vina, any of several stringed musical instruments of India, including arched harps (before 1000 ce), stick zithers, and lutes. The North Indian version, the bin, is used in classical Hindustani music. Classified as a stick zither, it is about 4 feet (1.2 metres) in length, having a large resonating

Viña del Mar, city and Pacific Ocean resort, central Chile. It is located just northeast of Valparaíso. A large municipal gaming casino, beaches, and a pleasant summer climate attract substantial numbers of domestic and foreign vacationers. Hotels, exclusive clubs, a racecourse, public gardens and

Baltic religion: Cosmology: …saule (literally “this sun”) and viņa saule (literally “the other sun”). The metaphor šī saule symbolizes ordinary everyday human life, while viņa saule indicates the invisible world where the sun goes at night, which is also the abode of the dead.

vinegar: …becomes a classic cold sauce—vinaigrette—used as a dressing on vegetable salads and served as a sauce with cold cooked vegetables, meats, and fish. Vinegar is also a common ingredient in marinades and is widely used in the pickling of cucumbers and other vegetables.

vinaigrette, small metal perfume container usually made of gold or silver and containing a pierced metal tray beneath which was placed a piece of sponge soaked in an aromatic substance such as vinegar combined with lavender. Vinaigrettes were made as boxes and many more novel forms from the late

Gran Chaco: Plant life: …species, among which the notorious vinal (Prosopis ruscifolia) was declared a national plague in Argentina because its thorns, up to a foot in length, created a livestock hazard in the agricultural lands it was invading.

Cuba: Plant and animal life: …of Juventud Island, and the Viñales valley. Desembarco del Granma National Park features a series of verdant limestone terraces that range from 1,180 feet (360 metres) above sea level to 590 feet (180 metres) below. Both Desembarco del Granma and Viñales were designated UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1999.

Robert Indiana: …Indiana lived and worked in Vinalhaven, Maine. He died amid a battle concerning control of his legacy and estate. One lawsuit claimed that Indiana’s caretaker had cut the artist off from his friends and supporters and had illegally authorized the production of a number of uncharacteristic pieces, including sculptures commemorating…

Dawn: …observed two very bright spots, Vinalia Faculae and Cerealia Facula, in Occator crater. The bright spots were highly reflective salts left behind when briny water from an underground reservoir percolated upward and evaporated. The water percolated through fractures left behind when the crater formed 20 million years ago. Since the…

French literature: Drama: …subsidies supported the work of Michel Vinaver and Bernard-Marie Koltès, whose plays are concerned with individuals struggling with the institutional discourses—family, law, politics—of which contemporary consumer society and their own identities are woven. The quick exchanges of Vinaver’s play L’Émission de télévision (1990; The Television Programme, published in Plays) express…

Buddhism: The Pali canon (Tipitaka): …monastic life (Pali and Sanskrit: Vinaya), to the discourses of the Buddha (Pali: Sutta), and subsequently to the interest in scholasticism (Pali: Abhidhamma).

Vinaya Piṭaka, (Pāli and Sanskrit: “Basket of Discipline”), the oldest and smallest of the three sections of the Buddhist canonical Tipiṭaka (“Triple Basket”) and the one that regulates monastic life and the daily affairs of monks and nuns according to rules attributed to the Buddha. It varies less

drug: Anticancer drugs: Vinblastine and vincristine (vinca alkaloids), derived from the periwinkle plant, along with etoposide, act primarily to stop spindle formation within the dividing cell during DNA replication and cell division. These drugs are important agents in the treatment of leukemias, lymphomas, and testicular cancer. Etoposide, a…

periwinkle, in botany, any of various plants of the genus Vinca of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae). The name periwinkle is possibly taken from pervinka, the Russian name of the flower, which in turn is derived from pervi, “first,” as it is one of the first flowers of spring. The lesser periwinkle

periwinkle: The similar greater periwinkle (V. major), with purplish blue flowers, 2.5 to 5 cm across, native to continental Europe, has become naturalized in England.

