![Hoi Yen QNam Landscape](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Hoi_Yen_QNam_Landscape.jpg)
The Annamite Range or the Annamese Mountains (french: Chaîne annamitique; lo, ພູ ຫລວງ ''Phou Luang''; vi, Dãy (núi) Trường Sơn) is a major
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
of eastern
Indochina
Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...
, extending approximately through
Laos,
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 ...
, and a small area in northeast
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
. The mountain range is also referred to variously as Annamese Range, Annamese Mountains, Annamese Cordillera, Annamite Mountains and Annamite Cordillera. The name "Annam" is the Vietnamese pronunciation and terminology of zh, c=安南 (
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...
: ''Ān Nán''), meaning "to pacify the south" referring to Vietnam. The French adopted the word and used "Annamese" or "Annamite" to refer to the Vietnamese.
The highest points of the range are the -high
Phou Bia, the -high
Phu Xai Lai Leng and the -high
Ngọc Linh (Ngoc Pan). The latter is located at the northwestern edge of the
Triassic
The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Year#Abbreviations yr and ya, Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 ...
Kontum Massif in central Vietnam. Important
mountain passes are the Nape Pass and the
Mụ Giạ Pass.
The Annamite Range runs parallel to the Vietnamese coast, in a gentle curve which
divides the
basin of the
Mekong River
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...
from Vietnam's narrow
coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...
along the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
. Most of the crests are on the Laotian side. The eastern slope of the range rises steeply from the plain, drained by numerous short rivers. The western slope is more gentle, forming significant
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...
s before descending to the banks of the Mekong. The range itself has three main plateaus, from north to south: Phouane Plateau, Nakai Plateau and
Bolaven Plateau
The Bolaven Plateau is an elevated region in southern Laos. Most of the plateau is located within Champasak Province of Laos, though the edges of the plateau are also located in Salavan, Sekong and Attapeu Provinces. It is located between ...
.
Laos lies mostly within the Mekong basin, west of the divide, although most of
Houaphan Province and a portion of
Xiangkhoang Province
Xiangkhouang ( Lao: ຊຽງຂວາງ, meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau, in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily bombed place on Earth.
The province ...
(where the famous
Plain of Jars
The Plain of Jars ( Lao: ທົ່ງໄຫຫິນ ''Thong Hai Hin'', ) is a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos. It consists of thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of ...
is located) lie east of the divide. Most of Vietnam lies east of the divide, although Vietnam's
Tây Nguyên
Central Highlands ( vi, Cao nguyên Trung phần), Western Highlands ( vi, Tây Nguyên) or Midland Highlands ( vi, Cao nguyên Trung bộ) is one of the regions of Vietnam. It contains the provinces of Đắk Lắk, Đắk Nông, Gia Lai, K ...
(Central Highlands) region lies west of the divide, in the Mekong basin.
Ecology
The Annamite mountains form an important
tropical seasonal forest
Seasonal tropical forest, also known as moist deciduous, semi-evergreen seasonal, tropical mixed or monsoon forests, typically contain a range of tree species: only some of which drop some or all of their leaves during the dry season. This tropic ...
global ecoregion
The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or w ...
, the Annamite Range Moist Forests Ecoregion, which consists of two
terrestrial ecoregions
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...
, the Southern Annamites montane forests and the Northern Annamites moist forests.
The range is home to rare creatures such as the recently discovered
Annamite rabbit
The Annamite striped rabbit (''Nesolagus timminsi'') is a species of rabbit native to the Annamite mountain range on the Laos- Vietnam border. The rabbit is striped, with a red rump, and resembles the Sumatran striped rabbit. It only recently b ...
and the antelope-like
saola
The saola (''Pseudoryx nghetinhensis''), also called spindlehorn, Asian unicorn, or infrequently, Vu Quang bovid, is one of the world's rarest large mammals, a forest-dwelling bovine native to the Annamite Range in Vietnam and Laos. It was descr ...
, the
Douc langur
The doucs or douc langurs make up the genus ''Pygathrix''. They are colobine Old World monkeys, native to Southeast Asia, which consists of these 3 species: red-shanked douc, black-shanked douc, and gray-shanked douc.
Description
The douc ...
, the large
gaur
The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ), also known as the Indian bison, is a bovine native to South Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 m ...
, the
Chinese pangolin
The Chinese pangolin (''Manis pentadactyla'') is a pangolin native to the northern Indian subcontinent, northern parts of Southeast Asia and southern China. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2014, as the ...
, and the
Indochinese tiger
The Indochinese tiger is a population of the '' Panthera tigris tigris'' subspecies that is native to Southeast Asia. This population occurs in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. In 2011, the population was thought to comprise 342 individuals, includin ...
.
History
Most of the highlands like the Annamite Range and the
Central Highlands were populated by ethnic minorities who were not Vietnamese during the beginning of the 20th century. The demographics were drastically transformed with the mass colonization of 6 million settlers from 1976 to the 1990s, which led to ethnic Vietnamese Kinh outnumbering the native ethnic groups in the highlands.
See also
*
List of Ultras of Southeast Asia
This is a list of all the ultra-prominent peaks (with topographic prominence greater than 1,500 metres) in Mainland Southeast Asia. All values below are given in metres.
Patkai-Chin Hills
Indo-Malayan System
Malay Peninsula
Annamite Range ...
References
External links
BBC In Pictures: Uncovering Viet Nam's secret wildlifeCat Tien National ParkPaleoanthropology in mainland Southeast Asia; Tam Hang, LaosMalaria in Montagnard country in Vietnam(French)
{{Authority control
Mountain ranges of Vietnam
Mountain ranges of Laos
Ecoregions of Vietnam
Geography of Xiangkhouang province
Mountain ranges of Cambodia
Ecoregions of Laos
Ecoregions of Cambodia