CATHOLIC COMMUNITIES IN BINH DUONG DURING THE PERIOD OF LAND RECLAMATION AND SETTLEMENT (LATE 18TH – EARLY 19TH CENTURY)

Abstract

Since the late eighteenth century, along with the migration of settlers from Central Vietnam to the South, Catholicism has been present and played a significant role in the reclamation and establishment of settlements in Binh Duong. Drawing on parish documents, diocesan records, missionary writings, and ethnographic fieldwork (including interviews with priests and laypeople as well as inscriptions in cemeteries), and employing an interdisciplinary approach that combines history, anthropology, and religious studies, this study aims to reconstruct the historical context and analyze the socio-cultural dimensions of Catholicism. The findings reveal that the first Catholic migrants from Central Vietnam made substantial contributions to land reclamation and the creation of early communities in the former Binh An region. The earliest parishes functioned not only as centers of worship but also as institutions of social cohesion, supporting agricultural production, education, and the preservation of cultural identity within the turbulent socio-political context of the Nguyen dynasty and the colonial period. This study affirms that Catholicism was an important socio-cultural agent that accompanied and shaped the historical and social formation of Binh Duong from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century.