Kampuchean Revolutionary Army attacked Vietnam in an attempt to reconquer the areas which were formerly part of the Khmer Empire, but this military adventure was a total disaster and precipitated the invasion of Democratic Kampuchea by the People's Army of Vietnam and subsequent downfall of

7140-529: The hydrological impacts of land cover changes induced by the Vietnam War were quantified in two sub-catchments of the lower Mekong River basin. Loss of forest cover in the Thai areas of the lower basin has been the highest of all the lower Mekong countries over the past 60 years. On the Khorat Plateau , which includes the Mun and Chi tributary systems, forest cover was reduced from 42% in 1961 to 13% in 1993. Although this part of northeast Thailand has an annual rainfall of more than 1,000 mm (40 in),

7245-437: The hydrological response is perhaps the most natural and undisturbed of all the lower basin. Many hydrological aspects of the lower basin start to change rapidly at the downstream boundary of this reach. On 19 July 2019 this reach of the river dropped to its lowest level in a century. Officials are particularly concerned as July is in the wet season, when mainstream flows are abundant historically. Locals are blaming low water on

7350-431: The impact of irrigation and infrastructural development in the saltwater river region of Kampuchea Krom. The intensification of canal digging and dyke construction during the post-war period turned "nearly the entire saltwater rivers region [into] a freshwater zone", making fresh water conveniently available to Khmer residents in the region for the first time. New high yield rice varieties were made simultaneously available to

7455-688: The incorporation of Hà Tiên, the Nguyễn dynasty thus further extended their borders amidst a period of tense regional competition involving the Siamese, Vietnamese, and Khmer. This period of unprecedented southward territorial expansion was cited by the Gia Long emperor to the Qing court in its request for the Vietnamese state to be recognized by the term Nan Yue rather than Annan, a request that ultimately resulted in its current name of Yue Nan, or Vietnam. (See: Mekong Delta - History, Vietnamese Period ) Historian David Chandler argues that further long-term effects of Vietnamese southward territorial expansion into Kampucha Krom included: (1) Cambodia being "cut off to

7560-523: The loss of the port of Prey Nokor, then renamed Saigon , Cambodia's control of the area grew increasingly tenuous while increasing waves of Vietnamese settlers to the Delta isolated the Khmer of the Mekong Delta from the Cambodian kingdom. By 1757 the Vietnamese had absorbed the provinces of Psar Dèk (renamed Sa Đéc in Vietnamese) on the Mekong itself, and Moat Chrouk (Vietnamized to Châu Đốc ) on

7665-437: The lower basin from Yunnan make up about 15% of the wet season flow at Kratie . This rises to 40% during the dry season, even this far downstream. During the wet season, the proportion of average flow coming from Yunnan rapidly decreases downstream of Chiang Saen, from 70% to less than 20% at Kratie. The dry season contribution from Yunnan is much more significant. The major portion of the balance comes from Laos, which points to

7770-467: The lower basin. Over 25% of the mean annual flow volume to the mainstream at Kratie comes from these three river basins. They are the key element in the hydrology of this part of the system, especially to the Tonle Sap flow reversal. Reach 5: Kratie to Phnom Penh . This reach includes the hydraulic complexities of the Cambodian floodplain, the Tonle Sap and the Great Lake. By this stage, over 95% of

7875-423: The mid-twentieth century, and by the Vietnamese, following their significant expansion into the region in the nineteenth century and the post-war period of the late twentieth century. Environmental historian David Biggs argues that these irrigation projects have often reflected states' desires to incorporate the region into their nation-building projects. The construction of such irrigation infrastructure has also been

7980-479: The moderation of the "hydrological environment by infrastructure improvement is essential for agricultural intensification and diversification in the deltas", and for the " production of a substantial surplus of rice and its export ". The Chợ Gạo Canal was built by the Colonial Department of Public Works to connect Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) to the nearest delta port. Biggs draws from records from

8085-611: The newly constructed Xayaburi Dam , as it enters its test phase prior to the start of commercial operation in October 2019. Reach 3: Vientiane and Nong Khai to Pakse . The boundary between Reach 2 and 3 is where the Mekong hydrology starts to change. Reach 2 is dominated in both wet and dry seasons by the Yunnan Component. Reach 3 is increasingly influenced by contributions from the large left bank tributaries in Laos, namely

8190-749: The old name of Lao kingdom Lan Xang ; the characters may also be literally understood as "turbulent green river"). It originates in the " three rivers source area " on the Tibetan Plateau in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve . The reserve protects the headwaters of, from north to south, the Yellow (Huang He), the Yangtze , and the Mekong Rivers. It flows through the Tibetan Autonomous Region and then southeast into Yunnan Province, and then

8295-727: The present, however, the contribution from the Three Rivers Area fell to 40%, while that from the Central Highlands rose from 11 to 51%. One of the most striking conclusions of provenance studies is the small contribution of sediment from the other parts of the Mekong basin, notably the Khorat Plateau, the uplands of northern Laos and northern Thailand, and the mountain ranges south of the Three Rivers area. The last glacial period came to an abrupt end about 19,000 years ago (19 ka ) when sea levels rose rapidly, reaching

