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Van Don island is the name
of an archipelago in Quang Ninh province. It rounds off
the east and southeast of
Bai Tu Long
bay and has about
600 large and small islands. Cai Bau, the largest
island, occupies nearly half the area of the district.
The capital of the district is Cai Rong town - 50
kilometers from
Ha Long city and seven kilometers from Cua Ong town. To the southeast of Van Don is the Van Hai
chain of islands, including the large islands of Tra
Ban, Cao Lo, Quan Lan, Dong Chen, The Vang, Ngoc Vung
and Canh Tuoc and other small islands. All these islands
form a ''curtain'' sheltering Bai Tu Long bay.
Van Don is adjacent to the sea of Tien Yen district on
northwest side; to the sea of Cam Pha town on the west
side; to the sea of
Co To district on the east side; to
Halong Bay on the southwest side; to the sea of Bac Bo
Gulf on the south side.
The area of Van Don district is 551.3 km2. Twenty of the
600 islands of Van Don Island district are populated.
The largest, Cai Bau Island ( 17,212 hectares), is
located near Cam Pha town. All the islands rest on
limestone terrain, often at 200-300 meters above sea
level with lots of karts caves and grottos. The islands
of Van Don, like all other islands in Bac Bo Gulf,
formerly were mountainous peaks lifted from the
continental shelf of the northwest region of Ba Bo Gulf.
The peaks of Van Don are an expanded part of the Dong
Trieu Mountain Range. These peak were left behind after
a period of marine transgression when Bac Bo Gulf was
formed and since then hae been floating on the sea,
becoming isolated islands of the Bai Tu Long Bay and Ha
Long bays of the greater Bac Bo Gulf. The islands of Van
Don are just part of the archipelago located in the
northwest of Ba Bo Gulf. The most prominent mountain
peaks on Van Don are Nang Tien at 450 meters in height (on
Tra Ban Island in the territory of Ban Sen commune)
and Van Hoa at 397 meters in height (on Cai Bau Island).
Most of the islands of Van Don are small. The essential
substance of islands is limestone, so land makes just a
small proportion of the total area of Van Don. The main
area is the sea. Forest areas account for 68% of the
natural land area. There are no large rivers on the
islands and on the largest islands there are only
streams. The local people call the straits between the
islands and inland and between the islands themselves
''the rivers''. For example, the Voi Lon River is a
strait between Cai Bau Island and the mainland. There
are two small lakes in Van Don, which are Vong Tre and
Mat Rong Lakes. There is the Mang River on
Quan Lan
Island.
The average rainfall per year of Van Don is over 2000
millimeters. Population: 45,000 people, of which the
Kinh ( Viet) people are about 86%; San Diu people 10%;
Hoa people 1.5%; Dao people 1.3%. The San Chi and Tay
minorities also live here.
The principal means of transport are the waterways
between islands. Van Hoa port in Van Yen commune and Cai
Rong port in Cai Rong town are the key transport hubs of
the islands. Barges, large boats and ships, weighing
hundreds of tons, may easily go in and out of these
ports. the longest land road is Road No. 31, of 40
kilometers in length. It runs across Cai Bau Island and
links this island to the mainland through Cua Ong town.
People have lived on the islands of Van Don Island
district from the earliest time. Archaeological sites
are numerous here. The Soi Nhu cave is a Middle
Neolithic archaeological site having existed earlier than
Ha Long Civilization. Ancient graves in Da Bac hamlet of
Minh Chau commune were built during the Han dynasty. The
name Van Don originated from the name Van Mountain (
Cloudy Mountain ) in Van village of Quan Lan Commune
today. Van village belongs to the Van Hai chain of
islands. In the Tran dynasty Van Don became a prosperous
center of sea transport and commerce, as evidenced by
archaeological excavations.
The key branches of the economy of Van Don are sea
exploitation and mine-ore exploitation, including
raising sea products, fishing, the plantation and and
exploitation of forests, sea tourist services, limestone
and coal mining, the exploitation of white sand, iron and
thin gold. Farming is not significant. Forestry gets
diminished as forest resources become exhausted.
Various valuable sea creatures such as prawn, squid, and
pearl live in the sea of Van Don. Exploitation of sea
creatures started a long time ago but was mainly limited
to the occupation of inshore fishing and raising fish in
cages. Offshore fishing has been developed only since
1995. Since 1990 aquaculture has much developed. The
industry of mine ore exploitation (including coal
exploitation) began during the time of French domination
in the Ke Bao coal mine. The current reserve of coal
here is about 107,000,000 tons. The reserve of Cai Bau
iron ore is about 154,000 tons. The white sand ore has a
reserve of over 13,000,000 tons. Now sand is exploited
at the rate of 20,000 tons per year. Thin sediment gold
and gold mixed with iron are found on Cai Bau Island.
Van Don is related to the World Natural Heritage of
Halong Bay. So in Van Don are a variety of limestone
islands and beautiful caves, In the communes of the Van
Hai external island chain there are many nice beaches,
tasty sea products, clean climate and valuable
historical and cultural vestiges. Van Don has great
potential for developing tourist services. The forests
on the islands of Van Don formerly included plenty of
kinds of precious wood such as ironwood, ebony, vatica
tonkinensis wood and brretiodendron hsienmu wood. ''Man
Lai'' wood is and endemic wood of Van Don. The Quan Lan
communal house is entirely made of this Man Lai wood.
The forests have many valuable birds and animals, for
example yellow monkey, white head parrot, earth eagle,
peacock, pheasant and spotted deer. Some of them now
have only a small quantity and are listed in the world
Red Book.
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