Tan An - From Vung Gu to a dynamic young city

Tan An has National Highway 1, National Highway 62 and waterways from Ho Chi Minh City to the provinces of the Mekong Delta and Cambodia passing through. All of them are important economic and military traffic axes.

Vung Gu in the days of land opening

Since the beginning of the 17th century, there have been groups of Vietnamese people coming to reclaim the land in the Southern region. According to Long An Gazetteer, in 1698, Le Thanh Hau Nguyen Huu Canh, following the order of Lord Nguyen Phuc Chu, inspected the Southern land and established Gia Dinh prefecture. Long An land, including Tan An city today, belongs to Tan Binh district and the headquarters is located in Phien Tran palace.

Today's Tan An urban area began to form in Vung Gu land since the Bao Dinh canal was dug by Chanh Thong Cai Co Nguyen Cuu Van in 1705 after defeating the Chenla army. Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, researcher Nguyen Tan Quoc affirmed in the article 320 years of Vung Gu - Tan An land (1705 - 2025) - The person who reclaimed the land of the South as follows: "The reason he chose Vung Gu is because this place is located on an important waterway, so it can control the entry and exit of Chenla, and is located between two major centers, Gia Dinh and My Tho, so it is convenient to mobilize human and material resources to serve defense and land reclamation".

The poetic and peaceful Bao Dinh canal passes through Tan An City

Speaking about the common name Vung Gu, scholar Vuong Hong Sen said that Vung Gu is a place name translated from Khmer: Kompong Ku, meaning a river wharf with many cows. The book "Tan An in the past" by Dao Van Hoi also has a passage that says: “In the past, the Khmer people used to bring their cows to drink water at this wharf, so the Southern people also called the Vam Co Tay River Vung Gu or bang co, perhaps the Khmer word is a mispronunciation of the meaning of a wharf for cows to drink water”.

After the Bao Dinh canal passed through Vung Gu, the area began to develop. The canal brought many benefits to the people in their daily life, travel, irrigation as well as strengthening security and firmly protecting the border area.

Following this canal, Chanh Thong Cai Co Nguyen Cuu Van and Cai Ve Pham Hoang Loc commanded the militia to reclaim the areas of Khanh Hau, Tan Huong, Hoa Tinh, My Tinh An, Huong Hoa Lac, Tan Hiep, Tan Ly, etc that is, the strip of land along Vung Gu canal, now belonging to Long An and Tien Giang provinces.

On the opposite side, on the northern bank of the Vam Co Tay River, Nguyen Cuu Van ordered the militia to reclaim and establish the villages: Binh Khue, Binh Trung, Binh Thuyen (later changed to Phu Thanh and then Nhon Thanh) - now Nhon Thanh Trung commune and ward 5, Tan An city.

Bao Dinh canal not only marked the establishment of sovereignty, the birth of Tan An land, but also created an important strategic inland waterway, promoting the development process in Tan An land and the Mekong Delta.

Besides the advantages of strategic location, Vung Gu also had another advantage as a foundation for urban development, which was the water border area on Bao Dinh canal. There, the water was floating slowly, convenient for boats, merchant boats, Vung Gu gradually developed. By the end of the 18th century, Vung Gu had become prosperous and densely populated.

After many changes in both administrative boundaries and names, in 1832 (the 13th year of Minh Mang), the name Tan An was officially established. Tan An Prefecture was established on the basis of merging the two districts of Thuan An and Phuoc Loc of the former Tan Binh Prefecture. At that time, the capital of Tan An was located in Binh Khue village, now Que My Thanh commune, near Cai Tai market, Tan Tru district.

After occupying the three eastern provinces, France separated Tan An Prefecture from Gia Dinh province, established Tan An district, the capital was still located in Cai Tai, until 1863 it was moved to Chau Phe, Nhon Thanh Trung commune, on the Vam Co Tay river. At the end of 1868 and the beginning of 1869, the capital of Tan An district was moved to Binh Lap village until the day of liberation.

Traditions of Tan An

Not only has a long history, Tan An is also a land rich in tradition in the process of resistance against colonialism and imperialism, contributing significantly to Long An receiving the 8 golden words "Bravery and resilience, the whole people fighting the enemy". The Thien Dia Hoi and Nguyen An Ninh "Secret Society" movements often came to Tan An before going to other localities and Tan An gradually became the vibrant center of patriotic movements. Tan An became a stopover, a return place for revolutionary cadres, a transit point for letters and confidential documents from Saigon, the East to the Central and the West.

Bao Dinh culvert across Bao Dinh river in Tan An city

During the August Revolution, Tan An was the first locality to seize power in the South. During the historic Mau Than Campaign and Ho Chi Minh Campaign, the army and people of Tan An also made important contributions to the overall success. Former member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, former Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee - Hero of the People's Armed Forces Tran Thi Sua said: "Long An, specifically Tan An, in the anti-American resistance war, had a quite important position, where the enemy escalated and also de-escalated. One of the important tasks in the historic Ho Chi Minh Campaign was to cut off Route 4 to ensure our strategic transportation corridor and cut off the enemy's supply route to the provinces in the Mekong Delta region".

From the early days of its formation, the Tan An urban area today was built on the advantages of both strategic location and natural conditions. Tan An also took advantage of its advantages, promoting patriotism during the years of resistance and homeland construction.

During the period of French colonial, Tan An did not change much, the economy developed slowly, and people's lives were miserable. After 1975, the army and people of Tan An, together with the whole province, built their homeland to develop more and more. Tan An became a young, dynamic city with great potential for socio-economic development.

Towards the goal of developing the city to be worthy of being the political, administrative, economic, cultural, scientific and technological center of the province, the Party Committee, the government and the people Tan An City is building the city into a type I urban area with the criteria of "friendly, civilized, modern".

During the 2020-2025 term, the city mobilized tens of thousands of billions of VND to invest in socio-economic infrastructure. These include Tan An City Ring Road; the intersection of Hung Vuong Street extended to National Highway 62; Hoang Hoa Tham Park; Smart Operation Center; etc. The project "Piloting concrete support for investment in rural traffic routes in the city in the period of 2023-2025" continues to be implemented; at the same time, the project "Piloting concrete support for expanding and upgrading inner-city alleys" is also deployed.

In 2024, Tan An was recognized as a meeting civilized urban standards. At the same time, the city also launched the movement "Saving, mobilizing social resources to join hands in implementing social security work, leaving no one behind".

After more than 300 years of laying the foundation for formation and development, Tan An today still maintains its strategic position in terms of economy and national defense, and has become a young, dynamic and modern city./.

Summarize by Que Lam - Translated by Q. Thien

Source: https://baolongan.vn/tan-an-tu-vung-gu-den-thanh-pho-tre-nang-dong-a191918.html