8400-721: The prime minister of Cambodia in March 1945 but was then quickly ousted with the return of the French later that year. Widely supported by the Khmer Krom during the First Indochina War , Thanh's role faded in Vietnam after 1954 as he became more embroiled with politics in Cambodia proper, forming an opposition movement against Prince Sihanouk . During the Vietnam War and direct American involvement between 1964 and 1974,

8505-436: The principal crops. Drought is by far the major hydrological hazard in this region. As the Mekong enters Cambodia, over 95% of its flows have already joined the river. From here on downstream the terrain is flat and water levels rather than flow volumes determine the movement of water across the landscape. The seasonal cycle of changing water levels at Phnom Penh results in the unique "flow reversal" of water into and out of

8610-796: The principal left bank tributaries enter the mainstream, mainly the Nam Ngum and Nam Theun. The flow level falls again, even with the right bank entry of the Mun-Chi system from Thailand. Although the Mun–Chi basin drains 20% of the lower system, average annual runoff is only 250 mm (10 in). Runoff in the mainstream increases again with the entry from the left bank of the Se Kong from southern Laos and Se San and Sre Pok from Vietnam and Cambodia. Table 2: Lower Mekong Mainstream annual flow (1960 to 2004) at selected sites. Flows at Chiang Saen entering

8715-494: The region is "Kampuchea Lech Tuek" ( កម្ពុជាលិចទឹក Kâmpŭchéa Lĭch Tœ̆k [kampuciə lɨc tɨk] ), which roughly corresponds to "Flooded Cambodia". In a Khmer Buddhist monk's vision, the Khmer have inhabited the land of Kampuchea Krom since it first emerged from the ocean thousands of years ago as a fragrant and glowing land that attracted the teovada , celestial beings who ate the sweet earth and were subsequently unable to fly back to their world, thus staying on earth as

8820-470: The region of the imminence of an apocalypse ( pleung ka) . As shared by the Khmer Buddhist monk, the apocalypse will come in the form of fire, floods and winds that consume the earthly realm, with only the most virtuous followers of the Buddha's message escaping and achieving rebirth in the celestial realm as teovada . Taylor takes the Khmers' interpretation of environmental and ecological change in

8925-566: The region to reflect the hold of monastic institutions within Kampuchea Krom, and the appeal of Buddhist pathways to salvation. Kampuchea Krom was originally divided into only four provinces Don Nai, Long Haor, Moat Chruk, and Peam. According to Cambodian sources, it now covers approximately the areas of twenty-one Vietnamese districts. According to Cambodian sources, the Khmer names of the local divisions have been continually renamed by Vietnamese authorities. Vietnamese names are seen as

9030-495: The river as far as Vientiane in 1641–42. The French invaded the region in the mid-19th century, capturing Saigon in 1861, and establishing a protectorate over Cambodia in 1863. The first systematic European exploration began with the French Mekong Expedition led by Ernest Doudard de Lagrée and Francis Garnier , which ascended the river from its mouth to Yunnan between 1866 and 1868. Their chief finding

9135-400: The river becomes wider and slower. Major tributary systems develop in the lower basin. These systems can be separated into two groups: tributaries that contribute to the major wet season flows, and tributaries that drain low relief regions of lower rainfall. The first group are left bank tributaries that drain the high rainfall areas of Laos. The second group are those on the right bank, mainly

9240-448: The river develops alluvial channels that are free of control exerted by the underlying bedrock. The Mekong basin is not normally considered a seismically active area as much of the basin is underlain by the relatively stable continental block. Nonetheless, the parts of the basin in northern Laos , northern Thailand , Myanmar and China do experience frequent earthquakes and tremors. The magnitude of these earthquakes rarely exceeds 6.5 on

9345-409: The river landscape is flat. Small changes in water level determine the direction of water movement, including the large-scale reversal of flow into and out of the Tonle Sap basin from the Mekong River. The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is farmed intensively and has little natural vegetation left. Forest cover is less than 10%. In the Central Highlands of Vietnam, forest cover was reduced from over 95% in

9450-405: The sand dunes during the rainy months creates natural freshwater reservoirs for residents. The less dense freshwater remains above the denser saline groundwater without mingling, both of which lie at a shallow depth beneath apparently dry land and accessible with some digging. Numerous irrigation projects have been undertaken in Kampuchea Krom, including by the French during the colonial period of

9555-577: The seasons. The abundance of water brought by these events, together with the natural flat plain that characterizes its region, makes Kampuchea Krom a productive agricultural area with rich, fertile soils. However, its swampy and amphibious nature, accompanied by seasonal dry spells, have resulted in researchers' characterization of the region as resistant to human settlement, with significant infrastructural development required to make permanent settlement possible. Anthropologist Philip Taylor's ethnographic text on Khmer communities within Kampuchea Krom identifies

