Gio Linh is located on the geographical coordinates from 1609' to 170 north latitude and 106052' to 107010' east longitude, being limited by administrative boundaries as follows: Vinh Linh as north border; Trieu Phong, Cam Lo and Dong Ha City as southern borders, Cam Lo, Dakrong and Huong Hoa on the west. The natural area is 47.289,56ha wide.
As a semi-mountainous terrain which is tilted from west to east, west is mountainous part with the area of 31773.75 ha (67.18%), the middle land is plain with area of 12631.01 ha (26.7 %) and the East is covered by sand and coastal dunes with 2.893,8ha area (6.12%).
During the Vietnam War, Gio Linh and Con Tien (Gio Son commune) - Doc Mieu (Gio Phong) are two ends of the MacNamara electronic fence, so often being mentioned together when it comes to the war in Vietnam. Doc Mieu which is the first base of the US ,also the closest to the demilitarized zone, is considered the "magic eye" of the McNamara fence . After 1954, the South government and the US turned Doc Mieu into a largest fortification of Gio Linh. Doc Mieu became a vital military base regarding artilleryman to hit the targets of North Vietnam.
Today, when passing Doc Mieu, we can see the green hills of rubber, tea, pepper. Tranquility have returned after the long years of wars.
Area: 472,8956 km2 (47.289,56 ha)
Population: 73.702 (năm 2003)
Administrative division:
- 2 townships: Gio Linh (huyen li), Thi tran Cua Viet.
- 19 communes: Gio An, Gio Binh, Gio Chau, Gio Hai, Gio Hoa, Gio Mai, Gio My, Gio Phong, Gio Quang, Gio Son, Gio Thanh, Gio Viet, Hai Thai, Linh Hai, Linh Thuong, Trung Giang, Trung Hai, Trung Son, Vinh Truong.
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