Đồng Tháp is a province located in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam. The province was established in 1976 by merging the entire area and population of Kiến Phong and Sa Đéc provinces. The province has an area of 5,938.64 km², a projected population of 4,370,046 people in 2025. Đồng Tháp has a diversified economy, in which agriculture, industrial, commerce, service and tourism play important roles. The prominent products include rice, fruit, ornamental plant, and seafood. Administratively, Đồng Tháp province is divided into 102 commune-level administrative units, including 31 wards and 71 communes. The provincial administrative center is located in Mỹ Tho ward. History Đồng Tháp is a newly cultivated area from the 17th and 18th centuries, under the Nguyễn lords. The foundation of this area adhered to a powerful struggling history against nature, dangerous animals and aggressors.
The south of Đồng Tháp province whose center is Sa Đéc plays a major role. Many researchers have shown that Vietnamese settlers went to Sa Đéc to establish and set up hamlets between the late 17th century and the early 18th century. Sa Đéc is a Khmer word meaning "iron market". Some questions about this market, such as whether it sold iron agricultural tools or whether the frame of the market was made of iron, has not had any reasonable explanation; however, Sa Đéc is probably considered the newest area on the way to develop the country in 1757 led by Nguyễn Cư Trinh, a general who was known for his achievement in resettling people from Quảng Ngãi.
After the emperor Gia Long defeated the Tây Sơn brothers, Gia Long pacified Sa Đéc and assigned it to Vĩnh An district. Sa Đéc, then with a favorable geographical location, did become the most crowded trading center of the Mekong Delta at that time, only smaller than Cholon within Saigon.
Cao Lãnh, located to the north of Tiền river, also has a glorious history. It is recorded in historical books that at the end of the 17th century, or early in the 18th century, Vietnamese settlers at Bả Canh hamlet (currently belonging to Đập Đá commune, Đập Đá town, Bình Định province) came to cultivate and settled down near Cái Sao Thượng rivulet, forming the Bả Canh commune. Nguyễn Tú was accredited with having gathered people, cultivated and set up hamlets. He was elevated to the status of Tiền Hiền - an anciently righteous person - of the village. Nowadays, that stele has been found near Đình Trung bridge, Ward 2, Cao Lãnh city.
Since 1976, Kiến Phong province and Sa Đéc province were merged to form Đồng Tháp Province as it exists today, with the provincial capital initially located in Sa Đéc district-level town.
On June 12, 2025, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 202/2025/QH15, which took effect the same day, merging Tiền Giang province into Đồng Tháp Province.
Following the merger, Đồng Tháp covers 5,938.64 km2 and has a population of 4,370,046 people.
Geography
Geographical location Đồng Tháp province is one of the five provinces in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. The province's territory extends from 10°07'N to 10°58'N and from 105°12'E to 106°47'E. The province has the following geographical location:
To the north, it borders Tây Ninh province and Kingdom of Cambodia. To the south, it borders Vĩnh Long province. To the southwest, it borders Cần Thơ municipality. To the west, it borders An Giang province. To the east, it borders Hồ Chí Minh city (separated by the Soài Rạp river) and the East Sea.
The communes and wards that share a national border with Cambodia is: Thường Phước, Thường Lạc, Hồng Ngự, Tân Hồng Tân Hộ Cơ and Tân Thành is approximately 50km long with 4 border crossings, including: Thông Bình, Dinh Bà, Thường Phước and Mỹ Cân. The national route system includes routes 1, 30, 50, 80, 54 along with national routes N1, N2 connecting Đồng Tháp province with Hồ Chí Minh city and other provinces.
Topography The topography of the province is quite flat with a sloping tendency from north to south and west to east, separating it into two large regions: one to the north of the Tiền River, having an area of , in the Đồng Tháp Muoi area; and one to the south of the Tiền River, having an area of , lying between the Tiền River and Hậu River. Đồng Tháp benefits from a large river, channel and spring system, frequently silt-aggraded soil, and a permanently fresh and non-saline water source.