periwinkle: The lesser periwinkle (V. minor), with lilac-blue flowers, 2 cm (0.75 inch) across, an evergreen, trailing perennial, is native to Europe and is found in the British Isles. Introduced into North America, it is now widespread over much of the eastern continent. The similar greater periwinkle…

malformation: Alteration of floral parts: In the Madagascar periwinkle (Vinca rosea), however, viruses of this type bring about a green colouring in the petals, stamens, and styles; normally the petals are pink and the stamens and styles whitish. There is in this instance a retrograde development of floral parts into foliage leaves.…

Vincennes, city, seat (1790) of Knox county, southwestern Indiana, U.S., on the Wabash River, 51 miles (82 km) north of Evansville. Indiana’s oldest city, Vincennes figured prominently in early American history from the time of its settlement (1702, or possibly earlier) by French traders on the

Vincennes, town, eastern residential suburb of Paris, Val-de-Marne département, Île-de-France région, north-central France, immediately outside the Paris city limits. The château of Vincennes, which succeeded an earlier fortified hunting lodge on the site, consists of four principal buildings—the

Vincennes ware, pottery made at Vincennes, near Paris, from c. 1738, when the factory was probably founded by Robert and Gilles Dubois, until 1756 (three years after it had become the royal manufactory), when the concern moved to Sèvres, near Versailles. After 1756 pottery continued to be made at

Paris: City site: … to the west and the Bois de Vincennes to the east. Moreover, during his reign a large area of land was laid out in promenades and garden squares. Under Mayor Jacques Chirac in the late 20th century, the municipal government initiated efforts to create new parks, and such projects continued…

Vincent gingivitis, acute and painful infection of the tooth margins and gums that is caused by the symbiotic microorganisms Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia vincentii. The chief symptoms are painful, swollen, bleeding gums; small, painful ulcers covering the gums and tooth margins; and

Brooke Russell Astor: …became the president of the Vincent Astor Foundation. From that time on, she set about providing nearly 100 grants each year to charitable organizations, civic programs, and cultural institutions in New York City, including organizations serving the homeless, programs to build parks in housing projects, and such institutions as the…

St. Vincent de Paul ; canonized 1737; feast day September 27) was a French saint, founder of the Congregation of the Mission (Lazarists, or Vincentians) for preaching missions to the peasantry and for educating and training a pastoral clergy. The patron saint of charitable societies, St. Vincent de

Vincent gingivitis, acute and painful infection of the tooth margins and gums that is caused by the symbiotic microorganisms Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia vincentii. The chief symptoms are painful, swollen, bleeding gums; small, painful ulcers covering the gums and tooth margins; and

St. Vincent Ferrer ; canonized 1455; feast day April 5) was an Aragonese friar and renowned preacher who helped to end the Great Western Schism. In 1367 he entered the Dominican order at Valencia, where he became professor of theology. In 1394 the antipope Benedict XIII made him his confessor and

Vincent gingivitis, acute and painful infection of the tooth margins and gums that is caused by the symbiotic microorganisms Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia vincentii. The chief symptoms are painful, swollen, bleeding gums; small, painful ulcers covering the gums and tooth margins; and

Vincent gingivitis, acute and painful infection of the tooth margins and gums that is caused by the symbiotic microorganisms Bacillus fusiformis and Borrelia vincentii. The chief symptoms are painful, swollen, bleeding gums; small, painful ulcers covering the gums and tooth margins; and

Vincent Of Beauvais was a French scholar and encyclopaedist whose Speculum majus (“Great Mirror”) was probably the greatest European encyclopaedia up to the 18th century. After he had entered the Dominican order in Paris (c. 1220) and become a priest and theologian, Vincent conceived the idea of

Saint Vincent of Lérins ; feast day May 24) was a Gallo-Roman saint, the chief theologian of the Abbey of Lérins, known especially for his heresiography Commonitoria (“Memoranda”). Supposedly the brother of Lupus of Troyes, Vincent may possibly have been a soldier before joining, before about 425,

Bud Selig: After baseball commissioner Fay Vincent resigned his post in 1992, Selig became the de facto commissioner when his fellow owners selected him to be chairman of the Major League Executive Council. In that capacity, he presided over the contentious 234-day strike by players in 1994–95 that led to…

