Biên Hòa (Northern accent: listen, Southern accent: listen) is the capital city of Đồng Nai Province, Vietnam, and is part of the Ho Chi Minh City metropolitan area. Situated northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon), Biên Hòa is connected to it via National Route 1. As a class-1 provincial city, it is the sixth largest city in Vietnam by population.[2]

Biên Hòa
Thành phố Biên Hòa
Biên Hòa City
From left to right, from top to bottom: Trấn Biên Temple of Literature, Buddha Mau Buu Hoa shrine, Ghềnh bridge
Official seal of Biên Hòa
Map
Biên Hòa is located in Vietnam
Biên Hòa
Biên Hòa
Location of in Vietnam
Coordinates: 10°57′N 106°49′E / 10.950°N 106.817°E / 10.950; 106.817
Country Vietnam
ProvinceĐồng Nai
RegionSoutheast
Area
 • Total
263.62 km2 (101.78 sq mi)
Population
 (2024)
 • Total
1,575,000
 • Density6,000/km2 (15,000/sq mi)
Metro GDP (PPP, constant 2015 values)
 • Year2023
 • Total$19.8 billion[1]
 • Per capita$17,800
ClimateAw

Geography

edit

Topography

edit

Biên Hòa spans 264 square kilometers of midland terrain in western Đồng Nai Province. The majority of the city is situated to the east of the Đồng Nai River.

Biên Hòa shares its borders with:[3]

Administrative divisions

edit

Biên Hòa has 30 divisions (29 wards and 1 commune), including:[4]

Demographics

edit

In 1989, Biên Hòa's population was estimated at 273,879. By 1999, it had grown to 435,400 and reached 701,194 in 2009.[5] In December 2012, the city's population surpassed one million.[6] By 2019, it had increased to 1,055,414.[7]

As of 2021, the city's population was 1,119,190.[8]

History

edit
 
Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh temple in Cù Lao Phố.
 
Trấn Biên Temple of Literature, a Vietnamese Confucian temple.

Nguyễn dynasty

edit
 
Drawing of Biên Hòa citadel in the Nguyễn dynasty

The capture of Biên Hòa on 16 December 1861, was an important allied victory in the Cochinchina Campaign (1858–62). This campaign, fought between the French and the Spanish on the one side and the Vietnamese (under the Nguyễn dynasty) on the other, began as a limited punitive expedition and ended as a French war of conquest. The war concluded with the establishment of the French colony of Cochinchina, a development that inaugurated nearly a century of French colonial dominance in Vietnam.[citation needed]

Republic of Vietnam

edit

Biên Hòa grew into a major suburb of Saigon as the capital city of the Republic of (South) Vietnam grew. Following the First Indochina War, tens of thousands of refugees from the northern and central regions of Vietnam—a large portion of whom were Roman Catholics—resettled in Biên Hòa as part of Operation Passage to Freedom. During the Vietnam War, the United States Air Force operated Biên Hòa Air Base near the city. Mortar attacks on U.S. and ARVN targets were frequently staged from residential districts in Biên Hòa. Two of the better-known attacks took place during Tết of 1968 as well as 1969.[9]

Socialist Republic

edit

Because of its large population of former refugees and their descendants who fled North Vietnam's communist government in the mid-1950s, Biên Hòa was a center of resistance against the communist government in the months immediately following the fall of the Republic of Vietnam.[citation needed]

Like much of Vietnam, post-war Biên Hòa suffered a period of severe economic decline between 1975 and the second half of the 1980s. However, after the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam introduced Đổi Mới, a series of economic and political reforms in 1986, Biên Hòa experienced significant economic growth. The city and its surrounding areas attracted substantial foreign investment, leading to industrialization and development.[10]

By 2005, Biên Hòa had become an industrial hub of southern Vietnam. Many factories and warehouses (often funded in collaboration with Japanese, Singaporean, American, Swiss and other foreign investors) operate in the areas surrounding the city.

With regard to entertainment, the city includes several amusement parks, nightclubs and restaurants lining the Đồng Nai River. Construction has increased rapidly, with many Western-style houses and villas under development. The real estate market has experienced a series of boom cycles since the mid-1990s.[11]

Biên Hòa is home to Bình An Cemetery (also known as Biên Hòa Military Cemetery), a large national cemetery for fallen soldiers and military officials of the former Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). After the fall of Saigon, the cemetery was ransacked and subsequently abandoned.[12] The Vietnamese American Foundation, also known as The Returning Casualty, is working to restore the cemetery and excavate a nearby mass grave of approximately 200 ARVN soldiers.[13]