Climate The whole of Đồng Tháp is in the tropical climate zone. There are two main seasons; a rainy season from May to November, and a dry season from December to April. Average rainfall ranges from to , mostly in the rainy season which accounts for 90 to 95 per cent of annual rainfall. This climate is fairly advantageous for agricultural development. The average temperature is , of which the highest is , and the lowest . The hydrology of the province is under the influence of three factors: floodwater from the upper Mekong River, in-field rain and the tides of the South China Sea. The hydrological regime is divided into two seasons: an exhausted season from December to June and a flood season from July to November.
Administrative divisions After the reorganization of commune-level administrative units in the province. Đồng Tháp province is divided into 102 commune-level administrative, including 31 wards and 71 communes:
List of communes and wards in Đồng Tháp provinceCăn cứ vào Đề án Sắp xếp đơn vị hành chính cấp xã của tỉnh Tiền Giang năm 2025NameArea(km²)Population(people)Wards (31) An Bình50,0733.314An Hữu43,9452.177Bình Phú47,3351.081 Bình Xuân34,4232.574Cái Bè41,1459.611 Cai Lậy25,5234.117 Cao Lãnh73,33137.387Châu Thành24,2857.070 Đạo Thạnh14,2873.370 Gò Công10,0636.124Gò Công Tây39,7844.540 Hồng Ngự64,1853.945Lấp Vò85,2073.883 Long Thuận8,2629.715 Mỹ Ngãi49,0050.504 Mỹ Phong23,0050.731 Mỹ Phước Tây36,0540.730 Mỹ Tho6,3966.766Mỹ Thọ61,4951.191 Mỹ Trà46,2746.757 Nhị Quý21,3627.568 Sa Đéc46,92104.509 Sơn Qui48,9646.507 Thanh Hòa19,5020.903Tháp Mười70,4044.427 Thới Sơn15,2138.490 Thường Lạc43,7438.225Thường Phước80,7459.864Tràm Chim90,2322.725 Trung An23,3870.479Vĩnh Kim25,5731.466NameArea(km²)Population(people)Communes (71)An Hòa77,8919.033An Long72,1950.050An Phước64,9323.788An Thạnh Thủy42,6741.198Ba Sao81,1328.463Bình Hàng Trung78,2239.533Bình Ninh46,6436.131Bình Thành72,1531.182Bình Trưng31,2334.618Chợ Gạo25,1733.793Đốc Binh Kiều77,8228.797Đồng Sơn44,2740.405Gia Thuận67,4145.907Gò Công Đông106,4130.104Hậu Mỹ78,6140.097Hiệp Đức45,9735.734Hòa Long81,3168.886Hội Cư48,6652.774Hưng Thạnh65,1531.368Kim Sơn29,4229.382Lai Vung71,2480.649Long Bình36,6230.788Long Định43,7748.391Long Hưng43,2547.304Long Khánh29,0035.884Long Phú Thuận 56,5761.107Long Tiên44,6443.997Lương Hòa Lạc35,2837.661NameArea(km²)Population(people)Mỹ An Hưng65,2955.371Mỹ Đức Tây45,7936.897Mỹ Hiệp79,4254.577Mỹ Lợi43,7633.781Mỹ Quí119,8836.223Mỹ Thành52,3035.768Mỹ Thiện62,5927.745Mỹ Tịnh An41,2136.958Ngũ Hiệp47,9440.635Phong Hòa87,8871.537Phong Mỹ78,5831.182Phú Cường89,9121.122Phú Hựu71,2868.475Phú Thành31,9225.135Phú Thọ84,9030.372Phương Thịnh104,6521.675Tam Nông102,6721.031Tân Dương46,6746.069Tân Điền39,0122.130Tân Đông50,3551.413Tân Hòa37,9634.149Tân Hồng102,7939.974Tân Hộ Cơ77,525.026Tân Hương35,0567.210Tân Khánh Trung60,1346.858Tân Long94,8676.717Tân Nhuận Đông92,0159.576Tân Phú38,5831.360Tân Phú Đông175,1523.630Tân Phú Trung82,6362.831NameArea(km²)Population (people)Tân Phước 195,3912.836Tân Phước 289,4010.849Tân Phước 380,1911.927Tân Thành64,8230.611Tân Thạnh59,5130.740Tân Thới65,8332.116Tân Thuận Bình39,9440.031Thanh Bình85,9947.410Thanh Hưng51,8946.314Thanh Mỹ93,1533.096Thạnh Phú56,6428.431Trường Xuân113,7618.124Vĩnh Hựu31,8924.210
Transport The highways in and out of the province are Highway 80, Highway 30, Highway 54, Highway N2. Air travel is served by Cần Thơ International Airport which is approximately south of Đồng Tháp. However, the province would also use Ho Chi Minh City's Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport which is approximately north east of Đồng Tháp.
