The paper introduces a document collection on the Southwest region of Vietnam which is currently being stored at the Social Sciences Library of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and managed by the Institute of Social Sciences Information. Out of tens of thousands of documents at the École Française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO, French School of Asian Studies) which were handed over to Vietnam in 1957, several hundreds of documents covering various fi elds such as history, archaeology, culture, anthropology, religion and geography . related to the Southwest region have been surveyed, selected and classifi ed. This is the most original, plentiful, reliable and invaluable source of documents for in-depth examination and research on the historical issues of this region. It also has a great signifi cance contributing to set up a scientifi c basis for the development strategy of the Southwest in regard to the economic, cultural and social issues and the protection of national security and sovereignty. | Documents related to southwest of Vietnam at the social sciences library and their values for studying the region history today
