Editing Geography of Vietnam (section)

===Mountainous===
{{See also|Zomia (geography)}}
[[Image:Vietnamese valley.JPG|thumb|left|150px|A valley in the north.]]
The mountain plateaus in the north and northwest are inhabited mainly by tribal minority groups. The Dãy Trường Sơn ([[Annamite Range]]) originates in the [[Tibet]]an  and Yunnan regions of southwest China and forms Vietnam's border with Laos. It terminates in the Mekong River Delta north of [[Ho Chi Minh City|Hồ Chí Minh City]] (formerly Saigon).

These central mountains, which have several high [[plateau]]s, are irregular in elevation and form. The northern section is narrow and very rugged; the country's highest peak, [[Fansipan|Fan Si Pan]], rises to 3,142 meters in the extreme northwest. The southern portion has numerous spurs that divide the narrow coastal strip into a series of compartments. For centuries these topographical features not only rendered north–south communication difficult, but also formed an effective natural barrier for the containment of the people living in the Mekong basin.

{{Further|Nhồi Mountain}}