At the end of 2015, the Prime Minister of Vietnam issued Decision No.2488/QD-TTg recognizing Biên Hòa as a class-1 provincial city.[14]

Economy

edit

Biên Hòa is a key industrial hub in southern Vietnam. There are six industrial zones:

  • Biên Hòa I Industrial Park. The country’s oldest industrial park, covering 340 hectares, is set to be converted into an urban, commercial, and service area by the end of 2025.[15][16]
  • Biên Hòa II Industrial Zone, 365 ha
  • Amata Industrial Park, 674 ha. This is the first investment project of Amata Corporation in Vietnam.[17]
  • Long Bình Industrial Zone Development
  • Agtex Long Bình Industrial Park - AGTEX 28, 43 ha
  • Tam Phước Industrial Park, 323 ha

Sanyang Motor's Vietnam Manufacturing & Export Processing Co., Ltd. (VMEP) is located in Biên Hòa.

Transport

edit

Education

edit

Environment

edit

Biên Hòa Air Base served as the main storage and handling site for Agent Orange during the Vietnam War and remains the largest dioxin hotspot in Vietnam.[18] U.S. and Vietnamese authorities are working to clean up the affected areas.[18][19]

Notable landmarks

edit

Sister city

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "TelluBase—Viet Nam Fact Sheet" (PDF). Tellusant Public Service Series. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Biên Hòa chính thức trở thành đô thị loại I". Báo Đồng Nai điện tử.
  3. ^ "Atlas Đồng Nai". Đồng Nai Province official website.
  4. ^ "Sơ đồ tổ chức". UBND Thành phố Biên Hòa.
  5. ^ Population module gso.gov.vn [dead link]
  6. ^ Chào mừng Hội nghị hiệp hội các đô thị Việt Nam diễn ra tại thành phố Biên Hòa — Trang thông tin điện tử thành phố Biên Hòa Archived 26 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Kết quả toàn bộ tổng điều tra dân số và nhà ở năm 2019" (PDF). Tổng cục Thống kê Việt Nam. p. 34.
  8. ^ "Phát triển thành phố Biên Hòa, tỉnh Đồng Nai theo hướng hiện đại – xanh – thông minh". Báo Bộ Xây Dựng. 9 September 2022.
  9. ^ Pike, Thomas F., Operations & Intelligence, III Corps Reporting: Tet 1969, 2016, ISBN 978-1-534-79903-5, pp 91-103.
  10. ^ "Kỷ niệm 320 năm hình thành và phát triển Biên Hòa - Ðồng Nai". Nhân Dân Newspaper. 28 December 2018.
  11. ^ "Bất động sản Biên Hoà bùng nổ trong năm 2018". Tuổi Trẻ Newspaper. 16 March 2018.
  12. ^ "Excavations of Burial Sites at Vietnamese Re-Education Camps by The Returning Casualty". Southeast Asian Archaeology. 1 March 2012. Retrieved 11 October 2024.
  13. ^ Excavations of Burial Sites at Vietnamese Re-Education Camps by The Returning Casualty, Julie Martin, MSc in Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology candidate, Cranfield University UK, from south-eastasianarchaeology.com
  14. ^ "Quyết định 2488/QĐ-TTg năm 2015 về việc công nhận thành phố Biên Hòa là đô thị loại I trực thuộc tỉnh Đồng Nai do Thủ tướng Chính phủ ban hành". Thư viện Pháp luật. 21 November 2020.
  15. ^ "A glimpse into Vietnam's oldest industrial park before it's gone". VnExpress. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Vietnam's oldest industrial park to be converted into urban area". Tuoi Tre News. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Amata to build two more industrial-urban complexes in Vietnam". Vietnamnet.
  18. ^ a b "Dioxin Remediation at Bien Hoa Air Base Area Project | Vietnam | Fact Sheet". U.S. Agency for International Development. 11 January 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Vietnam, US finish first part of dioxin cleanup at Bien Hoa airbase". VNExpress.
  20. ^ "Trấn Biên Temple recognised". Việt Nam News. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  21. ^ "Work starts on restoration of ancient citadel in Dong Nai". Việt Nam National Administration of Tourism. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  22. ^ "Cầu Rạch Cát (Rach Cat Bridge)". HistoricBridges.org. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  23. ^ "자매도시". gimhae.go.kr (in Korean). Gimhae. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  24. ^ "TP.Biên Hòa và TP.Pakse tăng cường hợp tác hữu nghị (English: Bien Hoa and Pakse strengthen friendship cooperation)". Đồng Nai Newspaper. Retrieved 16 August 2022.

10°57′N 106°49′E / 10.950°N 106.817°E / 10.950; 106.817