Côn Đảo

Côn Đảo
Main island of Côn Sơn
Waters	South China Sea
Geographical location	8 ° 42 '  N , 106 ° 37'  E Coordinates: 8 ° 42 '  N , 106 ° 37'  E
Number of islands	16
Main island	Côn Lôn
Total land area	75.15 km²
Residents	5000
Map of the archipelago (1972)

Côn Đảo [ kōn dɐ̌u̯ ] is an isolated group of islands in the South China Sea , south of the Vietnamese mainland coast at a distance of around 70 to 80 kilometers.

The archipelago belonging to the province of Bà Rịa-Vũng Tàu consists of 16 mountainous islands with a total area of ​​75 km² and is inhabited by about 5,000 people.

The largest and only inhabited island in the group is Côn Sơn (also called Côn Lôn), the largest city is called Côn Đảo like the archipelago. The group is connected to the outside world by ship and through Cỏ Ống Airport . Côn Đảo is part of the Côn Đảo National Park , founded in 1984 and expanded in 1998 , which is a refuge for endangered species such as the hawksbill sea turtle , green turtle and dugong .

The Vung Tau shipwreck , a Chinese Lorcha of the Qing dynasty ( Kangxi period around 1690), was found off the island of Hòn Cau and about 60,000 artifacts , mainly Chinese porcelain, were recovered by Mike Hatcher between 1990 and 1992 . Part of the treasure is on display in the Worldwide Arms Museum in the city of Vũng Tau .

Islands

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap

Surname	Area km²	Coordinates
Côn Lôn (Côn Sơn)	51.52	8 ° 42 ′ 1 ″ N, 106 ° 36 ′ 54 ″ E
Hòn Côn Lôn Nhỏ (Hòn Bà)	5.45	8 ° 38 '52 "N, 106 ° 33' 29" E
Hòn Bảy Cạnh	5.50	8 ° 40 ′ 8 "N, 106 ° 41 ′ 6" E
Hon Cau	1.80	8 ° 41 ′ 26 "N, 106 ° 44 ′ 18" E
Hòn Bông Lan	0.20	8 ° 39 ′ 2 "N, 106 ° 40 ′ 29" E
Hon Vung	0.15	8 ° 37 '44 "N, 106 ° 33' 26" E
Hòn Ngọc (Hòn Trọc)	0.40	8 ° 41 ′ 18 ″ N, 106 ° 33 ′ 28 ″ E
Hòn Trứng	0.10	8 ° 46 '44 "N, 106 ° 43' 11" E
Hòn Tài Lớn	0.38	8 ° 38 ′ 9 ″ N, 106 ° 37 ′ 52 ″ E
Hòn Tài Nhỏ	0.10	8 ° 38 ′ 13 "N, 106 ° 38 ′ 10" E
Hòn Trác Lớn	0.25	8 ° 38 ′ 12 "N, 106 ° 37 ′ 7" E
Hòn Trác Nhỏ	0.10	8 ° 38 ′ 19 "N, 106 ° 37 ′ 21" E
Hòn Tre Lớn	0.75	8 ° 42 ′ 28 "N, 106 ° 32 ′ 38" E
Hòn Tre Nhỏ	0.25	8 ° 44 ′ 11 "N, 106 ° 35 ′ 12" E
Hòn Anh	0.03	8 ° 36 '13 "N, 106 ° 8' 29" E
Hon Em	0.01	8 ° 34 ′ 40 "N, 106 ° 5 ′ 25" E

history

The archipelago (also called Puolo Condore ) was first mentioned in history by Marco Polo , who sought protection from a storm on the archipelago in 1284.

In the early years of the 15th century, Con Dao was used by Portuguese sailors as a stopover on their way to Macau. On November 28, 1861, Con Dao was occupied by the French.

In the period from March 20, 1895 to April 19, 1895, the well-known French composer Camille Saint-Saëns stayed on the island at the invitation of the French government to complete the last 3 chapters of his opera "Brunilda". The house he lived in at the time is still preserved today. It's the only café in town with a wonderful view of the bay.

Just one year after the island was occupied, the French built a prison complex with the infamous "tiger cages" - the tiger cages. Opposition members of the French occupiers were held prisoner in the camp. Inmates at this camp included Lê Đức Thọ , the North Vietnamese government's chief negotiator at the Paris talks in the 1970s. His opponent was Henry Kissinger . Lê Đức Thọ also became known because he refused to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, as the talks did not lead to a peaceful solution, but on the contrary an expansion of the war by the Americans with heavy bombing of the city of Hanoi by B 52 bombers and the expansion of the war zone led to Cambodia and Laos.

Memorial tomb of the resistance fighter Vo Thi Sau

After the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1975, Con Son became a national memorial for the Vietnamese. The destination is the cemetery in Con Son, where all deceased inmates of the prison are buried, some by name, some without. At the grave of the resistance fighter Vo Thi Sau, mostly high-ranking members of the government from Hanoi gather on her birthday and lay flowers and wreaths in her honor and memory. The deceased stands for all freedom fighters who died painfully. She was chosen because she was the first female prisoner to be fusilated by the French occupiers when she was just under 18 .

Web links

Commons : Côn Đảo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Empty dream beaches in: Die Welt online from January 24, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Expansion of the war by the Americans ( Memento from January 1, 2011 in the Internet Archive )