Phú Quốc


Phú Quốc or Koh Tral/Koh Trol is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc District, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of approximately 103,000. Located in the Gulf of Thailand, the district of Phú Quốc includes the island proper and 21 smaller islets. Dương Đông town is located on the west coast, and is also the administrative and largest town on the island. The other township is An Thới on the southern tip of the island.
The economy is centred on fishing, agriculture and a fast-growing tourism sector. Phú Quốc has achieved fast economic growth due to its current tourism boom. Many infrastructure projects have been carried out, including several five-star hotels and resorts. Phú Quốc International Airport is the hub connecting Phú Quốc with mainland Vietnam and other international destinations.
From March 2014, Vietnam allowed all foreign tourists to visit Phú Quốc visa-free for a period of up to 30 days. By 2017, the government of Vietnam planned to set up a Special Administrative Region which covered Phú Quốc Island and peripheral islets and upgrade it to a provincial city with special administration.

Geography

Phú Quốc lies south of the Cambodian coast, west of Kampot, and west of Hà Tiên, the nearest coastal town in Vietnam. Roughly triangular in shape the island is long from north to south and from east to west at its widest. It is also located 17 nautical miles from Krong Kampot, from Rạch Giá and nearly from Laem Chabang, Thailand.
A mountainous ridge known as "99 Peaks" runs the length of Phú Quốc, with Chúa Mountain being the tallest at.
Phú Quốc Island is mainly composed of sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic age, including heterogeneous conglomerate composition, layering thick, quartz pebbles, silica, limestone, rhyolite and felsite. The Mesozoic rocks are classified in Phú Quốc Formation. The Cenozoic sediments are classified in formations of Long Toàn, Long Mỹ, Hậu Giang, upper Holocene sediments, and undivided Quaternary.

Administrative units

  1. Downtown Dương Đông
  2. North Cửa Cạn
  3. South An Thới
  1. Bãi Thơm
  2. Cửa Dương
  3. Dương Tơ
  4. Gành Dầu
  5. Hàm Ninh
  6. Hòn Thơm
  7. Thổ Châu

    Economy

Phú Quốc is famous for its two traditional products: fish sauce and black pepper. The rich fishing grounds offshore provides the anchovy catch from which the prized sauce is made. As widely agreed among the Vietnamese people, the best fish sauce comes from Phú Quốc. The island name is very coveted and abused in the fish sauce industry that local producers have been fighting for the protection of its appellation of origin.
Pepper is cultivated everywhere on the island, especially at Gành Dầu and Cửa Dương communes.
The pearl farming activity began more than 20 years ago when Australian and Japanese experts arrived to develop the industry with advanced technology. Some Vietnamese pearl farms were established at that time including Quốc An.
Tourism plays an important role in the economy, with the beaches being the main attraction. Phú Quốc was served by Phú Quốc Airport with air links to Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Hanoi, Rạch Giá and Can Tho. Phú Quốc Airport was closed and replaced by the new Phú Quốc International Airport from December 2, 2012. Phú Quốc is also linked with Rạch Giá and Hà Tiên by fast ferry hydrofoils.
Air Mekong used to have its headquarters in An Thới.
Many domestic and international projects related to tourism have been carried out, including the latest direct flights from Bangkok to Phú Quốc by Bangkok Airways, which could make Phú Quốc a new tourist hub in Southeast Asia.
With the combination of Vinpearl Phú Quốc Resorts and the opening of the new Vinmec Phú Quốc International Hospital in June 2015, Phú Quốc will add an additional source of revenue to the local economy in terms of medical services, medical tourism, and medical education.

History

Phú Quốc or Koh Tral / Koh Trol កោះត្រល់ was a simple native fishing khmer village until Western geopolitics began to impact it.
The French missionary Pigneau de Behaine used the island as a base during the 1760s and 1780s to shelter Nguyễn Ánh, who was hunted by the Tây Sơn army.
An 1856 record mentions the island: "... King Ang Duong apprise Mr. de Montigny, French envoy in visit to Bangkok, through the intermediary of Bishop Miche, his intention to yield Phu Quoc to France." Such a proposition aimed to create a military alliance with France to avoid the threat of Vietnam on Cambodia. The proposal did not receive an answer from the French.
While the war between Vietnam and France was about to begin, Ang Duong sent another letter, dated November 25, 1856, to Napoleon III to warn him on Cambodian claims on the lower Cochinchina region: the Cambodian king listed provinces and islands, including Koh Tral or Koh Trol កោះត្រល់, as being parts of Vietnam for several years or decades. Ang Duong asked the French emperor to not annex any part of these territories because, as he wrote, despite this relatively long Vietnamese rule, they remained Cambodian lands. In 1867, Phú Quốc's Vietnamese authorities pledged allegiance to French troops just conquering Hà Tiên.

In 1939, the Governor-general of French Indochina, Jules Brévié, drew a line to delimit the administrative boundaries for islands in the Gulf of Thailand: those north of the line were placed under Cambodia protectorate; those south of the line were managed by the colony of Cochinchina. Brévié made the point that the decision merely addressed administrative tasks, and that no sovereignty decision had been made. As a result, Phú Quốc remained under Cochinchina administration. Later, Cochinchina's sovereignty was handed over to the State of Vietnam and remained so after France left.
After Mainland China fell under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, General Huang Chieh moved 33,000+ Republic of China Army soldiers mostly from Hunan Province to Vietnam and they were interned on Phú Quốc. Later, the army moved to Taiwan in June 1953.
From 1953 to 1975, the island housed South Vietnam's largest prisoner camp, known as Phú Quốc Prison.
On May 1, 1975, a squad of Khmer Rouge soldiers raided and took Phú Quốc, but Vietnam soon recaptured it. This was to be the first of a series of incursions and counter-incursions that would escalate to the Cambodian–Vietnamese War in 1979. Cambodia dropped its claims to Phú Quốc in 1976. But the bone of contention involving the island between the governments of the two countries continued, as both have a historical claim to it and the surrounding waters. A July 1982 agreement between Vietnam and The People's Republic of Kampuchea ostensibly settled the dispute, but since Vietnam's withdrawal from Cambodia, the agreement has not been recognized and the island is still the object of irredentist sentiments. The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party still claims the island as Cambodian territory.

Climate

The island's monsoonal sub-equatorial climate is characterized by distinct rainy and dry seasons. As is common in regions with this climate type, there is some rain even in the dry season. The annual rainfall is high, averaging. In the northern mountains up to has been recorded. April and May are the hottest months, with temperatures reaching.

Protections

Phú Quốc has both a terrestrial national park and a marine protection.
Phú Quốc National Park was established in 2001 as an upgrade of a former conservation zone. The park covers of the northern part of the island.
Phú Quốc Marine Protected Area, or just Phú Quốc MPA, was established in 2007 at the northern and southern end of the island and covers of marine area. The sea around Phú Quốc is one of the richest fishing grounds in all of Vietnam, and the aim of the protected area is to secure coral reef zones, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests, all key spawning and nursery grounds for aquatic species, including blue swimming crabs. Among the aquatic animals in the protected area are green turtle, leather back turtles, dolphin and dugong.
Plastic waste is a growing problem in Phú Quốc, and the local community has organised clean-up efforts.

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