Cần Giờ is a coastal suburban district of

Ho Chi Minh City Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

, in the

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

region of

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. The district is located 50 km from downtown Ho Chi Minh City. As of 2019, the district had an area of 704,45 km² and population of 71,526. Cần Giờ is home to Cần Giờ Mangrove Forest, a biosphere reserve listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Geographical location

Cần Giờ borders Nhà Bè district to the north, Long An and

Tiền Giang The term ''tiền'' (chữ Hán: 錢) is used to refer to various currency-related concepts used in Vietnamese history. The name is a cognate with the Chinese ''qián'' (錢), a unit of weight called " mace" in English. It can refer to a unit ...

provinces to the west, Đồng Nai province to the northeast,

Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu (abbreviated BRVT) was formerly a province of Vietnam. It was located on the coast of the country's Southeast region. It bordered Đồng Nai to the north, Bình Thuận to the northeast and Ho Chi Minh City metropolit ...

to the southeast, and the East Sea to the south. The district is bordered on the West by the Soai Rap river, which currently connects through the Binh Khanh Ferry Terminal, with plans to construct the Cần Giờ Bridge.

Natural conditions

Cần Giờ District borders the East Sea with approximately 20 km of coastline. It is home to the Cần Giờ mangrove forest, a vast wetland interwoven with a dense network of

rivers A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of its course if it ru ...

and

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow u ...

. This ecosystem boasts high biodiversity, featuring many endemic plant and animal species native to Vietnam’s coastal regions. The district has 32,109 hectares of forestry land (46.45% of the total area) and 22,850 hectares of rivers and canals (32% of the total area). The mangrove region accounts for 56.7% of the district's total area. Additionally, the district contains around 69 islands of various sizes.

History

In 1822, British ambassador John Crawfurd visited Cần Giờ during his journey to

Siam Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym and endonym, exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer t ...

, noting that it was a poor region but with friendly and civilized people. During the French colonial period, on December 18, 1872, the French established Cần Giờ canton from parts of two other cantons in Bình Dương District,

Gia Định Province ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth ...

. Later, in 1875, An Thít canton was separated. By 1947, both Cần Giờ and An Thít cantons were transferred from

to Vũng Tàu Province, forming Cần Giờ District under this province. Between 1956 and 1976, the Republic of Vietnam made several administrative adjustments. Initially, Cần Giờ District was part of Vũng Tàu Town but was later transferred to Phước Tuy Province and divided into two districts: Cần Giờ and Quảng Xuyên. In 1960, both districts became part of

Biên Hòa Province Biên Hòa (邊和) ( )) is a former province of South Vietnam originally formed in 1832 containing areas of Đồng Nai province, Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu province and Bình Phước province with total area of over 17.000 km2. In 1876 it w ...

, and in 1965, they were merged into Gia Định Province, maintaining this status until 1975. On the revolutionary government's side, Cần Giờ always belonged to

. In 1968, Cần Giờ District was merged with several communes from

Biên Hòa Biên Hòa (Northern accent: , Southern accent: ) 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 connect ...

and Bà Rịa provinces to form Duyên Hải District. After April 30, 1975, this district remained part of

until 1976. Since 1976, Duyên Hải District belonged to Đồng Nai Province. On December 29, 1978, the district was merged into

. In 1991, Duyên Hải District was renamed Cần Giờ. In 2003, Cần Thạnh Town was established.

Administration

Cần Giờ district includes the town of Cần Thạnh and six communes:

References

Districts of Ho Chi Minh City {{HoChiMinhCity-geo-stub