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Mountain Passes as Connective Infrastructure: Highland-Lowland Relations in Central Vietnam

  • SUVANNABHUMI
  • Abbr : SVN
  • 2026, 18(2), pp.125~151
  • DOI : 10.22801/svn.2026.18.2.125
  • Publisher : Korea Institute for ASEAN Studies
  • Research Area : Social Science > Area Studies > Southeast Asia
  • Received : January 19, 2026
  • Accepted : May 29, 2026
  • Published : July 31, 2026

Thanh Tam Ho 1,  Lai Thi Thu Hien 2

1Faculty of History and Culture, University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).
2University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam National University, Hanoi).

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of mountain passes as connective infrastructure linking highland and lowland zones in Central Vietnam, situating this case within the broader spatial framework of the Southern Indochinese Highlands. In contrast to conventional approaches that portray highland areas as fragmented or structurally dependent spaces, the article approaches mountain passes not as natural barriers but as infrastructural corridors through which multidirectional flows of people, goods, and power were historically organized. By focusing on the infrastructural organization of routes and corridors, the article highlights the polycentric character of highland connectivity, in which multiple nodes of transit and route control interacted within a flexible and adaptive networked order. From this perspective, the Southern Indochinese Highlands may be understood as a form of “flattened highlands”—not in terms of physical topography, but in terms of functional connectivity produced through mobility and circulation. Within this network, centers could rise, decline, or redirect flows in response to changing political and commercial conditions. Rather than displacing existing interpretations of highland-lowland relations, this infrastructure-oriented reading complements them by clarifying the spatial mechanisms through which relative parity, contingency, and interregional integration were historically made possible. While grounded in Central Vietnam, the analysis suggests comparative avenues for the study of other highland regions in mainland Southeast Asia.

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