Gene Vincent American rockabilly singer whose swaggering, black-leather-clad image defined the look of the rock rebel. Discharged from the U.S. Navy in 1955 following a motorcycle accident in which his leg was seriously injured, Vincent tried his hand at country music. In 1956, with record

Dick Cheney: …August 29, 1964, he married Lynne Vincent. While Cheney worked as an aid to Wisconsin Gov. Warren Knowles, his wife received a doctorate in British literature from the University of Wisconsin. She later served as chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH; 1986–93), where she was criticized by…

Haiti: U.S. occupation: It elected as president Sténio Joseph Vincent. In August 1934 U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt withdrew the Marines; however, the United States maintained direct fiscal control until 1941 and indirect control over Haiti until 1947. In 1935 a plebiscite extended Vincent’s term to 1941 and amended the constitution so…

Vincentian, member of a Roman Catholic society of priests and brothers founded at Paris in 1625 by St. Vincent de Paul for the purpose of preaching missions to the poor country people and training young men in seminaries for the priesthood. To its original work the congregation has added extensive

Measure for Measure: The play opens with Vincentio, the benevolent duke of Vienna, commissioning his deputy Angelo to govern the city while he travels to Poland. In actuality, the duke remains in Vienna disguised as a friar in order to watch what unfolds. Following the letter of the law, Angelo passes the…

Peter Paul Rubens: Education and early career: Hired by Vincenzo I Gonzaga, duke of Mantua, Rubens proceeded to Mantua, where his chief duties were to make copies of Renaissance paintings, mainly portraits of court beauties. In October 1600 Rubens accompanied the duke to Florence to attend the marriage-by-proxy of Gonzaga’s sister-in-law Marie de Médicis…

Charles Vinci was an American weightlifter who won two Olympic gold medals. Vinci, who stood just 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 metres) tall, won seven U.S. weightlifting titles in the bantamweight (56-kg [123.5-pound]) division in 1954–56 and 1958–61. He won Pan American Games titles in 1955 and 1959. At

Charles Vinci was an American weightlifter who won two Olympic gold medals. Vinci, who stood just 4 feet 11 inches (1.5 metres) tall, won seven U.S. weightlifting titles in the bantamweight (56-kg [123.5-pound]) division in 1954–56 and 1958–61. He won Pan American Games titles in 1955 and 1959. At

Leonardo Vinci was an Italian composer who was one of the originators of the Neapolitan style of opera. Among his notable followers were Nicola Porpora, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, and Johann Adolph Hasse. Vinci’s first known work was a comic opera in the Neapolitan dialect, Lo cecato fauzo (1719;

Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. His Last Supper (1495–98) and Mona Lisa (c. 1503–19) are among the most widely popular and

Italian literature: Fiction at the turn of the 21st century: …in the microcosm described by Simona Vinci. Her Dei bambini non si sa niente (1997; Eng. trans. What We Don’t Know About Children, or A Game We Play) opens a disturbing window onto the perverse and ultimately deadly private world of a group of children abandoned by their families to…

angiosperm: Significance to humans: such as acute leukemia (vincristine from the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus; Apocynaceae), and of heart problems (digitalis from foxglove, Digitalis purpurea; Plantaginaceae). Muscle relaxants derived from curare (

numerals and numeral systems: Roman numerals: …a bar (known as the vinculum or virgula) was placed over a number to multiply it by 1,000. This bar also came to represent ordinal numbers. In the early Roman Empire, bars enclosing a number around the top and sides came to mean multiplication by 100,000. The use of the…

France: Charles Martel: …the Neustrians at Amblève (716), Vincy (717), and Soissons (719), he made himself master of northern Francia. He then reestablished Frankish authority in southern Gaul, where the local authorities could not cope with the Islamic threat; he stopped the Muslims near Poitiers (Battle of Tours; 732) and used this opportunity…

Rosamond Vincy, fictional character, the selfish, spoiled, willful wife of Tertius Lydgate in the novel Middlemarch (1871–72) by George

Ventspils, city and port, western Latvia. It lies at the mouth of the Venta River on the Baltic Sea coast. A settlement existed there in the 2nd millennium bc, and by the 10th century ad it was inhabited by Wends (a Slavic people). In 1242 the Teutonic Knights built a castle there, and in 1378 town

astronomical map: Star names and designations: …the Vintage,” now Latinized to Vindemiatrix).

