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‘The Sea Becomes Mulberry Fields and Mulberry Fields Become the Sea’: Dikes in the Eastern Red River Delta, c.200 BCE to the Twenty-First Century CE

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Natural Hazards and Peoples in the Indian Ocean World

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies ((IOWS))

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Abstract

It is well known that Vietnam’s Red River delta is essentially land reclaimed from the sea. This chapter looks beyond the simple triumphalism of narratives of territorial expansion to explore an untold story which reveals the exposure and vulnerability of human attempts at reclamation. Rather than a tale of continuous growth and the accumulation of land area and productivity, we find discontinuity, reduction, abandonment and the flight of people in the face of natural disasters. When viewed in the longue durée, the dikes of the Red River delta in fact tell a story of how fragile, temporary and fluid human efforts have been in this ancient delta area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Li Tana

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  1. Li Tana
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Hull, Hull, UK

    Greg Bankoff

  2. Murdoch University, Perth, Australia

    Joseph Christensen

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Tana, L. (2016). ‘The Sea Becomes Mulberry Fields and Mulberry Fields Become the Sea’: Dikes in the Eastern Red River Delta, c.200 BCE to the Twenty-First Century CE. In: Bankoff, G., Christensen, J. (eds) Natural Hazards and Peoples in the Indian Ocean World. Palgrave Series in Indian Ocean World Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94857-4_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-94857-4_3

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-94856-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-94857-4

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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