Having endured ups and downs influenced by geological formations and periods of sea transgression and regression, the land known as "Tra Vang"—the predecessor of the later Tra Vinh province—was formed a long time ago. During that period, Tra Vinh was still a very wild area, with forests covering the hills, swamps, and a network of rivers and canals, and a sparse population.
Faced with this objective reality, at the end of the 17th century, the Nguyen Lords proactively organized the migration of Vietnamese people to the southern region, implementing policies to recruit settlers and sending troops south to develop the land. Along with the Vietnamese and Khmer, the Chinese were also given opportunities by the Nguyen Lords to jointly develop and settle in this southern region, including Tra Vinh.
Thus, the land of Tra Vinh, a product of the East Sea and the Mekong River, a region containing a diverse ecosystem and various economic potentials, was inhabited by a multi-ethnic community (Vietnamese, Khmer, Chinese, etc.) in the 17th century. The formation of a multi-ethnic community in this land is one of the most significant historical events for the formation and development of Tra Vinh province later on.
The formation and development of Tra Vinh province can be divided into the following two stages:
Phase 1: from 1732 to 1900.
The land and name "Tra Vang," the predecessor of the later Tra Vinh province, existed before Lord Nguyen established Dinh Vien Prefecture and built Long Ho Citadel in 1732. Thus, at that time, the land of Tra Vinh belonged to Dinh Vien Prefecture.
In 1802, after ascending the throne, King Gia Long immediately began reorganizing and redefining the boundaries of administrative units throughout the country. From then on, Gia Dinh Prefecture was renamed Gia Dinh Province. The territory of Gia Dinh Province was divided into four districts and one sub-district, with the Tra Vinh area at that time belonging to Vinh Tran District.
In 1803, King Gia Long ordered the creation of maps of the administrative divisions belonging to Gia Dinh Province and renamed Vinh Tran Division to Hoang Tran Division. The Tra Vinh area at that time belonged to Hoang Tran Division.
In 1808, Gia Long changed Gia Dinh Town to Gia Dinh Citadel, and Vinh Tran Garrison was renamed Vinh Thanh Town. At that time, the Tra Vinh area belonged to Vinh Thanh Town.
In 1825, the Tra Vinh region was established by King Minh Mang as Lac Hoa Prefecture, directly under Gia Dinh Citadel, comprising two districts: Tra Vinh and Tuan My.
By 1832, Vinh Thanh Township was renamed Vinh Long Township. Later, King Minh Mang changed townships into provinces. The Southern region was divided into six provinces, known as the "Six Provinces of Southern Vietnam," including: Bien Hoa, Gia Dinh, Dinh Tuong, Vinh Long, An Giang, and Ha Tien. At this time, Tra Vinh was a district belonging to Lac Hoa Prefecture in Vinh Long Province.
In 1876, the Governor of Cochinchina issued a decree dividing the entire region into four major administrative zones. Based on this division, the large administrative zone of Vinh Long comprised four sub-zones: Vinh Long, Tra Vinh, Ben Tre, and Sa Dec. The Tra Vinh sub-zone was the predecessor of the later Tra Vinh province.
On December 20, 1899, the Governor-General of Indochina, Doumer, signed a decree changing the names of sub-districts to provinces. From then on, the old six provinces of Cochinchina were reorganized into ten new provinces, and the old Vinh Long province was split into three new provinces: Vinh Long, Ben Tre, and Tra Vinh. This decree officially came into effect on January 1, 1900. From then on, the name Tra Vinh province was officially used in French-language documents as "Province de Tra Vinh".
Phase 2: from 1900 to 1992.
From January 1, 1900, the name Tra Vinh province was officially used until May 1951. Following the directives of the Central Committee, the Southern Resistance Administrative Committee issued Decree No. 174/NB-51 on June 27, 1951, regarding the merger of 20 Southern provinces into 11 provinces. Accordingly, Vinh Long province and Tra Vinh province were merged into one province, Vinh Tra.
From 1954 to 1960, the US-Diem regime redivided the administrative boundaries of the southern provinces. In Tra Vinh province, the two districts of Cau Ke and Tieu Can were separated and merged with the two districts of Tra On and Tam Binh of Vinh Long to form a new province, Tam Can province (according to Decree No. 16-NV dated February 9, 1956). A portion of Cau Ngang district was also separated to form a new district, Long Toan district (according to Decree No. 143-NV dated October 22, 1956). In early 1957, Ngo Dinh Diem renamed Tra Vinh province to Vinh Binh province. Tam Can province was dissolved after nearly a year, and the three districts of Tam Can province and Vung Liem district (of Vinh Long province) were merged into Vinh Binh province (according to Decree No. 3-ND/HC/ND dated January 3, 1957).
