Qualla: Tho Chau Islands https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:36 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Tho Chau Islands https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands Tho Chau Islands: Introduction https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. The name is written in classical Chinese characters as 'earth pearl' -- a gem sitting in the middle of the sea. The Tho Chau Islands lie roughly 220 kilometers southwest of the Vietnamese mainland, an eight-island archipelago adrift in the Gulf of Thailand where the territorial waters of Vietnam and Cambodia blur into contested blue. Malay navigators once called the place Pulau Panjang, the Long Island, for the shape of its largest landmass. Vietnamese historians compare its name to Pearl Harbor, not for any military parallel but for the shared image of a pearl set in open water. For most of its modern history, this pearl has been fought over, abandoned, and slowly reclaimed.

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Image: Army Map Service | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Tho Chau Islands: Contested Waters https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. During the Republic of Vietnam era, the Tho Chau Islands fell under An Xuyen Province's administration. But Cambodia also claimed the archipelago, insisting the islands lay within its territorial waters. This dispute simmered for decades, unresolved by diplomacy and eventually de...

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Image: Army Map Service | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-contested-waters.mp3 0:06 2 full Tho Chau Islands: The Massacre of 1975 https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. On May 10, 1975 -- just eleven days after the fall of Saigon -- Khmer Rouge forces occupied Tho Chau Island. They abducted approximately five hundred civilians and transported them to Cambodia, where all were killed. The massacre happened in the chaos of regime changes across the...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-the-massacre-of-1975.mp3 0:06 3 full Tho Chau Islands: Rebuilding from Six Families https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. After the wars ended, the islands sat largely empty. It was not until April 27, 1992, that the People's Committee of Kien Giang Province arranged for six families -- about thirty people in total -- to resettle on Tho Chau Island. These were the seed of a new community, arriving o...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-rebuilding-from-six-families.mp3 0:06 4 full Tho Chau Islands: Eight Islands, One Pearl https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. The archipelago comprises eight islands. Tho Chau Island itself, at 13.95 square kilometers, dominates the chain. The smaller members -- Hon Cao, Hon Cao Cat, Hon Kho, Hon Mo, Hon Nhan, Hon Tu, and Hon Xanh -- range from rocky outcrops to vegetated islets. Hon Nhan holds particul...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-eight-islands-one-pearl.mp3 0:06 5 full Tho Chau Islands: The Edge of a Nation https://qualla.com/tho-chau-islands/ Photo credit Army Map Service, Public domain. Vietnamese press has described Tho Chau as the farthest point west in determining the nation's oceanic sovereignty. This is not merely a geographic curiosity -- it is the legal and symbolic anchor of Vietnam's western maritime claims. The archipelago briefly entered global awaren...

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]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/3/9/s/tho-chau-islands-wp/w39s-tho-chau-islands-the-edge-of-a-nation.mp3 0:06 6 full