Cà Mau

Ca Mau About this sound pronunciation is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Ca Mau Province, a province in the Mekong Delta region, in the southernmost part of Vietnam's inland territory. Vietnam's incumbent Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng was born and raised here. The city is characterized by its system of transport canals and most goods are transported here by boats and barges.

The city's population is approximately 181,000 (as of 2008). The majority of its residents are ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese, with a large population of ethnic Khmer. There are 300 Khmer Krom households and 400 Hoa households. Ca Mau city is accessible by road (360 km south-west of Ho Chi Minh City) via National Road 1A or by air (Ca Mau Airport). Ca Mau is administratively subdivided into 8 urban phuong and 7 rural xa.

Ca Mau has several attractions that draw domestic and international tourists. These include several wild bird parks, the southernmost point in Vietnam (called Mũi Cà Mau), and a number of Khmer pagodas. Near Ca Mau is the U Minh area with its famous mangrove forest and swamp cuisine: fish hot pots, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Khmer cuisine. Ca Mau also has several 1- to 3-star hotel restaurants.

The region of the present Ca Mau province was once a territory of the Kingdom of Funan (in Vietnamese: Vương quốc Phù Nam), which included Laos, Cambodia, and extended east to Thailand, and southern Vietnam (Vietnamese: Nam Bộ). This region later became a part of the Chan La Kingdom (in Vietnamese: Chân Lạp) and the Khmer Kingdom, which included Cambodia, eastern Thailand, and southern Vietnam. In 1757, the land belonging to Ca Mau province (in Khmer language "the black land") was ceded by the Chan La king to the Nguyen Lord of Vietnam with an early settlement of Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese. During the French colonial period, Ca Mau was only a small town. During the Vietnam War, the area nearby Ca Mau was a stronghold (in Vietnamese: Chiến khu cách mạng) for the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam also known as the "Viet Cong," a Hanoi-backed guerrilla group fighting the United States Army and the South Vietnamese government during the Vietnam War. After 1975, Ca Mau was made the administrative seat and the governmental center of Minh Hai province, which included Ca Mau and Bac Lieu province). In 1995, Ca Mau province broke off from Minh Hai province with Ca Mau its capital. In 1999, the prime minister by a decree recognized Ca Mau (in Vietnamese: Thị xã) as a city - Ca Mau city (3rd class city as per Vietnamese laws).