Economy
Growth of agriculture and aquaculture Enjoying a temperate climate, wide irrigation system, permanent freshwater source supplied by the Tiền and Hậu rivers, and rich river deposits, the agriculture of Đồng Tháp keeps growing. At present, Đồng Tháp is the 3rd largest rice paddy in Vietnam with a planted area of 462,042 ha and paddy output of more than 2.8 million tons. Apart from rice, the province also has more than 38,000 ha for secondary and annual industrial crops. Some farm produce zones across the Tiền and Hậu rivers have been built up as specializing areas which supply agricultural products to serve the need of processing and export.
The Sa Đéc flower village – one of the largest flower villages in Vietnam, at nearly 300 ha wide – provides more than 12 million types of flower and ornamental plant, both locally and overseas every year, taking up a significant proportion of the economic growth target of the province. The village has been further invested to enhance its quality, preserve and develop particular local flowers, and apply advanced biotechnology in breeding to raise floriculture as a potential line of production and develop it to be one of the major ecotourism sites of the province. The Sa Đéc flower village has attracted a large number of tourists, considered one of the most-visited destinations before the Lunar New Year. The tourists can admire the beauty of many different kinds of beautiful flowers blooming and enjoy the New Year atmosphere at the largest supplier of flowers for the southern region during Tết.
Đồng Tháp is also well known for fruits such as the Cao Lãnh mango, Lai Vung mandarin, Châu Thành longan and Phong Hoà grapefruit (able to produce fruit during the year), which bring about high economic values for gardeners. Fruit trees' output can reach more than 150,000 tons per annum. Within the province, there are various typical orchards having been specialized to produce consistent quality fruits, which aims at building up brand names and meeting export requirements.
With a large river body, fishery, after rice, is another important industry of the province. Aquaculture is widely developed all over the region, especially catfish and blue-legged prawn. The water surface area for aquatic breeding reaches 5,285 ha, where farmers focus on breeding prawns in rice fields and fish in warps along the Tiền and Hậu rivers. Each year, Đồng Tháp supplies over 290,000 tons of fish and a thousand tons of blue-legged prawns for export processing, accomplishing an export turnover of US$100 million.
Culture
Buddhism Đồng Tháp has, since December 22, 2008, the largest Buddha statue of the Mekong Delta, built in Quan Âm Pagoda: "The sculpture, 32 meters long and weighing 100 tons, is that of Buddha lying on his side on a lotus petal, his right arm supporting his head and his left arm lying along his body. Buddhist scriptures say the Buddha assumed this position when he attained Nirvana, the release from the cycle of death and rebirth of an enlightened person. Thich Giac An of Quan Âm Pagoda, which from today will be home to the statue, said many Buddhists and locals contributed the 2,000 sacks of cement, five tons of iron and many other necessary materials worth VND1.6 billion (US$94,000) needed to build the statue. Quan Âm Pagoda, founded 200 years ago by a mandarin named Tran Quy Tanh, receives many devotees from across the country for major Buddhist festivals."Giao Huong, Thanh Nien News, Dec 21, 2008
Tourism