Thổ Châu islands

Thổ Châu Islands is an archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand. It constitutes fully as Thổ Châu Special Zone of An Giang Province belonging to new An Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

History

According to Đại Nam nhất thống địa dư chí, its name Thổ Châu 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.
In the past, the archipelago was also known as Pulau Panjang or Pulo Panjang by navigators.

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.
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.
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.

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 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, which was based on the whole natural area and population of the islands or former commune.

Geography

Thổ Châu island district is basically the whole area of Thổ Châu archipelago, not divided into commune-level administrative units like other localities.
It consist of the following eight islands : Thổ Châu with, Hòn Cao, Hòn Cao Cát, Hòn Khô, Hòn Mô, Hòn Nhạn, Hòn Từ and Hòn Xanh.
In particular, Hòn Nhạn is base point A1 on Vietnam's baseline.

Number	Name	Coordinate	Acreage	Population	Note
1	Thổ Châu		1.240,2	1.912	The largest island.
2	Hòn Từ		91,10
3	Hòn Cao Cát		41,82
4	Hòn Xanh		14,11
5	Hòn Nhạn		3,37
6	Hòn Cái Bàn		3,34
7	Hòn Đá Bạc		0,74
8	Hòn Khô		0,48

Topography

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, of which land area is and sea area is.

Demography

Currently, Thổ Châu has about 500 households with nearly 2,000 inhabitants, 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.