The
Mekong River is one of the world’s major
rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. (discharging of water annually). Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of .
From the
Tibetan Plateau this river runs through
China's
Yunnan province,
Burma,
Thailand,
Laos,
Cambodia and
Vietnam. All these areas except China and Burma belong to the
Mekong River Commission.
A South- and Southeast Asian regional association, the
Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, is named after both this river and the
Ganges river.
The extreme seasonal variations in flow and the presence of
rapids and
waterfalls in this river have made
navigation extremely difficult.
Names
In English the river is called "the Mekong River", but in the Thai languages it is essentially the "Mae Nam Khong", where "Mae" translates as "Mother" and "Nam" translates as "Water". "Khong" is derived from the Sanskrit "ganga," meaning the Ganges. Many Northern Thai and Laos locals refer to it as the "River Khong", suggesting its origins and the subsequent formulation of "Mekong" literally meaning "Mother Khong". Such is the case with the
Mae Nam Ping in Chiang Mai which is known as the "
Ping River". The
Tonle Sap in Cambodia is a similar example – where
Tonle translates as "Great lake or river", making the
Tonle Sap River an unnecessary repetition of what is in fact the "Sap River."
In Thai, โขง () is a species of crocodile; some believe this is tone-shifted from คด or โค้ง , both adjectives to describe curves or meanders of a river or road.
Since the river flows through a number of countries, it has many different names in local languages.
- Chinese: Riverhead: , and Zā Qū, upper reaches: 澜沧江, Láncāng Jiāng ("Turbulent River", "Láncāng" is also same to Lan Xang in Chinese), middle and lower reaches: Méigōng hé.
- Burmese: မဲခောင္မ္ရစ္ Mè‘kaung Myit.
- Thai: แม่น้ำโขง , แม่โขง .
- Khmer: មេគង្គ Mékôngk , ទន្លេមេគង្គ Tônlé Mékôngk , ទន្លេធំ Tônlé Thum ("Great River").
- Vietnamese: Sông Mê Kông (), Sông Lớn ("Great River", ), Sông Cửu Long ("Nine Dragons River", ).
Fauna
The Mekong basin is one of the richest areas of biodiversity in the world. More than 1200 species of fish have been identified and there could be possibly as many as 1700. Fishing is a very important part of the economic activities in the area and a vital source of protein in the local diet. Estimates indicate that some 120 fish species are commercially traded but most of the fishery is based on 10–20 species.
In the Upper Mekong, the northern part of the river down to the Burma-Thai-Laos border, the river is relatively clear and fast flowing with the influx snowmelt guaranteeing a relatively uniform circumannual flow in the river. The water tends to be neutral, with a pH of 6.9 ranging to 8.2 and the nutrient level is low. In the Lower Mekong area the river is turbid, especially during the rainy season. Due to bank erosion the water gets a rusty-tan colour from the soil. The river temperature in the Lower Mekong varies between 21.1 to 27.8 °C (70–82 °
F) and the pH fluctuates between 6.2 to 6.5. The two main biotopic areas in the river follow the division between the Upper and Lower Mekong. The fish in the fast-flowing upper reaches are dominated by different loaches (
Cobitidae), sucker catfish (
Sisoridae), hillstream loach (
Homalopteridae) and carp (
Garrinae). The slower middle and lower parts of the river are dominated by species of carp (
Cyprinidae), catfish (
Siluridae, Clariidae, Schilbeidae, Bagridae, Sisoridae and
Akysidae) and murrels (
Chanidae and
Ophicephalidae).
No other river is home to so many species of very large fish. The biggest include the
giant river carp (
Probarbus jullieni), which can grow up to and weigh , the Mekong Freshwater Stingray (
Himantura chaophraya), which can have a wingspan of up to 14 feet, the
giant pangasius (
Pangasius sanitwongsei),
Siamese giant carp (
Catlocarpio siamensis) and the
endemic Mekong giant catfish (
Pangasianodon gigas), all three of which can grow up to about in length and weigh . All of these are in serious decline, both because of dams and flood control and overfishing.
One species of
freshwater dolphin, the
Irrawaddy dolphin (
Orcaella brevirostris), was once common in the whole of the Lower Mekong but is now very rare.
Among other wetland mammals that have been living in and around the river are the
smooth-coated otter (
Lutra perspicillata) and
fishing cat (
Felis viverrina).
The endangered
Siamese crocodile (
Crocodylus siamensis) is reported to occur along the Mekong but is very rare.
History
A map of 1715, incorrectly showing the Chao Praya river as a branch of the Mekong
The members of the French Mekong Expedition of 1866
The difficulty of navigating the river has meant that it has divided, rather than united, the people who live near it. The earliest known settlements date to 2100 BCE, with
Ban Chiang being an excellent example of that early Iron Age culture. The earliest recorded civilization was the 1st century
Indianised-Khmer culture of
Funan, in the Mekong Delta. Excavations at
Oc Eo, near modern
An Giang, have found coins from as far away as the
Roman Empire. This was succeeded by the
Khmer culture
Chenla state by around the 5th century. The
Khmer empire of
Angkor was the last great Indianized state in the region. From around the time of the fall of the Khmer empire, the Mekong was the frontline between the emergent states of
Siam and Tonkin (North Vietnam), with Laos and Cambodia, then situated on the coast, torn between their influence.
The first
European to encounter the Mekong was the
Portuguese Antonio de Faria in 1540; a European map of 1563 depicts the river, although even by then little was known of the river upstream of the delta. European interest was sporadic: the
Spaniards and Portuguese mounted some missionary and trade expeditions, while the
Dutch Gerrit van Wuysthoff led an expedition up the river as far as Vientiane in 1641–42.
