Đồng Hới

Đồng Hới (listen

Archaeological excavation in this area proved that humans lived in what is now Quảng Bình province in the Stone Age. Many artifacts, such as ceramic vases, stone tools, and china, have been unearthed in Quảng Bình.^[5][7]

In 1926, French archaeologist

During the time of the Trịnh–Nguyễn War (1558–1775), Vietnam was divided into two countries: Dang Trong (South) and Dang Ngoai (North) with the Gianh River as frontier line. Đồng Hới was an important fortress of the southern Nguyễn lords. The Đồng Hới Wall (Vietnamese: Thành Đồng Hới) was considered the barrier that protected the Nguyễn lords from the attack by the northern Trịnh family.

During the First Indochina War (between the French and the Viet Minh in the 1950s), the Đồng Hới airbase was used by the French to attack the Viet Minh in north-central Vietnam and the Laotian Pathet Lao army in central and southern Laos. During the Vietnam War, Đồng Hới was heavily devastated by bombardments from United States B-52 bombers due to its location near the 17th parallel and the DMZ between North Vietnam and South Vietnam.^[10][11]

On February 11, 1965, bombing destroyed much of the city. The Tam Tòa Church, a Catholic cathedral, was severely damaged. Today the bell tower remains near the town center as a monument.

On 19 April 1972, during a major North Vietnam offensive, a task force of four US ships were sailing off the coast of Vietnam — USS Oklahoma City, USS Sterett, USS Lloyd Thomas and USS Higbee. They were attacked by three North Vietnamese MiG aircraft in the Battle of Đồng Hới. In an attempt to surprise the task force, the MiGs came in low, described as "getting their feet wet." Despite the official stories, they did not surprise the task force, which had spotted them long before engagement range and were ready to shoot. Two ships, Oklahoma City and Sterett, had anti-aircraft missiles, while Higbee and Lloyd Thomas were armed with dual purpose 5-inch (127 mm) guns. All ships were at battle stations.

This city is the narrowest land of Vietnam (around 40 km from the east to the west). After the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, Quảng Bình province was merged into Bình Trị Thiên province (Bình Trị Thiên is the abbreviation of Quảng Bình, Quảng Trị, and Thừa Thiên provinces). In 1990, Bình Trị Thiên was once again separated into three provinces as it had been before. Đồng Hới then became the capital of Quảng Bình province.

Geography

Location

Đồng Hới is on the National Route 1, North–South Railway, and

Like all provinces in north and north central Vietnam, there are four distinct seasons in Đồng Hới. Despite these distinct seasons, and an annual temperature range of 10.8 °C or 19.4 °F, Đồng Hới still has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) as the mean temperature of the coolest month is 18.8 °C or 65.8 °F. The average annual temperature is 24.7 °C or 76.5 °F, average rainfall varies from 1,300 to 4,000 millimetres or 50 to 160 inches, total sunshine hours per year is 1,783 hours, and average annual humidity is around 82%. The city sees three types of wind: south-east (gió nồm), south-west (gió Lào), and north-east.

In the “spring”, Đồng Hới is very warm, humid and foggy. Although the city is by the sea, its climate is subject to drought and heat in the summer. This is largely due to the dry south-west wind from Gulf of Thailand. This flow of wind is wet but when it passes onto Vietnam, the Annamite Range releases its moisture to cause rains in Laos but drought in central Vietnam. It is rainy in the northeast monsoon (“fall”) and the weather is very warm (26 to 31 °C or 78.8 to 87.8 °F) although with extremely high relative humidity due to the moist air from the northeast monsoon. In the winter, due to the north-east wind blowing from the Siberia mainland, the temperature may go down below 18 °C or 64.4 °F, and there may be slight rain. The highest rainfall occurs in October (649 millimetres or 25.6 inches), compared to just 39 millimetres or 1.5 inches in Februarys. The highest temperature recorded was 42.2 °C in May 1914, while the lowest was 6.7 °C on 24 January 2016.

