ThỠChâu Islands () is an archipelago in the Gulf of Thailand. It constitutes fully as ThỠChâu Special Zone of An Giang Province () belonging to new An Giang province in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.
According to ', its name Thá» Châu was written as "Ã¥ÂÂç ", which implies as a pearl in the middle of the sea. This way of calling has been assumed by the linguist Thiá»Âu Chá»Âu to be similar to Pearl Harbor.
In the past, the archipelago was also known as Pulau Panjang (means "long island" in Malay language) or Pulo Panjang by navigators.
During the existence of the Republic of Vietnam, ThỠChâu Islands were under the administration of An Xuyên Province. However, the islands historically used to constitute a disputed territory between Cambodia and Vietnam, both nations claiming them to be within their territorial waters.
On May 10, 1975, Khmer Rouge occupied ThỠChâu Island and abducted about five hundred civilians to Cambodia, all of whom were massacred. From May 24 to May 27, 1975, Vietnamese forces attacked the occupiers and recaptured the island. In 1977, the Khmer Rouge raided ThỠChâu Island once again but were defeated.
On April 27, 1992, under the arrangement of the People's Committee of Kiên Giang Province, six families with about thirty people moved to ThỠChâu Island and settled there. On April 24, 1993, the Vietnamese government decided to establish ThỠChâu commune (xã ThỠChâu).
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 lost contact with ground while flying by ThỠChâu island.
According to the Statement on the basis of the territorial width in the Tonkin Gulf and a number of related documents, ThỠChâu is considered by the Vietnamese press as the farthest place to the West to determine the above sovereignty of Vietnam on the ocean.
On February 24, 2025, at the 32nd Session of the 10th People's Council of Kiên Giang province, the delegates participated in the vote to officially approve the resolution of the establishment of Thá» Châu island district (huyá»Ân ÃÂảo Thá» Châu), which was based on the whole natural area and population of the islands or former commune.
ThỠChâu island district is basically the whole area of ThỠChâu archipelago, not divided into commune-level administrative units like other localities.
It consist of the following eight islands : Thá» Châu with , Hòn Cao, Hòn Cao Cát, Hòn Khô, Hòn Mô (or sometimes Hòn Cái Bàn), Hòn Nhạn, Hòn Từ and Hòn Xanh.
In particular, Hòn Nhạn is base point A1 on Vietnam's baseline.
ThỠChâu Island - the largest entity of the archipelago - was first proposed as a marine protected area in 1995. Subsequently, Asian Development Bank proposed the establishment of a marine protected areas over ThỠChâu Island with an area of , of which land area is and sea area is .
Currently, ThỠChâu has about 500 households with nearly 2,000 inhabitants, most of whom are border guards and navy personnel who chose to settle on the islands; the rest are immigrants. Local residents' livelihood is providing service to fishing boats, small craft production, farming, animal husbandry and fishing along the coast.