Gaius Julius Vindex was the governor of the Roman province of Lugdunensis (east-central and northern Gaul) who led a revolt in Gaul against the emperor Nero. His rebellion, begun in March 68, was followed by other revolts in Spain, Africa, and Egypt and set in motion a series of events that led to

India: Developments in the Ganges basin: …been assigned to the “Vindhya Neolithic”; for at least one of these, Koldihwa, dates as early as the 7th millennium have been reported. The sites contain circular huts made of timber posts and thatch; associated implements and vessels include stone blades, ground stone axes, bone tools, and crude handmade…

Vindhya Range, broken range of hills forming the southern escarpment of the central upland of India. From Gujarat state on the west, it extends about 675 miles (1,086 km) across Madhya Pradesh state to abut on the Ganges (Ganga) River valley near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The mountains form the

Mirzapur-Vindhyachal: …stairs, along the river; in Vindhyachal is an old temple of Kali, visited by pilgrims.

India: The Deccan: …the founder of the dynasty, Vindhyashakti, extended his power northward as far as Vidisha (near Ujjain). At the end of the 4th century, a collateral line of the Vakatakas was established by Sarvasena in Vatsagulma (Basim, in Akola district), and the northern line helped the southern to conquer Kuntala (southern…

Edmund Burke: Early life: In 1756 he published anonymously A Vindication of Natural Society…, a satirical imitation of the style of Viscount Bolingbroke that was aimed at both the destructive criticism of revealed religion and the contemporary vogue for a “return to Nature.” A contribution to aesthetic theory, A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin…

Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall: …make a devastating reply in A Vindication of Some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Chapters of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1779).

James Otis: In September 1762 Otis published A Vindication of the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in defense of that body’s rebuke of the governor for asking the assembly to pay for ships not authorized by them—though sent to protect New England fisheries against French…

John Wise: Seven years later he published A Vindication of the Government of New England Churches, a work that delineated his liberal concepts concerning both civil and ecclesiastical governments. Strongly influenced by Whig political theory, it had a significant influence on patriot leaders of the American Revolution.

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, trailblazing treatise of feminism (1792) written by British writer and women’s activist Mary Wollstonecraft. The work argues for the empowerment of women in education, politics, society, and marriage. For much of her adult life, the self-educated Wollstonecraft

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, trailblazing treatise of feminism (1792) written by British writer and women’s activist Mary Wollstonecraft. The work argues for the empowerment of women in education, politics, society, and marriage. For much of her adult life, the self-educated Wollstonecraft

Philippe de Mornay, seigneur du Plessis-Marly: Scholars have disputed whether the Vindiciae contra tyrannos (1579; “A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants”), the most famous tract of Protestant political thought of the time, should be attributed to Mornay or to his friend Hubert Languet. The Vindiciae acknowledges a contract between a sovereign and his people: if the…

Manasseh ben Israel: While in England he wrote Vindiciae Judaeorum (1656; “Vindication of the Jews”) in answer to contemporary attacks on Jews, including William Prynne’s Short Demurrer. He returned to Holland in 1657, believing his mission to have been unsuccessful. His efforts, however, initiated the unofficial English acceptance of Jewish settlement and led…

Vindija, site of paleoanthropological excavations in the Hrvatsko Zagorje region of Croatia, known for Neanderthal remains found there in the 1970s; Neanderthal DNA has since been successfully isolated from some specimens. The Vindija cave also contains a long, rich sequence of artifacts from the

Vindhya Range, broken range of hills forming the southern escarpment of the central upland of India. From Gujarat state on the west, it extends about 675 miles (1,086 km) across Madhya Pradesh state to abut on the Ganges (Ganga) River valley near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The mountains form the

Vienna, city and Bundesland (federal state), the capital of Austria. Of the country’s nine states, Vienna is the smallest in area but the largest in population. Modern Vienna has undergone several historical incarnations. From 1558 to 1918 it was an imperial city—until 1806 the seat of the Holy

