ÃÂầm Dái [ÃÂÃÂmèé:jÃÂÃÂjçç] is a former rural district of CàMau province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.
Before the XIX century, most of CÃÂ Mau province was still a mangrove forest with low population and there was also very little information which were recorded by officials.
In the 17th year of Minh Má»Ânh (1836), "ÃÂầm Dái area" (xứ ÃÂầm Dái, "land of bat swamps") was first mentioned in ÃÂại Nam nhất thá»Âng chÃÂ. However, this was not yet an official name but just a way to call a area of many fields for convenient demographic statistics. Just know that ÃÂầm Dái area was next to "ÃÂầm Quạ area" (xứ ÃÂầm Quạ, "land of crow swamps"), and both of them belong to Long Xuyên rural district of HàTiên province.
It was not until Cochinchina became a whole colony of the French Republic in 1867, an official administrative unit called ÃÂầm Dái rural district (huyá»Ân ÃÂầm Dái) that appeared. The rural district was based on the merger of two areas ÃÂầm Dái and ÃÂầm Quạ. However, from the mid-19th century to the Second World War, this land has been divided with the rest of Cochinchina by its system of rivers, canals and forests with many crocodiles and snakes.
Under the State of Vietnam regime, ÃÂầm Dái district (quáºÂn ÃÂầm Dái) was part of Bạc Liêu province.
In 1956, the National Assembly of the First Republic of Vietnam issued a decree to establish An Xuyên province in the area of CàMâu peninsula. Since then, ÃÂầm Dái district has become a part of An Xuyên province. When the Vietnam War exploded, Viá»Ât Cá»Âng partisans took advantage of the complex terrain of the district to fight the local government. Therefore, according to the CIA documents, ÃÂầm Dái was soon classified in the "red zone" (vùng ÃÂá»Â) by the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, which is a place where the fighting takes place so it was very dangerous for civilians.
On May 1, 1975, An Xuyên province was dissolved by the Government of the Republic of South Vietnam in their reason that "an evil residue of the former regime". CàMau province was established, and ÃÂầm Dái district was changed as Ngá»Âc Hiá»Ân rural district (huyá»Ân Ngá»Âc Hiá»Ân). By 1976 when Vietnam was officially united in terms of legal, Ngá»Âc Hiá»Ân continued to belong to Minh Hải province.
Until December 17, 1984, the Council of Ministers issued Decision 168-HÃÂBT on :
In August 1986, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Phạm VÃÂn ÃÂá»Âng signed Decision 194/CT to recognize three bird sanctuaries Bạc Liêu, ChàLàand ÃÂầm Dái in the list of special-use forests. This event is considered to be the beginning of the formation of the Ngá»Âc Hiá»Ân Bird Reserve (khu bảo tá»Ân chim Ngá»Âc Hiá»Ân), which occupies most of ÃÂầm Dái's area.
On November 6, 1996, the Vietnam National Assembly issued a resolution on the division of Minh Hải province into two new provinces, Bạc Liêu and CàMau. Since then, ÃÂầm Dái rural district belonged to CàMau province.
Since 2024, the ÃÂầm Dái District People's Committee under the direction of CàMau Province's leadership has promoted a long-term plan from 2025 to 2035 to promote the local commodity economy, thereby preparing for the upgrade of the location where has a high population density to establish at least one high-tech municipality.
Accordingly, the entire area of Tân ThuáºÂn commune (in the Southern zone of Gành Hào) is planned into a new urban area with the ambition to become a large port to bring the district's economy to reduce the canal system, which has gradually run out of water by the influences of hydroelectric factories on the Mekong River.
Currently, ÃÂầm Dái rural district is divided into 16 commune-level administrative units. In particular, most are named after the notable persons.
The district covers an area of 822.88 km<sup>2</sup>. With its characteristics of the mangroves, ÃÂầm Dái population is concentrated mainly in the Northwest part of the rural district, where it has been exploited very early and has a complete inter-provincial road system. Most of the remaining area of the district so far only belongs to the CàMau Bird Reserve but it is less likely to exploit.
The location of ÃÂầm Dái township is inherently a meeting place for three rivers : Cá»Âa Lá»Ân, ÃÂầm Dái and Gành Hào. The East of the district has a small river called ÃÂầm Chim (means "swamp of birds"), which goes to the sea through Há» Gùi estuary.
Theoretically, the ÃÂầm Dái residents were only able to move to other regions through the waterway. However, since the Republic of Vietnam regime, there were two roads that have been built : ÃÂầm Dái - CàMau and ÃÂầm Dái - Thanh Tùng. But these two routes are too narrow, so they are difficult to meet the needs of people. Therefore, the project of the East-West Axis has been designed in 2024 with a system of roads and bridges to turn ÃÂầm Dái township into a transition point between two cities Bạc Liêu and CàMau. Such as : ÃÂng ÃÂá»Âc - Gành Hào provincial route; bridges Hòa Trung I, Hòa Trung II, ChàLàand Gành Hào.
