Geography of Hue focuses on the strategic position of this city, its rivers and the adjacent areas. Hue, the Vietnamese city is positioned in central Vietnam. This is situated on the banks of the Song Huong (Huong River) which is just a few miles west of the South China Sea. The city of Hue is about 540 km south of the national capital of Hanoi and about 644 km north of Ho Chí Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City previously known as Saigon is the country’s largest city.
Song Huong is the Vietnamese name of the Perfume River. In the central Vietnamese province of Thoa Thien Hua, this river is crossing the capital city of Hue. This river has two sources namely the Ta Trach and Huu Trach which both begin in the Truong Son mountain range. Ta Trach on its way creates 55 impressive waterfalls, and then slowly merges with Bang Lang fork. Similarly Huu Trach flows through 14 dangerous waterfalls and passes the Tuan ferry landing to Bang Lang fork. It is Bang Lang fork where the two tributaries meet and form Song Huong.
Encompassing an area from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan, the South China Sea, a part of the Pacific Ocean and the largest sea body after the five oceans, is a marginal sea south of China. The minute and uninhabited South China Sea Islands which are collectively termed as an archipelago are subject to several competing claims of sovereignty by neighboring nations.
Eclipsed by Hue during the Nguyen Dynasty as the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi, pronounced in Vietnamese language as Hanoi, estimated population 3,058,000(2004), served as the capital of French Indochina from 1887 to 1945. From 1945 to 1976, it was the capital of North Vietnam. From 1010 until 1802, it was the political center of an independent Vietnam with a few brief interruptions.
The Vietnamese term of the Ho Chi Minh City is Thành ph? Ho Chí Minh. Being the largest city in Vietnam, Thành ph Ho Chi Minh is situated near the Mekong River delta. Named as Prey Nokor, Ho Chi Minh City was a village of Cambodia, before being captured by the Vietnamese in the 16th century.
