The Socialist Republic of Vietnam occupies the east coast of Mainland Southeast Asia. After being independent for many centuries Vietnam was colonized by France as part of French Indochina from the mid 1800s until 1941, when the country was invaded and conquered by Japan. After the end of World War II in 1945 French attempts to re-establish control triggered 30 years of warfare. In 1954 an armistice agreement provided for the French withdrawal but divided the country into northern and southern halves. The Vietnam War, a complex struggle between the two Vietnamese governments, was already underway in the late 1950s and escalated with U.S. intervention beginning in 1964. U.S. troops were withdrawn in 1973 and two more years of war led to the reunifucation of the country in 1975.
Vietnam is long and narrow, with a coastline measuring some 3000 km (1875 mi) in length. The northern third of the coast faces the Gulf of Tonkin (Vịnh Bắc Bộ, "Northern Bay" in Vietnamese) and most of the the rest faces east and southeast on the open waters of the South China Sea, known as Biển Đông, "East Sea" in Vietnamese. Beyond the cape of Cà Mau the southwest coast faces the Gulf of Thailand, known as Vịnh Thái Lan, "Bay of Thailand" in Vietnamese.
Vietnam is divided into 58 provinces and five province-level municipalities. This page includes the lighthouses of the Mekong Delta, Cà Mau Peninsula, and the southwest coast, including the provinces of Tiền Giang, Trà Vinh, Cà Mau, and Kiên Giang, plus the Côn Đảo islands.
Fortunately the lighthouses of Vietnam were not usually seen as targets during the Vietnam War and most of them survived the fighting without major damage. A few of the historic French lighthouses have been replaced but most remain in service and are regarded as historic monuments. In general Vietnamese lighthouses have resident keepers.
Aids to navigation are maintained by two Maritime Safety Companies, Vietnam Maritime Safety - North (VMS-North) maintaining lights in the northern half of the country and Southern Vietnam Maritime Safety (SVMS) maintaining the lights of the southern half. All the lights of this page are in the SVMS service area.
The Vietnamese words for a lighthouse are hải đăng or đèn biển ("sea light"). Dao or hòn is an island, mũi is a cape, sông is a river, cửa ("door") is the mouth of a river, vịnh is a bay, and hải cảng is a harbor.
ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