9660-436: The source of a number of Khmer-led rebellions within the region (see: Vĩnh Tế Canal ). Researchers assessing changes in agricultural production within the region often assess that the infrastructural development of such irrigation projects have been a success, citing statistics like the doubling of rice production in the delta between 1980 and 1995, following the digging of canals and raising of dykes. Kono Yasuyuki argues that

9765-460: The subsequent kingdom. The region's economic center was the city of Prey Nokor, now Ho Chi Minh City . In the 17th century a weakened Khmer state left the Mekong Delta poorly administered after repeated warfare with Siam . Concurrently Vietnamese refugees fleeing the Trịnh–Nguyễn War in Vietnam migrated into the area. In 1623 Cambodian king Chey Chettha II (1618–1628) officially sanctioned

9870-633: The support of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement within the US State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs , to conduct underwater explosive removal. The many maps of the river basin produced throughout recorded history reflect the region's changing human geography and politics. In 1995, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission (MRC) to manage and coordinate

9975-692: The support that they needed to lay claims on the delta lands", enabling the aggressive southward territorial expansion of the Nguyễn lords in the mid-eighteenth century. However, it was only after the 1809 death of Mạc Tử Thiêm , whose father Mạc Cửu had arrived in Kampuchea Krom after leaving China following the fall of the Ming dynasty, that the Vietnamese state incorporated the Hà Tiên principality into Vietnamese administrative control. Prior to Mạc Tử Thiêm 's death, Hà Tiên had been an autonomous principality. Through

10080-409: The total area and contributes 15–20% of the water that flows into the Mekong River. The catchment here is steep and narrow with Soil erosion being a major problem and as a result of this, approximately 50% of the sediment in the river comes from the upper basin. In Yunnan Province in China, the river and its tributaries are confined by narrow, deep gorges. The tributary river systems in this part of

10185-572: The total flow has entered the Mekong system. The focus turns from hydrology and water discharge to the assessment of water level, over- bank storage and flooding and the hydrodynamics that determine the timing, duration and volume of the seasonal flow reversal into and out of the Great Lake. Reach 6: Phnom Penh to the South China Sea . Here the mainstream divides into a complex and increasingly controlled and artificial system of branches and canals. Key features of flow behaviour are tidal influences and salt water intrusion. Every year, 35–50% of this reach

10290-616: The tripoint of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand . This is also the point of confluence between the Ruak River (which follows the Thai–Myanmar border) and the Mekong. The area of this tripoint is sometimes termed the Golden Triangle , although the term also refers to the much larger area of those three countries that was notorious as a drug producing region. From the Golden Triangle tripoint, the Mekong turns southeast to briefly form

10395-478: The underlying geological structure is fairly homogeneous and stable, exerting little or no control on river morphology . In marked contrast, the tributary networks of the Salween , Yangtze , and particularly the Mekong, are complex with different sub-basins often exhibiting different, and distinct, drainage patterns. These complex drainage systems have developed in a setting where the underlying geological structure

10500-687: The use and care of the Mekong. In 1996 China and Myanmar became "dialogue partners" of the MRC and the six countries now work together in a cooperative framework. In 2000, the governments of China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar signed a Agreement on Commercial Navigation on Lancang-Mekong River among the Governments of the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Union of Myanmar and

10605-419: The vegetation does not. Shifting cultivation is common in the uplands of northern Laos and is reported to account for as much as 27% of the total land under rice cultivation. As elsewhere in the basin, forest cover has been steadily reduced during the last three decades by shifting agriculture and permanent agriculture. The cumulative impacts of these activities on the river regime have not been measured. However,

10710-464: The wars in Indochina in the 1970s, a significant quantity of explosives (sometimes, entire barges loaded with military ordnance ) sank in the Cambodian section of the Mekong (as well as in the country's other waterways). Besides being a danger for fishermen, unexploded ordnance also creates problems for bridge and irrigation systems construction. As of 2013, Cambodian volunteers are being trained, with

10815-633: Was an alliance of Khmer Krom, Montagnard, and Cham groups. The anti-Communist prime minister of the Khmer Republic (1970 - 1975) Lon Nol planned to recapture the Mekong Delta from South Vietnam. After the Fall of Saigon in 1975 and the Communist take-over of all of Vietnam, the Kampuchea Krom militia found itself embattled with People's Army of Vietnam . Many of the fighters fled to Khmer Rouge -controlled Democratic Kampuchea hoping to find

10920-481: Was constructed largely through fluvial and tidal processes. At this time the delta was advancing at a rate of 17 to 18 m (56 to 59 ft) per year. After 3.5 ka, however, the delta had built out beyond the embayment and became subject to wave action and marine currents. These deflected deposition south-eastwards in the direction of the Cà Mau Peninsula , which is one of the most recent features of

11025-489: Was that the Mekong had too many falls and rapids to ever be useful for navigation . The river's source was found by Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov in 1900. From 1893, the French extended their control of the river into Laos, establishing French Indochina by the first decade of the 20th century. This lasted until the First and Second Indochina Wars expelled French from its former colony and defeated US-supported governments. During

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