Vendôme, historical town and capital of Loir-et-Cher département, Centre région, north-central France. It lies southwest of Paris and 20 miles (30 km) northwest of Blois. Vendôme stands on the Loir River, which divides and intersects the town. To the south stands a hill on which are ruins of the

vine, Plant whose stem requires support and that climbs by tendrils or twining or creeps along the ground, or the stem of such a plant. Examples include bittersweet, most grapes, some honeysuckles, ivy, lianas, and

ocotillo, (Fouquieria splendens), flowering spiny shrub (family Fouquieriaceae) characteristic of rocky deserts from western Texas to southern California and southward into Mexico. Near the plant’s base, the stem divides into several slender, erect, wide-spreading, intensely spiny branches, usually

maple: The vine maple (A. circinatum), of wide-spreading, shrubby habit, has purple and white spring flowers and brilliant fall foliage. The shrubby Siebold maple (A. sieboldianum) has seven- to nine-lobed leaves that turn red in fall.

green snake: aestivus), often called vine snake, is about 75 cm (23 inches) long.

vine snake, any of several venomous, rear-fanged snakes of the family Colubridae that have slender bodies, narrow heads, and pointed snouts. Vine snakes typically belong to the genera Ahaetulla (Asian vine snakes), Oxybelis (New World vine snakes), and Thelotornis (African vine snakes); however,

Ruth Rendell was a British writer of mystery novels, psychological crime novels, and short stories who was perhaps best known for her novels featuring Chief Inspector Reginald Wexford. Rendell initially worked as a reporter and copy editor for West Essex newspapers. Her first novel, From Doon with

plate tectonics: Reversal of Earth’s magnetic field: …Cambridge and a research student, Frederick J. Vine, postulated in 1963 that the new crust would have a magnetization aligned with the field at the time of its formation. If the magnetic field was normal, as it is today, the magnetization of the crust would be added to that of…

plate tectonics: The Vine-Matthews hypothesis: In 1961 a magnetic survey of the eastern Pacific Ocean floor off the coast of Oregon and California was published by two geophysicists, Arthur D. Raff and Ronald G. Mason. Unlike on the continents, where regional magnetic anomaly patterns (that is,…

Cornelius Otto Jansen: Condemnation of Jansen’s teachings: …XI in 1705 the bull Vineam Domini, which renewed the earlier condemnations. In 1709 Louis XIV ordered the dispersal of the nuns of Port-Royal into diverse convents, and he had the abbey destroyed in 1710. He then obtained in 1713 the bull Unigenitus Dei Filius, which condemned 101 propositions of…

Arthur Martin Vineberg was a Canadian heart surgeon, noted chiefly for his development, in 1950, of a surgical procedure for correction of impaired coronary circulation. Vineberg received his M.S. degree (1928) and his Ph.D. (1933) in physiology from McGill University, Montreal. He studied in Paris

vinegar, sour liquid that is made by the fermentation of any of numerous dilute alcoholic liquids into a liquid containing acetic acid. Vinegar may be produced from a variety of materials: apples or grapes (wine or cider vinegar); malted barley or oats (malt vinegar); and industrial alcohol

vinegar fly, (genus Drosophila), any member of a genus in the small fruit fly family, Drosophilidae (order Diptera). Drosophila species number about 1,500. Some species, particularly D. melanogaster, are used extensively in laboratory and field experiments on genetics and evolution because they are

Anne Tyler: Vinegar Girl (2016), a retelling of William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, was written for the Hogarth Shakespeare series. Tyler’s 22nd novel, Clock Dance, was released in 2018. Redhead by the Side of the Road (2020) centres on a tech expert who finds his…

Film Preservation: A Dire Need: Once a print develops vinegar syndrome, the degradation is irreversible.

vinegarroon, species of whip scorpion

Vineland, city, Cumberland county, southern New Jersey, U.S, about 35 miles (56 km) south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It lies along the Maurice River (there dammed for flood control and drainage). The community was established in 1861 when Charles K. Landis purchased a 32,000-acre

Thomas Pynchon: Pynchon’s next novel, Vineland—which begins in 1984 in California—was not published until 1990. Two vast, complex historical novels followed: in Mason & Dixon (1997), set in the 18th century, Pynchon took the English surveyors Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon as his subject, and Against the Day (2006) moves…