Topography and geology

The city has diverse topographical and geological features, including hill, mountainous, half mountainous, coastal plains and coastal sand dunes.

The hilly region is in the west, stretching from north to south (in parts of communes: Dong Son, Thuan Duc) with an average elevation of 12–15 m, with total area of 64.93 km², 41.7% of the city total area. Residents here live on agriculture, forestry, farming. The soil in this area is poor in nutrition, infertile and subject to continuous erosion due to its slope of 7-10%.

The half hilly region surrounds a plain with an average elevation of 10 m from north-east - north to north-west – south-west and south – south-east.^{[clarification needed]} This region covers commues and wards of Bắc Lý, Nam Lý, Nghĩa Ninh, Bắc Nghĩa, Đức Ninh, Đức Ninh Đông, Lộc Ninh and Phú Hải with total area of 62.87 km², or accounts for 40.2% of the city total area. Residents here lives on industrial, handcraft, trading and a small percentage lives on farming. This region is not very fertile, subject to alum. However, thanks to the heavy distribution of rivers and lakes, ponds and pools, it's better for agriculture than the hilly region. The plain with the average of 2.1 m, with little slope, accounting for 0.2% of the city area (5.76 km²). Most of the city's commercial, administrative and main streets concentrate in this narrow regions. Coastal sand dune area is on the east of the city, with an area of 21.98 km², making up 14,3% of the total area.^{[citation needed]}

Administration

Đồng Hới is subdivided into 16 subdivisions: 10 urban wards (phường) and 6 rural communes (xã).^[2]

Tourism

Nhật Lệ River

Bảo Ninh Beach

Đồng Hới is endowed with beautiful beaches with fine sand and clean water of Nhật Lệ. The Da Nhay and Ly Hoa beaches (60 km north of the city) are popular tourist destinations. The

Đồng Hới is included in former battlefield tours where travelers can visit once-dangerous fields along the Annamite Range and the Hồ Chí Minh trail.^[14]

Đồng Hới is accessible by road (

Đồng Hới Airport was put into use on 18 May 2008,

The city provides tourists with 98 hotels and guest-houses from 1 to 3-star hotels like Cosevco Hotel (which is closed and not available for booking), Saigon-Quảng Bình Hotel, Nam Long Hotel and Nam Long Plus Hotel (all available for online booking through several sites) and the 4-star resort of Sun Spa Resort. The cuisine includes seafood, the traditional "hot pot", Vietnamese and European-style meals. In 2005, the city welcomed nearly 300,000 visitors.^{[citation needed]} Flagstick broke ground on another new project on February 1 – FLC Dong Hoi Golf Links in Quang Binh Province.

A complex of 10 contiguous

The Hòn La bay is 4-km², with the depth up to 15 m, suitable to develop into a deep-water sea port. A port is currently (as of 2006[update]) under construction north of Đồng Hới. When finished it will be able to accommodate ships up to 50,000 metric tons, on a 32ha of land, has a loading capacity of 10-12 million tonnes per year and is expected to facilitate business for Quảng Bình's industrial and economic zones.^[18][19]

Two industrial parks (north-west Đồng Hới Industrial Park and Hòn La Industrial Park) are under construction and partially available to investors. The city achieved an average economic growth rate of 12.32% during 2010–2013 period. The economic contributors for 2013 were as follows: industry and construction accounting for 35.5%, services 50.9%, agriculture-forestry-fishery 13.6%. GDP per capita in 2015 was $3871,3.^[20]

Education

Đồng Hới is home to Quảng Bình University, a multidisciplinary university. There are several schools here, notably Võ Nguyên Giáp Gifted High School, and Đào Duy Từ High School.

See also

• Đồng Hới Citadel

References

External links

• Media related to Dong Hoi at Wikimedia Commons
• Đồng Hới travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Đồng Hới town became city
• Website office of Đồng Hới city
• Đồng Hới on wikimapia
• Đồng Hới by images