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Ha Long Bay (literally: Descending Dragon bay; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Ha Long City, Cam Pha Town and part of Van Don District. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate and cultural characters. Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km², incuding 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km² with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate .The diversity of the enivironment, climate, geology, geography, and geomorphology in the area have created biodiversity, including tropical evergreen biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.
Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistorical human beings in this area ten of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhụ Culture around 18,000-7,000 BC, the Cái Bèo Culture 7,000-5,000 BC and the Hạ Long Culture 3,500-5,000 years ago. Ha Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bài Thơ Mout, Đầu Gỗ Cave, Bãi Cháy. Nowadays, Ha Long Bay one of the most popular travel destinations in Vietnam.
500 years ago, Nguyen Trai praised the beauty of Ha Long Bay in his verse Lộ nhập Vân Đồn, in which he called it "rock wonder in the sky". In 1962 the Ministry of Cultur, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam listed Ha Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes. In 1994 the core zone of Ha Long Bay was listed by UNESCO in its World Heritage Sites according to criteria vii and listed for a second time according to criteria viii. Together with Nha Trang Bay and Lang Co of Việt Nam, Hạ Long Bay is recognized as one of the 33 most beautiful bays of the world. Location
Ha Long Bay is located in northeastern Vietnam, from E106°56' to E107°37' and from N20°43' to N21°09'. The bay stretches from Yên Hưng district, past Hạ Long city, Cẩm Phả town to Vân Đồn district, bordered on the south and southeast by the Gulf of Tonkin, on the north by China and on the west and southwest by Cát Bà island. The bay has a 120 kilometre long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometres in size with about 2000 islets. The area designated by UNESCO as the World Natural Heritage Site includes 434 km² with 775 islets, of which the core zone is delimited by 69 points: Đầu Gỗ island on the west, Ba Hầm lake on the south and Cống Tây island on the east. The protected area is from the Cái Dăm petrol store to Quang Hanh commune, Cẩm Phả town and the surrounding zone.
Soi Nhụ culture (16000- 5000 BC)
Located in Hạ Long and Bái Tử Long, there are symbolic archaeological sites such as Mê Cung and Thiên Long. There are mounds of remains of mountain shellfishes (Cyclophorus) and spring shellfishes (Melania), some fresh water mollusk and some rudimentary labour tools. The main way of life of Soi Nhụ's habitants was catching shellfish and fish, collecting fruits and digging for bulbs and roots. Their living environment was a coastal area unlike other Vietnamese cultures, for example those found in Hoà Bình, Bắc Sơn, etc. Cái Bèo culture (5000- 3000BC)
Located in Hạ Long and Cát Bà island, its habitants developed to the level of sea exploitation.
Feudal period
History shows that Ha Long Bay was the setting for local naval battles against Vietnam's coastal neighbors. On three occasions in the labyrinth of channels in Bach Dang river near the islands the Vietnamese army stopped the Chinese from landing. In 1288 General Tran Hung Dao stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby Bach Dang River by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, sinking the Mongol Kublai Khan's fleet.
During the Vietnam War, many of the channels between the islands were heavily mined by the navy of the United States, some of which pose a threat to shipping to this day.Inhabitants
Floating fishing village
A community of around 1600 people live on Ha Long Bay in four fishing villages: Cửa Vạn, Ba Hang, Cống Tàu and Vông Viêng in Hùng Thắng commune, Hạ Long city. They live on floating houses and are sustained by capture fishing and marine aquaculture (cultivating marine biota).
System of isles and caves
Thien Cung grotto
The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Đầu Gỗ (Wooden stakes Cave) is the largest grotto in the Ha Long area. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave Grotte des Merveilles. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). There are two bigger islands, Tuần Châu and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities, including hotels and beaches. There are a number of wonderful beaches on the smaller islands.
Some of the islands support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes: such names include Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock), and Mai Nha Islet (roof). 989 of the islands have been given names. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and lizards also live on some of the islands.
Almost these islands are individual towers in a classic fenglin lanscape which height is from 50m to 100m and height/width ratios up to about 6.
Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands, for example, Dau Be island has six enclosed lakes. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.
Timeline of geologic evolution
The most remarkable geological events of Hạ Long Bay’s history in the last 1,000 years include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area and the strong erosion that has formed coral and pure blue and heavily salted water. This process of erosion by seawater has deeply engraved the stone, contributing to its fantastic beauty. Present-day Hạ Long Bay is the result of this long process of geological evolution that has been influenced by so many factors.
It is because of all these factors that tourists now visiting Hạ Long Bay are not only treated to one of the true wonders of the world, but also to a precious geological museum that has been naturally preserved in the open air for the last 300 million years.
Some of the most remarkable are:
Date |
Geologic period |
Events |
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570,000,000-500,000,000 BC |
beginning of the Cambrian era |
The area, which now forms Hạ Long Bay, was basically mainland, submitted to a process of rain erosion. |
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end of the Cambrian period |
The area was flooded, commencing the existence of Hạ Long Bay. |
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500,000,000-400,000,000 BC |
Ordovician and Silurian periods |
The area of north-east Vietnam was basically a deep sea, submitted to the constant activity of tectonic plates. |
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end of the Silurian period |
It underwent a phase of inverse-motion that created mountains deep under the water. |
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420,000,000-340,000,000 BC |
end of the Silurian period and throughout the whole Devonian period |
The area was subjected to powerful forces of erosion from the hot and dry climate. At this point, Hạ Long was part of a wide mainland that comprised most of today's East Sea and Chinese continental shelf. |
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end of the Devonian period |
Due to tectonic activity, the Hạ Long area and the entire north-east region were raised from the depths |
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340,000,000-240,000,000 BC |
later Carboniferous and Permian periods |
The formation of the limestone layer more than 1,000 m thick. A shallow and warm sea reformed, which existed for approximately 100 million years. It created two kinds of limestone: the Cát Bà layer of the early Carboniferous period (450 m thick); and the Quang Hanh layer of the middle Carboniferous and the early Permian period (750 m thick). These two layers constitute the majority of the islands of the Bay. |
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67,000,000 BC |
end of the Cretaceous period |
Hạ Long Bay existed in the environment of a high mountainous mainland due to the influence of strong mountain-forming phases. |
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middle of the Paleocene period |
These motions remain continuous and stable, while strong processes of erosion began, and after millions of years, a form of semi-highland topography took shape. The continuation of this erosion has progressively cut the highlands into blocks with altitudes similar to today's mountains |
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26,000,000-10,000,000 BC |
Neogene period |
The development of the Hạ Long depression |
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2,000,000-9,000 BC |
Pleistocene epoch of the Quaternary period |
The process of erosion began dissolving the limestone-rich region of Hạ Long, after that, forming the limestone plain was most active |
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68,000-9,000 BC |
middle and late Pleistocene epoch |
It marks the period when the famous caves and grottoes of the area formed. |
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early Holocene period |
The islands of today’s Hạ Long Bay are basically remnants of these mountains flooded. Rainwater flowed into crevices in the limestone that had formed from tectonic activity. This steady erosion constantly widened the cracks, eventually creating today's formations. |
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9,000-5,000 BC |
Holocene period |
This period is notable for the advance of the sea. |
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5,000-2,000 BC |
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The movement of the sea reached its peak and forming today’s Hạ Long Bay. |
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2,000-1,000 BC |
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With the sea in a steady process of recession, Hạ Long culture began to develop. |
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beginning of the late Holocene epoch |
The level of the water once again increased, forming a marshy floor of canals and streams, and creating the water marks that can be seen on the stone cliffs of today. | |
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