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Inter alia, the full name of Younghusband...
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{{Too few opinions|date=October 2019}}
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{{Redirect|Johnson Line|the company with the same name|Johnson Line (company)}}
{{Redirect|Johnson Line|the company with the same name|Johnson Line (company)}}
[[File:Kashmir map big.jpg|thumb|right|270px|The line marked in red as the purported "traditional boundary" of the state of Jammu and Kashmir is short of the Johnson Line, the historic border of Kashmir to the north of Dafdar on the Taghdumbash Pamir and Mariom Pamir and inter alia on the Kukalang, Yangi, Sanju-La and Hindu-tash Passes in the Raskam Tract in Kanjut (Territory of the Mir of Hunza), and Ladakh or Maryul respectively]].
[[File:Kashmir map big.jpg|thumb|right|270px|The Ardagh–Johnson line marked in red as the "traditional boundary" of the state of Jammu and Kashmir]]


The '''Ardagh–Johnson Line''' is a proposed boundary of [[Kashmir]] abutting [[Xinjiang|Chinese Turkestan]] and [[Tibet]]. It was formally proposed to the [[British Raj|British Indian government]] by Major General John Ardagh, chief of military intelligence in London, in 1897, based on the surveys conducted by [[W. H. Johnson|William Johnson]] in 1865.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}}
The '''Ardagh–Johnson Line''' is a proposed boundary of [[Kashmir]] abutting [[Xinjiang|Chinese Turkestan]] and [[Tibet]]. It was formally proposed to the [[British Raj|British Indian government]] by Major General John Ardagh, chief of military intelligence in London, in 1897, based on the surveys conducted by [[W. H. Johnson|William Johnson]] in 1865.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}}
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== Initial survey ==
== Initial survey ==
[[W. H. Johnson]] of the [[Survey of India]] was commissioned to survey the Aksai Chin region. Johnson noted that Khotan's border was at Brinjga, in the Kunlun mountains, and the entire the [[Karakash River|Karakash Valley]] was within the territory of Kashmir. The boundary of Kashmir that he drew, stretching from Sanju Pass to the [[Lanak La|eastern edge of Chang Chenmo Valley]] along the Kunlun mountains, is referred to as the "Johnson Line".{{sfn|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=116}} The [http://pahar.in/wpfb-file/1890-gazetteer-of-kashmir-and-ladak-s-pdf/ Gazetteer of Kashmír and Ladák] compiled under the direction of the Quarter Master General in India in the Intelligence Branch and first Published in 1890 gives a description and details of places inside Kashmir and thus ipso facto also includes a description of the Híñdutásh Pass in northeastern Kashmir in the Aksai Chin area in Kashmir. The aforesaid Gazetteer states in pages 520 and 364 that “The eastern (Kuenlun) range forms the southern boundary of Khotan”, “and is crossed by two passes, the Yangi or Elchi Diwan, .... and the Hindutak (i.e. Híñdutásh ) Díwán”. The aforesaid Gazetteer of Kashmír and Ladák describes Khotan as “ A province of the Chinese Empire lying to the north of the Eastern Kuenlun range, which here forms the boundary of Ladák”. The Chinese Karawal or outpost, of Sanju was at the northern base of the Kuenlun, three stages from the pass of that name. Nevertheless, [[Francis Edward Younghusband]] could not disguise the objective fact that the Chinese considered the Kilian and Sanju Passes as the practical limits of their territory, although they ‘do not like to go so far as to say that beyond the passes does not belong to them….”.
[[W. H. Johnson]] of the [[Survey of India]] was commissioned to survey the Aksai Chin region. Johnson noted that Khotan's border was at Brinjga, in the Kunlun mountains, and the entire the [[Karakash River|Karakash Valley]] was within the territory of Kashmir. The boundary of Kashmir that he drew, stretching from Sanju Pass to the [[Lanak La|eastern edge of Chang Chenmo Valley]] along the Kunlun mountains, is referred to as the "Johnson Line".{{sfn|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=116}}



== Chinese reception ==
== Chinese reception ==

Revision as of 18:59, 6 August 2020

"Johnson Line" redirects here. For the company with the same name, see Johnson Line (company).
The Ardagh–Johnson line marked in red as the "traditional boundary" of the state of Jammu and Kashmir

The Ardagh–Johnson Line is a proposed boundary of Kashmir abutting Chinese Turkestan and Tibet. It was formally proposed to the British Indian government by Major General John Ardagh, chief of military intelligence in London, in 1897, based on the surveys conducted by William Johnson in 1865.[1]

