Bà Lụa Islands ( vi, Quần đảo Bà Lụa) is an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

located in the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in l ...

. It constitutes Sơn Hải Commune of Kiên Lương District, Kiên Giang Province,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. The archipelago is known as "(Small) Ha Long of the South".

Etymology

There are several different interpretations to the name of the islands. Some sources explain that Bà Lụa is the Chinese Vietnamese wife of an influential Frenchman coming here to exploit the area; since all of related legal papers were in her name, the islands was named Bà Lụa. Anh Dong (2010) claims that ''Bà Lụa'' ("Lady Silk") is the name of a female general in charge of

military logistics Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement, supply, and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with: * Design, development, acqui ...

who established a

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

mill on the islands in order to supply Nguyễn Trung Trực's militia force. Another source says that around 1858, a feudal mandarin married a beautiful and gentle wife who wanted to stay away from the officialdom and eventually settled on the islands. Every day she raised

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

s and wove silk, so the islands has been called Bà Lụa ever since.

Geography

The archipelago, formed from lower-mid

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s, consists of about 34 (or 42) islands spreading out over a 70-square-kilometer water area, among which ''Hòn Heo'' is the largest entity. Apart from Hòn Heo, none of the rest have a highest point exceeding . The most populous islands are Hòn Heo, Hòn Ngang and Hòn Nhum. The sea area around the archipelago is shallow, and in many places, people can even walk from island to island during low

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravity, gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide t ...

. Hòn Heo (literally "Pig Island") is the largest island of Bà Lụa. It is approximately in circumference and has an area of . Its name originates from the fact that the French built a piggery on the island in 1918 (Anh Dong, 2010). Here lies the People's Committee Head Office of Son Hai Commune. ;Incomplete list of islands

Administrative history

* On 14 January 1983, Kiên Hải District was formed with six communes including Bà Lụa Commune that administered Bà Lụa Islands. * On 27 September 1983, Bà Lụa Commune was renamed to Sơn Hải Commune (Kiên Hải District). * Since 17 August 2000, Sơn Hải Commune has been under the administration of Kiên Lương District.

References

Bibliography

External links