Outline of the Process of Red River Hydraulics Development During the Nguyễn Dynasty (Nineteenth Century)

Abstract

The history of water management in the Red River Delta presents a stark contrast with the Mekong Delta. While the latter was an ancient site of contact between the Khmer, Siamese, Malay, Chinese, Chăm, and Vietnamese populations, its large-scale hydraulics planning are of relatively recent date, having been initiated during the seventeenth century under the Nguyễn lords. In the Red River Delta, the conquest and development of the territory is intimately related to the history of water management, as well as to the hydrographical network which shaped it through a long process of alluvial deposit. The basic need for self-protection against the river’s violent floods is a constant feature of the ancient past and the modern period in Vietnam’s history and largely contributed to the structuring of relations between the state and the peasantry. This chapter’s aim is to present several important features of the history of hydraulics policy implemented in the northern delta during the nineteenth century by the Nguyễn dynasty, drawn from one principal documentary source, the imperial annals. Indeed, it was in the nineteenth century that the most concerted efforts were made, to such an extent that on the eve of the colonial intervention, the construction of the Red River Delta’s dike system was complete. This unprecedented investment should not mask, however, the instability and ambiguity of the hydraulics policy implemented by this dynasty’s successive emperors; this was illustrated by discontinuity in the administration and management of the dikes and alternating periods of state involvement and withdrawal, whereby part of its prerogatives was abandoned to peasant communities. Looking beyond this contrasting conclusion, we may consider that the Nguyễn dynasty played a key role in the area of water management, establishing the foundations for a modern and rational system in the delta.