In accordance with Resolution No. 245-NQ/TW dated September 20, 1975, of the Politburo on abolishing the provincial consolidation zones and Resolution No. 19/NQ dated December 20, 1975, of the Politburo on adjusting and consolidating some provinces in South Vietnam, in February 1976, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam issued a decree on dissolving zones and consolidating provinces in South Vietnam. According to this decree, there were 21 centrally-administered administrative units in the South, and Vinh Long and Tra Vinh provinces were merged to form Cuu Long province.
The 10th session of the 8th National Assembly decided to divide Cuu Long province into two provinces: Vinh Long and Tra Vinh. On May 5, 1992, Tra Vinh province officially came into operation and has developed to this day.
Currently, Tra Vinh province is one of 13 provinces in the Mekong Delta region, located downstream between the Tien and Hau rivers, bordering the East Sea. Overall, Tra Vinh has a quadrilateral shape with a natural land area of 2,288.09 km2 and a population of 1,012,648 people (data from the Tra Vinh Provincial Statistics Department, 2011).
The administrative boundaries of Tra Vinh province are divided into 8 units, including Tra Vinh city and 7 districts (Cang Long, Cau Ke, Tieu Can, Tra Cu, Cau Ngang, Duyen Hai, and Chau Thanh). Tra Vinh province is home to three main ethnic groups: Kinh, Khmer, and Hoa, along with a small number of other ethnic groups. The Kinh people have the highest proportion in the province's population structure, with 684,119 people, accounting for 67.5% of the province's population. In addition, Tra Vinh province has the second largest Khmer population in the Mekong Delta and the whole country, after Soc Trang province, with 320,292 Khmer people (accounting for 31.63%). Besides them, there are also Hoa people and other ethnic groups such as Cham and Dao, totaling 8,237 people, accounting for 0.81% of the province's population.
We know that since ancient times, Tra Vinh has had a tradition of close-knit solidarity. This is the result of increasingly large-scale cohabitation, fostering closeness and unity among the Vietnamese, Khmer, and Chinese ethnic groups in land reclamation and development. However, simultaneously with this expansion of agricultural land came the formation and growth of class conflicts, along with the upheavals in Vietnamese society under the Nguyen dynasty in the 1840s and 1850s. This was a period of very complex social situations, and numerous peasant uprisings were repeatedly suppressed by the imperial army, further intensifying social conflicts.
However, from the late 18th century, faced with foreign invasion and the threat of losing their country, the people of Tra Vinh temporarily set aside their conflicts with the feudal government to focus on resisting the French. From here, the history of Tra Vinh entered a new chapter, beginning the period of resistance against French colonial aggression.
As soon as the French colonialists set foot on the land of Tra Vinh, they immediately encountered fierce resistance from the people of Tra Vinh under the banner of Truong Dinh, Thu Khoa Huan, Vo Duy Duong, De Trieu, and others. Although these uprisings all failed and suffered heavy losses in terms of lives and property, like the rest of the country, many indomitable sons and daughters of Tra Vinh remained unafraid of sacrifice, undeterred, and patiently sought other ways to resist the invasion. Patriotic activities against the French colonial invaders and their collaborators in Tra Vinh during the first three decades of the 20th century unfolded in two directions:
+ One direction was towards peasant and petty-bourgeois movements, typified by the assassination of two French colonialists by Teacher Thong Chanh; the Duy Tan movement; the Dong Du movement, the Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc movement, the Thien Dia Hoi movement…
The other direction was towards communist movements that influenced Tra Vinh before 1920, following the victory of the Russian October Revolution. During this time, in Binh Dong (now part of District 8, Ho Chi Minh City), Ton Duc Thang and 17 comrades, including Duong Quang Dong, a native of Tra Vinh, founded the Red Trade Union.
Driven by his love for his homeland and the revolutionary creativity of youth, Duong Quang Dong returned to Tra Vinh to promote the establishment of the "Red Youth" organization. This organization was successively established in Cau Ngang, the provincial capital of Tra Vinh, and Cang Long, which were also the cradles for the formation of the first Communist Party of Vietnam branches in Tra Vinh province in 1930. In the spring of 1930, the Tra Vinh Provincial Party Committee was established, and by 1945, under the direct leadership of the Provincial Party Committee and the District Party Committees, the people of Tra Vinh rose up to carry out the General Uprising, achieving victory on August 25, 1945.