As of 2022, ÃÂầm Dái rural district had a population of 219,262. The population component consists of three ethnic groups registered officially, including as : Kinh, Hoa and Khmer. In particular, the rate of the Khmer group is decreasing in recent years due to the plunge of the economy.
The territory of the district has only one parish area called Bàu Sen, which located at Nam Chánh hamlet of Thanh Tùng commune, with about 50 parishioners. Bàu Sen belonged to the CàMau Deanery. The current priest is Bishop Peter Trá»Ânh Quá»Âc Viá»Ât.
Contrary to the poorness of the land fund for settlement, ÃÂầm Dái rural district was known early as one of the localities with the most prosperous customs in the Mekong Delta.
According to the traditional concept of the Southern Vietnamese, the Hoa (Tanka group) are said to be the first residents to reclaim the area of ÃÂầm Dái, then to the Kinh and Khmer. Although the Khmer Kraom is often thought to be the oldest owner of Cochinchina, they almost abandoned the lands at the esturies, where the terrain is very dense and difficult to move. That leads to a typical, the custom of the rural district as a combination of two groups Tanka and Kinh.
From 24 to 26 of March (15 to 17 of February by Lunar Calendar), every year, when the Southern weather is about to enter the rainy season, the people of the whole district flock to Thanh Tùng hamlet of Thanh Tùng commune to attend Festival of Water-Dragon Goddess (lá» vÃÂa ÃÂức bàThủy Long). According to local legends, there were two men, Tô Minh Chánh (Tanka) and Nguyá» n VÃÂn Lành (Kinh), from the Centre region to ÃÂầm Dái to reclaim and establish a village in 1820. Their small boat came to a junction of the river when they met a snakehead jumping into the boat, which was thought to be a good omen. They decided to stay here to make a career, and at the same time, set up a temple to worship the goddess protecting the land (bàchúa xứ). The temple yard has a smaller temple, where worships Tiger Spirit the lord of mountains. On March 25, 2024, the Government of Vietnam passed the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to recognize the Festival as a national intangible cultural heritage (di sản vÃÂn hóa phi váºÂt thá» cấp quá»Âc gia).
In the past, most of ÃÂầm Dái's practices were closer to Bạc Liêu than CàMau. This is confirmed by the researchers based on the fact that : is very popular in other CàMau districts, but hardly appears in ÃÂầm Dái, but at the same time, the art forms originating from Teochew community are extremely popular in this rural district.
Gành Hào (means "canal of oysters") is a big seaport where was shared between the two districts ÃÂầm Dái and ÃÂông Hải. It is an address that soon became a legend in Vietnamese arts, because it is often considered to be the birthplace of vá»Âng cá» (classic-style singing).
In modern Vietnamese culture, ÃÂầm Dái is considered a fertile land for the development of literary talents. This stems from the 2005 literary phenomenon Nguyá» n Ngá»Âc Tð to the appearance of young researcher and author Phạm Quá»Âc Rin in 2006. Immediately after that generation was the appearance of many other authors, whom brought the district's young literature to the public nationwide.
Since the last years of 2010, many vocalists from ÃÂầm Dái have achieved success in the Vietnamese music market, especially in gold music and tuá»Âng cải lðáng.
ÃÂầm Dái is known for the CàMau Bird Sanctuary (tràm chim CàMau), which is 45 km Southeast of CàMau City. The sanctuary is home to many types of storks. The birds in the preserve tend to make nests in the top of very high trees and search for food in the early mornings.
ÃÂầm Dái rural district has a 22 km long coastline, which overlooks the East Sea, so it is very convenient for the development of the professions related to the maritime industry. In fact, the district had a powerful fishing vessel very early, and it was one of the districts what has the total income related to fisheries at the highest level of Vietnam.
Three esturies Gành Hào, Há» Gùi and Giá Lá»Âng ÃÂèn have an appropriate environment for shrimp farming. Besides, ÃÂầm Dái rural district is almost an important supplier of snakehead for Saigonese consumers.
According to the plan of the CàMau Provincial People's Committee based on the promotion and brokerage of the CàMau Department of Planning and Investment, the project of the ÃÂầm Dái Township-Market began to be promoted since December 31, 2024, to attract investment with the intended amount of 37,45 billion Vietnam dongs. The future market is given priority located in the 2,533 square meters at the junction of the river, where is the center of ÃÂầm Dái township. The purpose of this project is to raise the township, thereby awakening the economic potential of the whole district.