“Sea and continent - role and exchange network in the Central River Basin”

In his opening speech, Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh said: The theme of this conference has great significance in terms of science and practice. In terms of practice, Vietnam is a country with diverse terrain, rich in natural conditions, with sea, rivers, mountains and mainland from South to North. From a scientific perspective, this topic is of interest to many international scientists. Currently, there is still debate between two groups of scholars in the world. The first group is the "sea view" group, emphasizing the importance of the sea in Vietnam because the sea and coastal areas account for 1/3 of Vietnam's area. The other group of scholars offers a "mountain view". The theme of the conference is about the relationship between land and sea, and is similar to the two schools mentioned above. Therefore, if these two viewpoints can be widely introduced, the understanding of researchers about Vietnamese history will be much more complete. This is even more meaningful in the context that the University of Social Sciences and Humanities has just established the Center for Sea and Island Research as an affirmation that this will be one of the areas of interest in the general research picture of the University in the future.

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh - Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities spoke at the conference

In his opening speech at the conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc said: Vietnamese history took place on the territory of Vietnam with many relationships between people and people, between people and nature. The concept up to now mainly revolves around the Vietnamese people. In the South, wherever the Vietnamese people went, the Vietnamese people followed them. The South, South Central, and Southern regions only start from the 16th and 17th centuries, ignoring the historical period of Champa and Chenla. Obviously, the incomplete views of Vietnamese history need to be overcome.

The national social science project to research and compile the "History of Vietnam" recently especially emphasized the objectivity, completeness, comprehensiveness, core, and naturalness of the country's history; and required expanding historical materials to many related fields such as Geography, Archeology, Economics, Linguistics, Folklore... and using interdisciplinary research methods.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Ngoc - Vice President of Vietnam Historical Science Association spoke at the conference

In this joint effort of the scientific community, this conference discussed the relationship between the sea and the continent, especially the role and network of exchanges in the river basins of Central Vietnam in the history of the country. The conference attracted the attention of many researchers of ancient and medieval Vietnamese history, Champa, Archaeology, Cultural Studies, Geography from many different provinces and units. The articles were assessed as having been carefully invested and bringing many rich sources of documents, especially field investigation documents with new comments and assessments on this topic.

Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang - Vice President of Vietnam Historical Science Association spoke at the conference

Some presentations at the workshop include: "Sea and Continent - the role of Central Vietnam rivers" (Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Kim, University of Social Sciences and Humanities), "Natural characteristics of some large river systems in the Central region" (Prof. Dr. Truong Quang Hai, Institute of Vietnamese Studies and Development Science, VNU), "The Go Sanh pottery exchange network during the Cham period" (Dr. Dinh Ba Hoa, Binh Dinh Museum), "Sacred river axes in Quang Tri region under the Champa period" (MSc. Le Duc Tho, Center for Conservation of Monuments and Landscapes of Quang Tri), "The exchange network along the rivers of Central Vietnam in comparison with the model of the Northern Delta" (Dr. Do Thuy Lan, University of Social Sciences and Humanities), "The role of the Central Vietnam river system in cultural and commercial exchange" (Dr. Dinh Duc Tien, University of Social Sciences and Humanities), Exchange along the Thu Bon river during the Sa Huynh and early Champa periods (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lam Thi My Dung, University of Social Sciences and Humanities), “Thanh Cha in Chawmpa history: New research results (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Le Van Toi, Center for Imperial City Studies - VASS)…