Mekong
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View of the Mekong before the sunset |
The
Mekong is one of the world's major
rivers. It is the 12th-longest in the world, and the 10th-largest by volume (discharging 475 km³ of water annually). Its estimated length is 4180 km. It drains an area of 795,000 km²: From
Tibet it runs through
China's
Yunnan province,
Myanmar,
Thailand,
Laos,
Cambodia and
Vietnam. All except China and Myanmar belong to the
Mekong River Commission. The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of
rapids and
waterfalls have made
navigation extremely difficult.
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Map of the Mekong watershed |
The river's source, and therefore its exact length, is uncertain, due to the existence of several
tributaries in an inaccessible environment. Chinese researchers believe that the source is located in the Jifu Mountains in Zaduo (杂多) County, Yushu (玉樹) Tibet Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China's
Qinghai Province, which is some 5,200 meters above sea level. An earlier expedition, led by Michel Peissel, placed the source at the head of the Rupsa-La pass (further west, at an altitude of 4975 meters). Figures for the river's total length therefore vary between 4350 and 4909 km.
Approximately half the river's length is in China, where it is called the
Dza Chu in Tibetan in its upper course in Tibet (), and more generally the
Lancang in
Chinese (), meaning the "turbulent river". Much of this stretch consists of deep
gorges, and the river leaves China at an altitude of only 500 meters. The entire river is known as the
Meigong in Chinese ().
The river next forms the border between Myanmar and Laos for 200 km, at the end of which it meets the
tributary Ruak River at the
Golden Triangle. This point also marks the division between the
Upper and
Lower Mekong.
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Mekong River Delta from space, February 1996 (south is at the top) |
The river then divides Laos and Thailand, before a stretch passing through Laos alone. It is known as
Mènam Khong (Mother of all rivers) in both
Lao and
Thai (แม่น้ำโขง). The Lao stretch is characterised by gorges,
rapids and depths of as little as half a meter in the dry season. It widens south of
Luang Prabang, where it has been known to flood to 4 km in width and reach 100 meters in depth, although its course remains extremely inconsistent. The endangered
Giant Mekong Catfish was traditionally caught in this region once yearly, following auspicious rites officiated by the quondam royal family.
The river again marks the Lao-Thai border in the stretch which passes
Vientiane, followed by a short stretch through Laos alone. This includes the
Si Phan Don (four thousand islands) region above the
Khone Falls near the Cambodian border, where endangered dolphins can be viewed. The falls are all but impassable to river traffic.
In Cambodia, the river is called the
Mékôngk or
Tonle Thom (great river). The
Sambor rapids above
Kratie are the last to impede navigation. Just above
Phnom Penh is the confluence with the
Tonle Sap, the main Cambodian tributary. Below Phnom Penh, it divides into the
Bassac and the Mekong proper, which both flow into the
Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
In
Vietnamese it is the
Cửu Long Giang or
Sông Cửu Long (nine dragons river), but is often just popularly known as the
Mê Kông.
About 90 million people rely on the river.
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A map of 1715, incorrectly showing the Chao Praya river as a branch of the Mekong |
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The members of the French Mekong Expedition of 1866 |
The difficulty of navigating the river has meant that it has divided, rather than united, the people who live near it. The earliest known civilisation was the
1st century Indianised-Khmer culture of
Funan, in the Mekong Delta. Excavations at
Oc Eo, near modern
Rach Gia, have found coins from as far away as the
Roman Empire. This was succeeded by the
Khmer culture Chenla state by around the
5th century. The
Khmer empire of
Angkor was the last great Indianized state in the region. From around the time of the fall of the Khmer empire, the Mekong was the frontline between the emergent states of
Siam and Vietnam, with Laos and Cambodia torn between their influence.
The first
European to encounter the Mekong was the
Portuguese Antonio de Faria in
1540; a European map of
1563 depicts the river, although even by then little was known of the river upstream of the delta. European interest was sporadic: the
Spaniards and Portuguese mounted some missionary and trade expeditions, while the
Dutch Gerrit van Wuysthoff led an expedition up the river as far as Vientiane in 1641-42.
The
French took a serious interest in the region in the mid-
19th century, capturing
Saigon in 1861, and establishing a protectorate over Cambodia in 1863.
The first systematic exploration began with the
French Mekong Expedition led by
Ernest Doudard de Lagrée and
Francis Garnier, which ascended the river from its mouth to
Yunnan between
1866 to
1868. Their chief finding was that the Mekong had too many falls and rapids to ever be useful for
navigation. The river's source was located by
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov in
1900.
From 1893, the French extended their control of the river into Laos, establishing
French Indochina by the first decade of the
20th century. This lasted until the
First and
Second Indochina Wars ended French and
American involvement in the region.
After the Vietnam War, the tensions between the U.S.-backed Thai government and the new
Communist governments in the other countries prevented cooperation on use of the river.
The story of the film
Apocalypse Now is based around a fictional journey up the Mekong River into Cambodia. The film uses the journey up the river as a metaphor for a journey into the darkness of humanity.
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Crossing the Mekong by ferry, near Champasak, Laos |
The two most controversial current issues are the building of
dams and the blasting of rapids.
A number of dams have already been built on the river's tributaries, notably the
Pak Mun dam in Thailand. This has been criticised on grounds of cost as well as damage to the environment and to the livelihoods of affected villagers.
China is engaged in an extensive program of dam-building on the river itself: it has already completed one at
Manwan, a second is under construction at
Dachaoshan, and another twelve are under consideration. It is widely feared that these will prevent sediment from flowing, which would seriously harm agriculture and fishing downstream. The evening out of seasonal fluctuations in water volume could affect the
Tonle Sap, which depends on this differential.
Dams are also planned by the Cambodian and Lao governments. Some groups oppose them.
The Chinese government has also carried out work clearing rocks and sandbars from its stretch of the river, in order to aid navigation, and it has encouraged Laos to do the same. Environmentalists fear that this will mean an increased flow of water, which in turn would cause increased
erosion, as well as damaging fish stocks.
Balls of light are observable from time to time rising from the water's surface in the stretch of the river near
Vientiane or
Nong Khai. These are sometimes referred to as
Naga fireballs. The locals attribute the phenomenon to
Phaya Naga, Mekong Dragons.
According to researchers the river houses more species of giant fish than any world river
[1], most notably the
Giant Mekong Catfish.
The low tide level of the river in Cambodia is lower than the high tide level out at sea, and the flow of the Mekong inverts with the tides throughout its stretch in Vietnam and up to Phnom Penh. The very flat
Mekong Delta area in Vietnam is thus prone to flooding, especially in the provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap (Đ"ng Tháp), near the Cambodian border.
*Milton Osborne. 1976.
River Road to China: The Mekong River Expedition 1866-1873. George Allen & Unwin.
*Milton Osborne. 2000.
The Mekong, Turbulent Past, Uncertain Future Atlantic Monthly Press, New York. ISBN 0871138069
*Edward A. Gargan. 2002.
The River's Tale. First published by Alfred A. Knopf.
*
Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law See
Mekong River. Peace Palace Libray
*
Outline of the Mekong River*
Locating the source of the Mekong*
Institute of Defense and Strategic Studies, Singapore "China in the Mekong River Basin: The Regional Security Implications of Resource Development on the Lancang Jiang" by Evelyn Goh, Working Paper No. 69
*
Mouth to Source Follow The Mekong, in QuickTime VR, from the mouth in Viet Nam to the border with China in Northern Laos
*
Multinational Team repeating the French Mekong Expedition of 1866*
NYTimes: The Mysterious Mekong Starts to Reveal Itself*
Musing on the Mekong
