Sơn La is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

nestled in the Northwestern 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 ...

. In 2018, Sơn La ranked 31st among Vietnam's administrative units in terms of population, 40th in Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP), 49th in GRDP per capita, and 63rd in GRDP growth rate. With a population of 1,242,700 people, its GRDP reached 47.223 trillion VND (approximately 2.0509 billion USD), GRDP per capita was 38 million VND (around 1,650 USD), and the GRDP growth rate was 5.59%. Sơn La is also the largest province by area in Northern Vietnam.

History

Middle Ages

By ''

Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư The ''Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' ( vi-hantu, 大越史記全書; ; ''Complete Annals of Đại Việt'') is the official national chronicle of the Đại Việt, that was originally compiled by the royal historian Ngô Sĩ Liên under ...

'', before the

15th century The 15th century was the century which spans the Julian calendar dates from 1 January 1401 (represented by the Roman numerals MCDI) to 31 December 1500 (MD). In Europe, the 15th century includes parts of the Late Middle Ages, the Early Re ...

, the area where Sơn-la Province is now belongs to a kingdom called as Muaeng Ngõu-hỡu (mường Ngưu-hống, "Cobra kingdom"). However, in Tai epics, this land was called Muaeng-mol (Mường Mỗi, "barbarian land"). Because before the Tai tribes migrated, it was home to a group called Xá people ("commune men"). On May 24, 1886, the French provisional protection government in

Tonkin Tonkin, also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is an exonym referring to the northern region of Vietnam. During the 17th and 18th centuries, this term referred to the domain '' Đàng Ngoài'' under Trịnh lords' control, including both the ...

decided to divide Hưng Hóa province into many parts. Accordingly, Sơn-la Province has been established based on the area of a part of Hưng-hóa Province with some rugged lands without people living in the eastern area of Lao kingdom. The reason it was called ''Sơn-la'' is because the capital of the province was located in Muaeng-la (Mường La). However, although called the province, but in reality, this area was operated like a military zone. The head of the province was also called the commander, with the rank of captain. In particular, all administrative activities used

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. By February 27, 1892, Sơn-la Province was separated into two small military zones, Phong-thổ (Muaeng-lae) and Vạn-bú (Muaeng-va). On October 10, 1895, Vạn-bú Province (Vạn Bú tỉnh) was officially established, with the headquarters located at an address called Tạ-bú (Muaeng-tae). The position of the head of the province at this time was the minister plenipotentiary (công-sứ toàn-quyền đại-thần).

XX century

On August 23, 1904, Vạn-bú was renamed to Sơn-la Province (Sơn La tỉnh), the provincial capital transferred to the place called as Sơn-la Town (Sơn La thị xã). From then until 1946, the province did not have any special developments, except for some prisoners' protests at Sơn-la Prison (xà-lim Sơn-la). After chasing Việt-minh forces from government agencies, the French provisional government in Indochina for the first time allowed a native person as the Governor of Sơn-la Province (Sơn La tỉnh trưởng). Mr Bạc Cầm Quý (Monsieur Gouverneur Bac-câm-Qui in French administrative documents) was a Taykhao man. In 1948, three provinces Lai-châu, Phong-thổ and Sơn-la were merged into the Tai Union ("Sipsong-chau Tay", then "Siphoc-chau Tay"). In 1953, after France went bankrupt in Nà-sản, the Vietminh forces basically controlled Sơn-la. This province was temporarily merged into Việt-bắc Inter-zone (liên khu Việt Bắc). From 1955 to 1975, Sơn-la belonged to the South of the Northwest Autonomous Region (khu tự trị Tây Bắc). In 1975, when the Autonomous Region was dissolved, Sơn-la Province re-established what based on the former Sơn-la Province and two communes of Nghĩa-lộ Province (which also dissolved).

XXI century

On September 3, 2008, Sơn-la Town was upgraded and expanded to Sơn-la City (thành phố Sơn La). On February 1, 2025, Mộc-châu District was changed to Mộc-châu Town (thị xã Mộc Châu).

Culture

Customs

Sơn-la is recorded as the place with the highest number of ethnic groups in

s, so it possesses a surprising diversity of cultural identity, especially ancient writing. According to epics such as '' Táy pú xớc'', '' Quắm tố mướng'' and '' Phiết mướng'', Sơn-la used to be a border dispute between the Tai tribes and Xá people. The Xá men was expelled by the Tai forces to Mai-châu. The Tai people celebrates the event with an annual

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

festival. This is considered the most bustling cultural activity in Sơn-la in every spring.

Tourism

Sơn La Province renowned for its stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage. This area is characterized by rolling hills, lush valleys, and terraced rice fields. The province is home to diverse ethnic communities, including the Tai, Hmong, and Muong people. Besides,

Sơn La Dam Sơn La Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Black River in Ít Ong, Mường La District, Sơn La Province, Vietnam. It is the largest hydroelectric power station in Southeast Asia. History The project was proposed in the 1970s. Several stu ...

was the largest hydroelectric power station in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. It is located in this province.

Geography

Sơn La is subdivided into 12 district-level sub-divisions and 204 commune-level sub-divisions :