Thu Bon River

Everything you see around you in Hoi An exists because of this river. The Thu Bon River is not just a waterway, it is the entire reason this town became one of the most important trading ports in Southeast Asia, and why we are standing here today. The Thu Bon originates deep in the Truong Son mountain range to the west and flows roughly 200 kilometers before reaching the sea at Cua Dai Beach, just a few kilometers east of where you are now. For centuries, this stretch of river served as a natural harbor where merchant vessels from Japan, China, India, Portugal, the Netherlands, and beyond would anchor and trade silk, ceramics, spices, and precious metals. During the golden age of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Thu Bon was crowded with trading junks and sampans. Japanese silver was exchanged for Vietnamese silk. Chinese ceramics were loaded alongside Vietnamese cinnamon and pepper. Portuguese missionaries arrived on these same waters, bringing with them the Latin alphabet that would eventually become the basis for modern Vietnamese script. But rivers give and rivers take. The Thu Bon is prone to severe flooding during the monsoon season, typically between October and December. The...