town in the central highlands, south-central Vietnam. In 1851 French Roman Catholic missionaries established the first Vietnamese settlement near Kon Tum, at a site 140 miles (225 km) south-southeast of Hue. Lying at an elevation of 1,720 feet (524 metres), the town is a traditional trading centre for hides, horses, and sesame, and it ranks with Pleiku as one of the two most important highland centres. Linked to Pleiku, 45 miles (72 km) to the south, by a major highway, it has several hospitals and a large airfield. A secondary highway leads northeastward from Kon Tum through Chuong Nghia and Kon Plong. Pop. (2000 est.) 43,100.