Jacob Viner was a Canadian-born American economist who made major contributions to the theory of cost and production, international economics, and the history of economics. Viner graduated from McGill University (1914) and then immigrated to the United States, obtaining his Ph.D. from Harvard

Katharine Viner is a British journalist and editor who became the first woman to serve as editor in chief (2015– ) of The Guardian. Interested in journalism from her teens, Viner published her first article in The Guardian—one of the United Kingdom’s most-influential daily newspapers—in 1987 while

H. Ellsworth Vines, Jr. was a U.S. tennis player of the 1930s who bounced back after a series of losses at age 18 to win the Wimbledon and U.S. singles championships. A versatile athlete, he attended the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship before making his tennis debut on

H. Ellsworth Vines, Jr. was a U.S. tennis player of the 1930s who bounced back after a series of losses at age 18 to win the Wimbledon and U.S. singles championships. A versatile athlete, he attended the University of Southern California on a basketball scholarship before making his tennis debut on

Alexandre-Rodolphe Vinet was a French-Swiss theologian, moralist, and literary critic who was instrumental in establishing the Reformation in French-speaking Switzerland. After studying theology at the University of Lausanne, he taught French at the University of Basel (1817–37) before returning to

Guadalquivir River: …supports the rich agriculture of Andalusia, and engineering improvements have aided the industrialization of towns along its course.

deafness on Martha’s Vineyard, phenomenon in which a disproportionate percentage of the population living on Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, U.S., was affected by a hereditary form of deafness. The overall rate of Vineyard deafness peaked in the 19th

James Hong: Career: …including the 1989 horror film The Vineyard, which he also starred in.

singularity: …article titled “Technological Singularity” by Vernor Vinge, a computer scientist and science fiction author. Vinge imagined that future information networks and human-machine interfaces would lead to novel conditions with new qualities: “a new reality rules.” But there was a trick to knowing the singularity. Even if one could know that…

Les Vingt, group of artists who exhibited together in Belgium during the years 1891–93, having been brought together by a common interest in Symbolist painting. Like their French and German contemporaries, these painters, who were centred on Brussels, had shifted the emphasis in their works from

Les Vingt, group of artists who exhibited together in Belgium during the years 1891–93, having been brought together by a common interest in Symbolist painting. Like their French and German contemporaries, these painters, who were centred on Brussels, had shifted the emphasis in their works from

blackjack, gambling card game popular in casinos throughout the world. Its origin is disputed, but it is certainly related to several French and Italian gambling games. In Britain since World War I, the informal game has been called pontoon. Players hope to get a total card value of 21 or to come

stringed instrument: The violin family: …court of Louis XIV, whose vingt-quatre violons du Roi (“24 violins of the king”) was the model for Europe of the orchestra-to-be.

France: Tax reform: …tax), the capitation, and the vingtième (a form of income tax from which the nobles and officials were usually exempt). There were also indirect taxes that everyone paid: the salt tax, or gabelle, which represented nearly one-tenth of royal revenue; the traites, or customs duty, internal and external; and the…

Vinh, city, north-central Vietnam, located on the Ca River delta, 160 miles (260 km) south of Hanoi. The Ca River enters the Gulf of Tonkin just northeast of Vinh. An important trade centre for the surrounding region, the city is the focus of a densely populated agricultural area. It is also the

Cam Ranh Bay, a two-part deepwater inlet on the South China Sea, south-central Vietnam. It is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long from north to south and up to 10 miles (16 km) wide. It has been called the finest deepwater shelter in Southeast Asia. The Binh Ba Bay, or outer bay, with Binh Ba

Ha Long Bay, bay on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Tonkin, near the city of Ha Long (Hong Gai), Quang Ninh province, northern Vietnam. Situated 102 miles (164 km) southeast of Hanoi, the 580-square-mile (1,500-square-km) area contains some 3,000 rocky and earthen islands, typically in the form

Vinh Long, city, Mekong River delta region, southern Vietnam. It is a river port on the right bank of the Tien River; it has a hospital and commercial airport. It also has served as the focal point of the Roman Catholic Church in the Mekong delta; a large Catholic cathedral is located in the city.