Bến Tre province

Bến Tre province

Kiến Hòa province
Trúc Giang province
Bến Tre province Kiến Hòa province; Trúc Giang province
Province
	Bến Tre countryside around Cái Mơn
	Seal
	Nickname(s): "Coconutland"; (Xứ Dừa)
	Location of Bến Tre within Vietnam
	Coordinates: 10°10′N 106°30′E / 10.167°N 106.500°E
Country	Vietnam
Region	Mekong Delta
Provincial capital	Bến Tre
Government
• Body	Bến Tre provincial Party Committee
• People's Council Chair	Hồ Thị Hoàng Yến (Communist Party of Vietnam)
• People's Committee Chair	Trần Ngọc Tam
Area
• Total	2,379.70 km2 (918.81 sq mi)
Population (2023)
• Total	1,799,328
• Density	760/km2 (2,000/sq mi)
Demonym	People of Bến Tre
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Vietnamese, Khmer, Hoa, Chăm
GDP
• Total	VND 41.851 trillion; US$ 1.818 billion
Time zone	UTC+7 (ICT)
Postal code	86xxx
Area codes	75 (until 16 July 2017); 275 (from 17 June 2017)
ISO 3166 code	VN-50
HDI (2020)	0.683; (49th)
Website	www.bentre.gov.vn

Bến Tre is a province of Vietnam. It is one of the country's southern provinces, and is situated in the Mekong Delta. It is also famous for its coconuts and the Coconut Religion nationwide. Disconnected from the mainland, the province lies mainly on 2 river islands. It has land borders only with Vĩnh Long Province, which occupies the western tip of the southern river island.

Etymology

The origin of the province’s name is still unclear as it was first inhabited by the Khmer people, though some speculated it may have been called Kompong Russei. Its original name was then later altered by incoming waves of immigration and settlement by ethnic Vietnamese into Bến Tre.^[4] In Vietnamese, “Bến Tre” literally means “bamboo port”, which is quite inaccurate considering it is regionally famous for its Coconuts.

History

Since 1757, the land of Bến Tre belonged to Tân An canton, Định Viễn district, under Long Hồ administrative unit^[5]. During the reign of Emperor Minh Mạng, the area was part of Hoằng Trị prefecture (comprising Tân Ninh, Bảo An, and Bảo Hậu districts), under Vĩnh Long province. In 1832, An Hóa islet (now part of Bến Tre province) was included in Kiến Hòa district.

In 1867, the French established Bến Tre as a district (hạt). After several administrative changes, it officially became Bến Tre province in 1900. By 1912, the province was divided into four districts: Ba Tri, Sóc Sải, Mỏ Cày, and Thạnh Phú; Sóc Sải was later renamed Châu Thành in 1927. In 1956, the province was renamed Kiến Hòa and expanded to include nine districts^[6].

The revolutionary government continued to refer to it as Bến Tre province. After 1975, there were plans to merge it with other provinces, but it remained a separate province. In 1976, the name was officially changed back to Bến Tre, consisting of one town and seven districts.

In 2009, Mỏ Cày was divided into two districts: Mỏ Cày Bắc (North) and Mỏ Cày Nam (South); Bến Tre town was also upgraded to a city^[7]^[8]. Today, Bến Tre province has nine district-level administrative units, with Bến Tre city classified as a grade-II urban area since 2019.^[9]

Administration

Bến Tre is subdivided into 9 district-level subdivisions. The eight districts are Ba Tri, Bình Đại, Châu Thành,Chợ Lách, Giồng Trôm, Mỏ Cày Bắc, Mỏ Cày Nam, and Thạnh Phú. There is also one provincial city of Bến Tre (capital). They are further subdivided into 7 commune-level towns (or townlets), 147 communes, and 10 wards. To view the list of subdivisions, see List of communes in Bến Tre province.

Geography

Geographically, Bến Tre is wedged between the two main branches of the Tiền Giang River, which is itself one of the two main distributary of the Mekong. The province's northern boundary is formed by the Tiền Giang's main course, while the province's southern boundary is formed by the Tiền Giang's largest branch (which breaks away from the Tiền Giang just upriver from Bến Tre province). Between the Tiền Giang and its main branch are two smaller branches, passing through the middle of Bến Tre. As a result, this province may be considered having 2 main river islands and has land borders only with Vĩnh Long Province on its western tip.

The entire province is criss-crossed with a network of smaller rivers and canals. The extensive irrigation that this provides makes Bến Tre a major producer of rice, but also means that the area is prone to flooding. The Climate Change Research Institute at Cần Thơ University, in studying the possible consequences of climate change, has predicted that 51% of Bến Tre province can be expected to be flooded if sea levels rise by 1 meter.^[10] Bến Tre province is, on average, only 1.25 meters (4 ft 1 in) above sea level.

Transportation

Construction on the Rạch Miễu Bridge, which links Bến Tre to neighboring Tiền Giang province to its north, was started in 2002. The bridge was finished and opened for traffic on 19 January 2009. Before that time, Bến Tre was only accessible to automobiles via ferry.