Ban Don

Ban Don lies in the Central Highlands of Vietnam within the Srepok River country of Đắk Lắk. The river winds through red basalt soil, forest and cultivated clearings, providing fish, water and a route between highland villages. The name derives from a Lao expression meaning “village of the isle,” and local Rhade and Lao communities shared the river landscape.

A small stone bund on the Srepok served as a meeting point and river crossing. Lao settlers lived there from the nineteenth century, while Rhade communities occupied nearby highland districts and maintained their own longhouse villages and elephant traditions. Forests supplied timber and wild foods, and wet-season floods enriched rice fields along the river.

Canoes, trails and seasonal crossings linked the dispersed settlements. Markets exchanged rice, forest goods and livestock, and highland chiefs negotiated with lowland traders. Ban Don’s identity belongs to this multi-ethnic river country rather than to a single planned town. Elephants were captured and trained in nearby forests. Lao and Rhade households exchanged rice and elephant products. Forest tracks connected highland hamlets.

The later city of Buôn Ma Thuột lies here.