New book stakes VN’s claim to archipelagos

The Việt Nam Geographic Anthology, to be circulated by the Youth Publishing House, has four chapters that include 40 of the most famous works on geography, starting with the Trần Dynasty of the 13th century through 1954.

The writings were composed by the giants of Vietnamese letters and history, such as Nguyễn Trãi, Lê Quý Đôn, Phan Huy Chú, Trương Vĩnh Ký, Đào Văn Hội, Bùi Dương Lịch, Vương Duy Trinh, Ngô Vi Liễn and Đào Duy Anh.

The publication also offers up an ancient map of the Lê Dynasty and the Phủ biên tạp lục – a miscellany compiled by the 18th century scholar Lê Quý Đôn that identifies the locations, and cites legal documents related to the Vietnamese people’s sovereignty over the two groups of islands that have been preserved through many different feudal dynasties.

According to Chief Author Bùi Văn Vượng, the anthology is a set of very important and reliable historic data that helps reaffirm Việt Nam’s sovereignty over the Hoàng Sa and Trường Sa archipelagos.

Mr. Vượng and his associates have spent ten years collecting, researching and compiling the Việt Nam Geographic Anthology./.

By VNA/Xuân Hoàng