Contribution to the Landscape History of Central Vietnam: the Mandarin Road, Mountain Road and Long Wall in Nineteenth-Century Quảng Ngãi and Bình Địn
Đóng góp nghiên cứu về lịch sử phong cảnh miền Trung: đường cái quan, đường núi và Trường Lũy ở Quảng Ngãi – Bình Định, thế kỷ XIX »
Résumé
This paper contributes to research on the landscape history of the vicinity of An Khê, formerly known as Tây Sơn village and the centre of a territory known as Tây Sơn Highland District (Tây Sơn Thượng Đạo). The survey area, on the boundary between northern Bình Định province and southern Quảng Ngãi province, has a complex mountainous terrain. A combination of archaeological and cartographic research, the study of toponyms and nineteenth-century historical documents (French and Vietnamese archives) as well as fieldwork led to the identification of two road types: north-south roads and east-west roads. The article traces the network’s nineteenth- and early twentieth-century evolution, with attention to the Mandarin Road, the Long Wall of Quảng Ngãi, French colonial rule and mountain trails used by highlanders. At present, historical documents on eighteenth-century roads are not sufficient to connect this network to the highland roads used by the Tây Sơn troops.