The
French took a serious interest in the region in the mid-19th century, capturing
Saigon in 1861, and establishing a protectorate over Cambodia in 1863.
The first systematic exploration began with the
French Mekong Expedition led by
Ernest Doudard de Lagrée and
Francis Garnier, which ascended the river from its mouth to
Yunnan between 1866 to 1868. Their chief finding was that the Mekong had too many falls and rapids to ever be useful for
navigation. The river's source was located by
Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov in 1900.
From 1893, the French extended their control of the river into Laos, establishing
French Indochina by the first decade of the 20th century. This lasted until the
First and
Second Indochina Wars ended French and
American involvement in the region.
After the Vietnam War, the tensions between the U.S.-backed Thai government and the new
Communist governments in the other countries prevented cooperation on use of the river.
Bridges
The
Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge () connects
Nong Khai city with Vientiane in Laos. The -long bridge has two -wide lanes with an unfinished single railway line in the middle. On March 20, 2004 the Thai and Lao governments agreed to extend the railway to Tha Nalaeng in Laos.
The
Second Thai–Lao Friendship Bridge connects
Mukdahan to
Savannakhet. The two-lane, -wide, -long bridge opened to the general public on January 9, 2007.
There are only three bridges, located in Champasak province, in Laos. Unlike the Friendship bridges, this bridge is not a border crossing. It is long, and was completed in 2000 (
Pakxe bridge ).
A new bridge over the Mekhong is to be completed by 2011, connecting the border towns of
Chiang Khong (Thailand) and
Ban Houayxay (Laos), as part of
Asian Highway 3. The Chinese and Thai governments agreed to build the bridge and share the estimated $33USD million dollar cost of the project.
Cambodia has one two-lane bridge the
Kizuna bridge in the city of
Kompong Cham, on the road linking Phnom Penh with the remote provinces of
Ratanakiri and
Mondolkiri, and further away
Laos.
The
Prek Tamak Bridge, 40 km north of
Phnom Penh will provide another link in 2011.
Phnom Penh itself has no bridge on construction yet.
In
Viet-Nam, since the year 2000
My Thuan Bridge (Mỹ Thuận), crosses the first arm a dozen km ahead of Vinh Long (Vĩnh Long) and since 2008
Rach Mieu Bridge (Rạch Miễu) crosses it a dozen km ahead of de My Tho (Mỹ Tho) (between the provinces de Tien Giang (Tiền Giang) and Ben Tre (Bến Tre)).
Can Tho Bridge (Cần Thơ), should open on the second arm in 2010 after a heavy accident in 2007.
Dams
China Western DevelopmentEnvironmental concerns
Crossing the Mekong by ferry, near Champasak, Laos
The two most current issues facing the river are the building of
dams and blasting of rapids.
A number of dams have already been built on the river's tributaries, notably the
Pak Mun dam in Thailand. This has been criticised on grounds of cost as well as damage to the environment and to the livelihoods of affected villagers, though none have been built on the main part itself.
China is engaged in an extensive program of dam-building on the river itself: it has already completed three, the first called the
Manwan dam, another twelve are under consideration.
Poverty stricken
Cambodia is one nation that is completely dependent on the river for food and the vast majority of its fledgling economy. The annual floods provide much needed water for crops of the otherwise dry dusty land, and to refresh
Tonle Sap, yet its major cities are all vulnerable to flooding. The
Tonle Sap Biosphere Reserve has been created to try to protect areas around the Tonle Sap Lake and river, which is connected to the Mekong.
The
Mekong River Commission, a panel of the region's nations, has accused China of blatantly disregarding the nations downstream in its plans to dam the river in an effort to stop the dams, but to no avail. Since the building of the first Chinese dam, many species have become
endangered including the Mekong
dolphin and
manatee, water levels have dropped as ferries get stuck, fish caught are small and the catch is less than half of before the dam, the turnover at Chiang Rai port is less than 1/4 of previous years, and crossings from
Chiang Rai to isolated
Luang Prabang have lengthened from 8 hours to 2 days due to inadequate water levels.
Despite all these problems, new dams planned will have significantly worse impact if carried out as planned. All nations downstream and the environment will suffer from added
pollution (due to development and relatively lax
regulation and
enforcement in China compared to Thailand, poisoning the food supply from
pesticide runoff and
heavy industry, as well as promoting
algal blooms from
organophosphates from agriculture, as well as
water hyacinth infestation), river blockage problems as fish cannot swim upstream to spawn, and potentially devastating very low water flow.
Other environmental concerns arise from increased water flow in some parts as China clears rocks and sandbars, blasts gorges, and slows water as it dams and floods other sections, and relocates
indigenous peoples. Cambodia is by far the most exposed, depending on a fine balance of water flow, fearing scenarios of mass
famine and devastating floods, the likes of which destroyed the
Angkor kingdom 700 years ago.
Laos' biggest cities all hug the Mekong as does
Vietnam's largest city and financial hub,
Ho Chi Minh City, which would be vulnerable mostly to low flow and pollution.
Protected areas
Miscellany
- Balls of light are observable from time to time rising from the water's surface in the stretch of the river near Vientiane or Nong Khai. These are sometimes referred to as Naga fireballs. The locals attribute the phenomenon to Phaya Naga, Mekong Dragons.
- According to researchers the river houses more species of giant fish than any world river, most notably the Giant Mekong Catfish.
- The low tide level of the river in Cambodia is lower than the high tide level out at sea, and the flow of the Mekong inverts with the tides throughout its stretch in Vietnam and up to Phnom Penh. The very flat Mekong Delta area in Vietnam is thus prone to flooding, especially in the provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap (Đồng Tháp), near the Cambodian border.
See also
- Article on dam development
