History of Lao Cai
Lao Cai is a border highland province, located in the Northwestern of Vietnam; it is 296km by railway and 265km by road from Hanoi. Lao Cai borders Ha Giang province in the East, Yen Bai province in the South, Lai Chau province in the West, and Yunnan province in the North with 203 km borderline. More than 10,000 years ago, human had appeared in Lao Cai.

Back to Hung King Era founding the country, Lao Cai belonged to Tan Hung province, is one of the 15 provinces of the Van Lang State, which is a major political and economic center in the upstream of Red River. In the reign of Dinh, Ly, Tran, Le, there are many changes in name of places ... Under the reign of Nguyen, Lao Cai is mainly belonged to Thuy Vu district, Van Ban district, and a part of Chieu Tan and  Luc Yen in Quy Hoa district. Up to this point, the name of Lao Cai has not been formed.

The current land of Lao Cai city had a market in the past, gradually opened a street market. So the first market in the local dialect is called Lao Nhai (meaning Old Street). Later, they opened another market called Tan Nhai (meaning New Street or called Pho Moi today). According to the late Professor Dao Duy Anh, Lao Nhai words were transformed into Lao Cai and was called for quite a long time. When making maps, the French wrote Lao Cai into Lao Kay. Lao Kay was used by the French in documents and seals, but in communication, people still called Lao Cai. After the liberation of Lao Cai (in November, 1950), it was called Lao Cai until this day. After having invaded Lao Cai (in March, 1886) and completed military pacification, the French colonized the Lao Cai district according to military regime.

On January 7, 1899, IV Army were formed including Yen Bai and Lao Cai Sub-units. Lao Cai is the capital of IV Army. In order to control and exploit this land, the French colonized the administrative region and changed the regime. On July 12, 1907, the Indochinese government issued a decree abolishing the IV Army in Lao Cai, moving from military regime to civilian rule, establishing Lao Cai province. Then the name of Lao Cai province has been determined on the map of Vietnam.

Experiencing the ups and downs of history, Lao Cai's geography has many changes.

- Establishment of Lao Cai civilian province (in July 12, 1907), the land of Thuy Vy district on the right bank of Red River merged into Chieu Tan, still named as Thuy Vy. Since then Chieu Tan no longer existed. The part of Thuy Vy district on the left bank of Red River was separated to form Bao Thang district. Lao Cai province is comprised of two districts of Thuy Vy, Bao Thang and Muong Khuong, Phong Tho, Bat Xat, Bac Ha (Pa Kha) and Lao Cai town, including 855 villages, 6,812 households, 39,099 people, with 11 main ethnic groups such as Hmong, Dao, Tay, Giay ... of which H'mong occupied 26.56%, Dao 22.41%, Tay, Giay 20.77%, Kinh 4.52%, Nung 7.33%, Thai 9.25%, Uoi 2.48% , Hoa Kieu 4.44%, the rest are other ethnic groups.  After Lao Cai was liberated for the first time, Lao Cai was divided into 8 districts: Bac Ha, Muong Khuong, Ban Lau, Bao Thang, Sa Pa, Bat Xat, Phong Tho and Lao Cai.

- May 7, 1955, Thai Meo Autonomous Region was established, Phong Tho district of Lao Cai province moved to Thai Meo Autonomous Region. It belonged to Lai Chau province later.

- On March 27, 1975, at the second session of the 5th National Assembly, three provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Nghia Lo were merged into Hoang Lien Son province.

- On April 17, 1979, the Government Council issued a decision to merge Lao Cai and Cam Duong into Lao Cai town of Hoang Lien Son province.

- On August 12, 1991, the ninth session of the 8th National Assembly issued the Resolution to divide Hoang Lien Son province into Yen Bai and Lao Cai provinces.

- On October 1st, 1991, Lao Cai was reestablished, based on the land of Lao Cai (the old land) and added three districts including Bao Yen, Van Ban (Yen Bai former), Than Uyen (Nghia Lo former), consisting of 8 districts and two towns.

- On June 9, 1992, the Council of Ministers decided to separate Lao Cai town into Lao Cai town and Cam Duong town.

- On December 30, 2000, Bac Ha district was divided into Si Ma Cai and Bac Ha districts.

- On January 31, 2002, the Prime Minister issued a decree to merge Lao Cai town and Cam Duong town into Lao Cai provincial capital.

- On January 1, 2004, Than Uyen district was separated from Lai Chau province (new).

- On November 30, 2004, the Prime Minister issued Decree No. 195/2004 / ND-CP on the establishment of Lao Cai city in Lao Cai province. At present, Lao Cai province consists of Lao Cai city and 8 districts: Bao Thang, Bao Yen, Bac Ha, Si Ma Cai, Muong Khuong, Sa Pa, Bat Xat and Van Ban with natural area of 6,383.88 km2, provincial population of 674,530 people (2016 figures), the average population density of 106 persons per km2.

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