For every nation, maps are a special language and tool to demonstrate
knowledge on territory. All maps drawn by Chinese people before 1909
indicate that the southernmost point of China is Hainan Island.
Meanwhile, Vietnamese made maps and European navigation charts since the
17th century, have depicted that the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa
(Spratly) Archipelagos belong to Vietnam.
According to
historian Duong Trung Quoc, China’s oldest map in contemporary times,
“Hoang trieu truc tinh dia du toan do” (an administrative map of
provincial boundaries) published in 1904, reflects China’s
perception of its territory during the Qing Dynasty. This shows that by
the early 20th century, the Chinese feudal administration had not yet
intended to claim sovereignty over the two archipelagos of Hoang Sa and
Truong Sa of Vietnam.
“This is important significant
evidence and supplements the historical evidence proving Vietnam’s
sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos,” Quoc said.
In
fact, China only started claiming Hoang Sa from 1909 and Truong Sa
from 1935 while Vietnam held much earlier evidence of its sovereignty
in the East Sea , at least from the 17 th century.
According
to East Sea researcher Nguyen Hong Thao, the evidence Vietnam
has collected is overwhelming. They are recorded in royal historical
works compiled by the Office of National History and printed during the
Nguyen Dynasty.
They include “Dai Nam thuc luc
chinh bien” (The Main Part of The Chronicles of Dai Nam, 1848), “Kham
Dinh Dai Nam hoi dien su le” (The Dai Nam Administrative Records,
1843-1851), “Dai Nam nhat thong chi” (The Geography of the Unified Dai
Nam, 1865-1882), “Lich trieu hien chuong loai chi” (Classified Rules of
Dynasties, 1821), “Hoang Viet dia du chi” (Geographical Treatise of
Imperial Vietnam, 1833), and “Viet su cuong giam khao luoc” (Brief
History of Vietnam, 1876).
The oldest publication
describing the existence of the islands is the “Toan tap Thien Nam
tu chi lo do thu” (The Collection of Route Map from the Capital to the
Four Directions, 1630-1653), compiled by a man named Do Ba alias Cong
Dao.
The document consists of maps of An Nam from
the 15th century. Of them, one clearly shows the Paracel and Spratly
Archipelagos in the East Sea with the names of Bai Cat Vang and
Truong Sa in Quang Nghia prefecture. Under King Minh Mang’s reign, Hoang
Sa and Van Ly Truong Sa were clearly depicted in the “1834 Dai Nam nhat
thong toan do” (The Complete Map of the Unified Dai Nam).
According
to historian Duong Trung Quoc, Vietnam’s geographical location is
between the Chinese and Indian civilisations and lies on one of the
world’s main shipping lanes. So it is necessary to pay attention not
only to maps from Vietnam or China, but also the navigation charts
of other navigation powers, regarding related issues.
Sharing
the view, Dr. Tran Duc Anh Son, Vice Director of Da Nang City’s
Socio-Economic Development Research Institute, said that not only old
Vietnamese and Chinese maps but many old Western maps also clearly show
that Hoang Sa and Truong belong to Vietnam.
Son has just completed a research project on Vietnam’s sovereignty over the island district of Hoang Sa.
One
of the biggest successes for his research group is a collection of 56
western maps drawn over a period of more than three centuries. Some maps
are very old, such as the one drawn by Livro da Marinharia FM Pinnto in
1560, another by Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) dating to the latter half
of the 16 th century, while some are more recently such as the map by
Stielers Handatla drawn in 1891.
In particular, the “An Nam Dai
Quoc Hoa Do” or Map of the Great Country of An Nam, published in
1838 in three languages of Chinese, Vietnamese and Latin, by Bishop
Taberd, bears the words “Paracel seu Cat Vang” (Paracel or Cat Vang),
affirming Vietnamese sovereignty.
This proves that as early as
the 16th century, many Westerners already knew the area around Hoang
Sa and regarded it as part of Vietnamese territory.
“Western
cartographers, navigators and explorers have noted Vietnam’s
sovereignty over these archipelagos in their geographic map and
navigation charts. Therefore, the maps are valuable documents that help
confirm Vietnam’s indisputable sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong
Sa Archipelagos that are disputed by other regional nations,” Son said.-VNA