The victory of the August Revolution in 1945 marked a historic milestone, signifying the great beginning of a new phase in the development of Tra Vinh province. However, this historical journey had barely begun when the French colonialists and reactionary forces fiercely opposed it. War broke out and spread throughout Tra Vinh in late autumn 1945. Nevertheless, the enemy could not crush the indomitable will of the communists and the patriotic strength of the people of various ethnic groups in Tra Vinh, who had lived together for hundreds of years on this land.
Under the leadership of the Provincial Party Committee and the revolutionary government, the people of Tra Vinh achieved resounding victories such as the Battle of La Bang (December 16, 1948); the Cau Ke Campaign (1949); the Tra Vinh Campaign (1950)... contributing together with the whole country to the earth-shattering victory of Dien Bien Phu, forcing France to sign the Geneva Accords and withdraw its troops.
Having completed the task of defeating the French, the people and army of Tra Vinh continued to join the rest of the country in the mission of driving the Americans out of the nation's territory. During the resistance against the Americans, the people of Tra Vinh overcame countless challenges, wholeheartedly following the Party, contributing alongside the people of the South to completely defeat the war strategies devised by the Americans (unilateral war; special war; localized war; Vietnamization of the war), achieving resounding victories such as the Dong Khoi Uprising (1960); the Spring 1968 General Offensive and Uprising (with that victory, the people and army of Tra Vinh were awarded the First Class Bronze Medal and a glorious flag with eight golden words: "the whole people rise up, united to achieve merit").
After the Paris Agreement was signed (January 27, 1973), the US withdrew its troops. Under the leadership of the Party, the people of Tra Vinh, along with the rest of the country, continued to overthrow the puppet regime, achieving national independence and reunification. With the Spring Offensive and Uprising of 1975, culminating in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the South was completely liberated on April 30, 1975. April 30 has become etched in the hearts of every Vietnamese person, and the people of Tra Vinh in particular, as a glorious milestone marking the complete victory and reunification of the Fatherland, and the nation's progress towards socialism.
After the peaceful reunification, Tra Vinh, along with the rest of the country, moved forward to build socialism and implement the reform initiated by the Party. Following the Decision of the 8th National Assembly, in May 1992, Tra Vinh province was re-established along with 12 other provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, moving forward to build and develop the economy. The ethnic communities in Tra Vinh have always upheld the tradition of national unity and the heroic traditions of the resistance war, working tirelessly day and night to build a new life and develop their homeland towards the goal of a prosperous people, a strong nation, democracy, fairness, and civilization.
During the two wars of resistance against France and the United States, Tra Vinh had 18,374 martyrs; 987 heroic Vietnamese mothers, and 61 units and localities that were awarded the title of Hero of the Armed Forces by the State.
As a poor province with a predominantly agricultural economy and a low starting point, the Party Committee and people of Tra Vinh have continuously strived to develop the province sustainably in the fields of economy, culture, society, and national security and defense. In the past, during the war, the people of Tra Vinh did not hesitate to shed their blood and sacrifice their lives to gain peace for the country, with exemplary figures such as Nguyen Thi Ut (Ut Tich), Kien Thi Nhan, Ho Thi Nham, Comrade Pham Thai Buong, Ho Duc Thang… Today, in labor and production, Tra Vinh has hardworking, creative, dynamic, enthusiastic, and dedicated people. Overcoming the challenges of poverty, they have contributed their strength to the cause of building and protecting the achievements that our ancestors have gained. Typical examples include the war invalid couple Le Van Luc and Cam Thi Cuc, "two halves of a heroic title"; or "the king of mangosteen" Luu Van Nhieu; and the "barefoot inventor" Tran Van Dung. "The king of rice seeds," Duong Van Chau….
During the war, the people of Tra Vinh, along with the people of the whole country, defeated powerful invading enemies. In peacetime, the people of Tra Vinh will once again achieve victory—a victory over poverty and backwardness. The people of Tra Vinh, with their traditions of unity, diligence, and creativity, have transformed the land they pioneered centuries ago, standing firm alongside the rest of the country in building socialism, the path wisely chosen by our Party.
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