Exhibition on Drawing Dragon Maps at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities: Extending the good relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tuan - Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU emphasized that this is an event to celebrate the milestone of more than 400 years of people-to-people exchange and 50 years of bilateral diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Netherlands.
For the past 500 years, the Netherlands has been a maritime power, the world's leading center for cartographic science. The cartographic heritage that the Netherlands has left to the world is enormous, including hundreds of maps of Vietnam over the past 400 years. Dutch maps are not only extremely important, not only serving the scientific and historical issues of Vietnam, but also contributing greatly to the research and affirmation of the country's sovereignty, especially its territorial waters and territories. In addition, the Netherlands also has 30,000 pages of handwritten documents (from the 17th century to the early 19th century) containing a lot of information about culture, economy, society, customs, and descriptions of territory and territorial waters.

Professor Hoang Anh Tuan said that, as the leading university in Vietnam in research and training in the field of social sciences and humanities, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has coordinated with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Vietnam to organize a thematic exhibition: "Drawing the Dragon Map: Vietnam in the eyes of Dutch cartographers". This is the first exhibition in Vietnam to introduce to the public a very systematic collection of maps, along with in-depth exploitation and research, which will contribute to strengthening the friendly cooperation between the two countries, especially serving the issue of planning, territory, and territorial waters of Vietnam in the coming time. Appreciating the meaningful activity of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU in displaying the map of Vietnam by Dutch cartographers, Mr. Kees van Baar - Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Vietnam shared: “A map is a story about the history, culture, and the formation and development of a country. Therefore, today's thematic exhibition on dragon mapping reminds us of the culture and history of Vietnam hundreds of years ago”. The Ambassador was delighted to see many scientists, diplomats, especially students of VNU-USSH visiting the exhibition booth, clearly showing their passion for historical research. This is also a testament to the good relationship between Vietnam and the Netherlands.   Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, former Vietnamese Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Ms. Dinh Thi Minh Huyen expressed her gratitude to the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for organizing the exhibition of Vietnamese maps made by Dutch cartographers. This is not only a meaningful activity to promote diplomatic relations between the two countries but also has great significance for science and history.
According to the former ambassador, the exhibition of valuable map documents is a practical activity that needs to be replicated in universities, aiming to provide society with authentic historical documents, while also educating the younger generation, especially students, about national sovereignty and sovereignty over seas and islands.