The Ardagh–Johnson Line is one of three boundary lines considered by the British Indian government, the other two being the Macartney–MacDonald Line and a line along the Karakoram range. The British preference among the three choices varied over time based on the perception of their strategic interests in India.[1] The Ardagh–Johnson Line represented the "forward school" that wanted to advance the boundary as forward as possible as a defence against the growing Russian empire.[2] Following the Chinese reluctance to acquiesce to the more conservative Macartney–MacDonald Line, the British eventually reverted to the forward line in the Aksai Chin area, which was then inherited by the independent Republic of India.[3]

Initial survey

W. H. Johnson of the Survey of India was commissioned to survey the Aksai Chin region. Johnson noted that Khotan's border was at Brinjga, in the Kunlun mountains, and the entire the Karakash Valley was within the territory of Kashmir. The boundary of Kashmir that he drew, stretching from Sanju Pass to the eastern edge of Chang Chenmo Valley along the Kunlun mountains, is referred to as the "Johnson Line".[4]

Chinese reception

In 1893, Hung Ta-chen, a senior Chinese official at St. Petersburg,[a] provided a map which coincided with the Ardagh–Johnson line in broad details. It showed the boundary of Xinjiang up to Raskam. In the east, it was similar to the Ardagh–Johnson line, placing Aksai Chin in Kashmir territory.[5]

Proposal

In 1897 a British military officer, Sir John Ardagh, proposed a boundary line along the crest of the Kun Lun Mountains north of the Yarkand River.[6] At the time Britain was concerned at the danger of Russian expansion as China weakened, and Ardagh argued that his line was more defensible. The Ardagh line was effectively a modification of the Johnson line, and became known as the "Ardagh–Johnson Line".

Aftermath

In 1911 the Xinhai Revolution resulted in power shifts in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially used the Ardagh–Johnson Line.[7] From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China", published by the Government of China in Peking had shown the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Ardagh–Johnson line, which runs along the Kunlun mountains.[8][9] The "Peking University Atlas", published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India.[10]

The border of independent India

Upon independence in 1947, the government of India fixed its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin, in a manner that resembled the Ardagh–Johnson Line. India's basis for defining the border was “chiefly by long usage and custom.”[11]. Unlike the Johnson line, India did not claim the northern areas near Shahidulla and Khotan.

  • Map of India, 1765, implicitly showed the Aksai Chin region in India
    Map of India, 1765, implicitly showed the Aksai Chin region in India
  • Map of India, 1870, apparently incorporating the Johnson Line
    Map of India, 1870, apparently incorporating the Johnson Line
  • Hung Ta-chen's map of the China border near Ladakh, 1893. Faithful reproduction by Dorothy Woodman. The boundary, marked with a thin dot-dashed line, matches the Johnson line for Aksai Chin.[12]
    Hung Ta-chen's map of the China border near Ladakh, 1893. Faithful reproduction by Dorothy Woodman. The boundary, marked with a thin dot-dashed line, matches the Johnson line for Aksai Chin.[12]
  • Postal Map of China published by the Government of China in 1917. The boundary in Aksai Chin is as per the Johnson line.
    Postal Map of China published by the Government of China in 1917. The boundary in Aksai Chin is as per the Johnson line.
  • The map shows the Indian claim line in black dashes which is based on the Johnson line.
    The map shows the Indian claim line in black dashes which is based on the Johnson line.

Notes

  1. ^ Mehra, An "agreed" frontier 1992, p. 103: "Huang Tachin (also Hung Chun or Hung Tajen) was a Chinese diplomat accredited to Russia as well as Germany, Austria-Hungary and Holland in 1887-90. During these years he rendered into Chinese a series of thirty-five maps, relating for the most part to the Sino-Russian borders."

References

  1. ^ a b Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis (1990), p. 12.
  2. ^ Noorani, India–China Boundary Problem (2010), Chapter 4, "Two Schools on the Boundary".
  3. ^ Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis (1990), p. 13.
  4. ^ Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground 1963, p. 116.
  5. ^ Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers 1970, pp. 73, 78: "Clarke added that a Chinese map drawn by Hung Ta-chen, Minister in St. Petersburg, confirmed the Johnson alignment showing West Aksai Chin as within British (Kashmir) territory."
  6. ^ Woodman, Dorothy (1969). Himalayan Frontiers. Barrie & Rockcliff. pp. 101 and 360ff.
  7. ^ Calvin, James Barnard (April 1984). "The China-India Border War". Marine Corps Command and Staff College. Archived from the original on 11 November 2011.
  8. ^ Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers 1970.
  9. ^ Verma, Virendra Sahai (2006). "Sino-Indian Border Dispute At Aksai Chin – A Middle Path For Resolution" (PDF). Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies. 25 (3): 6–8. ISSN 1651-9728. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
  10. ^ Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground 1963, p. 101.
  11. ^ Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India 2010, p. 235
  12. ^ Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers 1970, pp. 73, 78.

Bibliography

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