GeoJournal 57: 305–323, 2002. 305 © 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. Mapping ethnic diversity in highland Northern Vietnam Jean Michaud1, Sarah Turner2,∗ and Yann Roche3 1Chaire des Etudes´ asiatiques, Universit´e de Montr´eal, C.P. 6128, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montr´eal, Qc, H3C 3J7, Canada; 2Department of Geography, McGill University, 805 St., Montr´eal, Qc, H3A 2K6, Canada; 3Department of Geography Uni- versit´eduQu´ebeca ` Montr´eal, C.P. 8888, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montr´eal, Qc, H3C 3P8, Canada; ∗Author for correspondence (Tel: (1 514) 398-4955; Fax: (1 514) 398-7437; E-mail:
[email protected]) Received 5 March 2003; accepted 29 July 2003 Key words: cartography, ethnological maps, highland minorities, Northern Vietnam, Tonkin Abstract In this paper we initially present a critical review of a range of ethnological maps produced over the last 130 years for highland northern Vietnam. In particular we illustrate the many difficulties faced when trying to represent mosaics of ethnic highland minority groups on two dimensional maps. Such historical maps included no attempts to bring topographic details into the picture, an idea that would have been virtually impossible anyway, given the cartographic technologies at the time. Yet by not including such details or not representing them clearly, a partial image of these populations has been created that, over time, has become a standardised representation. Therefore, as a more systematic approach to the analysis of these highland minority groups, we present recent attempts to create more functional maps and models for the northern Vietnam province of Lao Cai, using modern cartographic techniques and geographic information systems.