Ardagh–Johnson Line

File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1888 Survey of India map.jpg map of India]]

W. H. Johnson was the lead surveyor of Ladakh in the Kashmir Survey team instituted 1847–1865 by the Survey of India.{{efn|The organisation was called the "Great Trigonometrical Survey" in Johnson's time}} He surveyed the region now called Aksai Chin in 1865.{{sfnp|Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, Volume 5|1968|pp=237–238}}{{citation |first=W. H. |last=Johnson |title=Report on His Journey to Ilchí, the Capital of Khotan, in Chinese Tartary |author-link=William Johnson (surveyor) |journal=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London |volume=37 |year=1867 |pages=1–47 |doi=10.2307/1798517 |jstor=1798517}} The results of the survey were published in a "Kashmir Atlas" in 1868.{{sfnp|Lamb, The China-India border|1964|pp=42–44}} The boundaries shown therein have been reproduced in practically all British and international maps of the British Raj till 1947. (See Maps 2–4.)

Major General John Charles Ardagh was the chief of the British military intelligence in London, who formally proposed to the British Indian government the alignment drawn by Johnson as the boundary of India in 1897.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}}

The term "Johnson boundary" was used by historian Alastair Lamb in his book The China–India Border (1964) and "Johnson line" by journalist Neville Maxwell. No names were used for the boundary lines in the northeast of Kashmir prior to these authors.{{harvp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=272|loc=footnote 2 of Chapter 2}}: "The names now used for the several proposed borders of British days were coined by Alastair Lamb in his China-India Border book. Prior to that, it seems that the only Kashmir boundary given an official name was the Durand Line". Scholar Steven Hoffman later used "Ardagh–Johnson Line" to refer to the line generally shown on British maps, which differs from the "Johnson line" in its northern boundary.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}}

File:Johnson-journey-ilchi1865-mapa.jpg

In May 1865, W. H. Johnson of the Survey of India was commissioned to undertake a survey of "beyond and to the north of the Chang Chenmo valley", as a part of the Kashmir Series.{{sfn|Lall|1989|pp=3}} Accordingly, he engaged in a hasty north–south traverse survey of the hitherto-unexplored Aksai Chin, following the main trade route — averaging about thirty miles per day.{{Sfn|Gardner|2021|pp=76,235}}

The resulting map was published in 1867.{{Sfn|Gardner|2021|pp=76}} Johnson noted that Khotan's border was at Brinjga, in the Kunlun Mountains, and the entire 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".{{sfn|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=116}}

In 1893, Hung Ta-chen, a senior Chinese official at St. Petersburg,{{efn|{{harvnb|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 1887-1890. During these years he rendered into Chinese a series of thirty-five maps, relating for the most part to the Sino-Russian borders."}} 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.{{harvnb|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1969|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."

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File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1909 map from the Imperial Gazetteer.jpg]]

File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1946 map of India by National Geographic.jpg]]

Since the late 1800s, local government officials were increasingly unhappy with accuracy of such traverse-maps and as a result, new surveys (along with boundary commissions) were frequently set up. However, extremely inhospitable geological conditions of Northeast Kashmir and difficulty in determining water-sheds across the Aksai Chin meant a continued lack of precision surveys covering this region.

In 1888, the Joint Commissioner of Ladakh requested India's Foreign Department to demarcate boundaries across northern and eastern Kashmir in a clear manner. After much back and forth, the department concluded that Johnson (and those who followed him) had an unconvincing view of the Indus watershed and their traverse-maps were too imprecise (and lacking in details) to serve the purpose of adjudicating territorial boundaries.

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.{{harvnb|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1969|pp=101 and 360ff}} 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".

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.{{cite web

| last =Calvin

| first =James Barnard

| date =April 1984

| url =http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/CJB.htm

| title =The China-India Border War

| publisher =Marine Corps Command and Staff College

| url-status =live

| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111111000325/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/CJB.htm

| archive-date =11 November 2011

| df =dmy-all

}} From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China", published by the Government of China in Peking showed the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Ardagh–Johnson line, which runs along the Kunlun Mountains.{{sfn|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1969}}{{cite journal

| last1 = Verma

| first1 = Virendra Sahai

| year =2006

| title =Sino-Indian Border Dispute At Aksai Chin – A Middle Path For Resolution

| journal =Journal of Development Alternatives and Area Studies

| volume =25

| issue =3

| pages =6–8

| issn =1651-9728

| access-date =30 August 2013

| url =http://chinaindiaborderdispute.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/virendravermapaperborderdispute.pdf

}} The "Peking University Atlas", published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India.{{sfn|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=101}}

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.”.{{harvnb|Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India|2010|p=235}} Unlike the Johnson line, India did not claim the northern areas near Shahidulla and Khotan.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

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| File:IGI1908India1765a.jpg

| alt1=

| Map of India, 1765, implicitly showed the Aksai Chin region in India

| File:169 of 'A memoir on the Indian surveys' (11094559134).jpg

| alt2=

| Map of India, 1870, apparently incorporating the Johnson Line

| File:Hung Ta-Chen's Map.jpg

| alt3=

| 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.{{sfn|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1969|pp=73, 78}}

| File:Postal Map of China ,1917.jpg

| alt4=

| Postal Map of China published by the Government of China in 1917. The boundary in Aksai Chin is as per the Johnson line.

| File:Aksai Chin Sino-Indian border map.svg

| alt5=

| The map shows the Indian claim line in black dashes which is based on the Johnson line.

}}

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{{reflist}}

• {{citation |last1=Fisher |first1=Margaret W. |last2=Rose |first2=Leo E. |last3=Huttenback |first3=Robert A. |title=Himalayan Battleground: Sino-Indian Rivalry in Ladakh |date=1963 |publisher=Praeger |url=https://archive.org/details/himalayanbattleg0000unse/mode/2up |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Gardner |first=Kyle J. |title=The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India-China Border, 1846–1962 |date=2021 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-84059-0 |location=Cambridge |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/frontier-complex/57FF6476BF432D33B9B485F79561CF83 |url-access=subscription}}
• {{citation |last=Hoffmann |first=Steven A. |title=India and the China Crisis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BpSRwC5_EPUC&pg=PA12 |year=1990 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-06537-6 |ref={{sfnref|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990}}}}
• {{citation |last=Johnson |first=W. H. |title=Report on His Journey to Ilchí, the Capital of Khotan, in Chinese Tartary |journal=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society |volume=37 |date=1867 |jstor=1798517 |pages=1–47 |doi=10.2307/1798517 |ref={{sfnref|Johnson, Report on His Journey to Ilchi|1867}}}}
• {{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=The China-India border |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfgNAQAAMAAJ |year=1964 |publisher=Oxford University Press |ref={{sfnref|Lamb, The China-India border|1964}}}}
• {{citation |last=Lamb |first=Alastair |title=The Sino-Indian Border in Ladakh |publisher=Australian National University Press |year=1973 |url=https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/bitstream/1885/114831/2/b10941575.pdf |ref={{sfnref|Lamb, The Sino-Indian Border in Ladakh|1973}}}}
• {{citation |last=Lall |first=John |title=Maps and Traditional Boundaries of Ladakh |journal=China Report |volume=25 |number=1 |pages=1–10 |year=1989 |doi=10.1177/000944558902500101|s2cid=154641762 }}
• {{citation |last=Mehra |first=Parshotam |title=An "agreed" frontier: Ladakh and India's northernmost borders, 1846-1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mIduAAAAMAAJ |year=1992 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562758-9 |ref={{sfnref|Mehra, An "agreed" frontier|1992}}}}
• {{citation |last=Noorani |first=A.G. |author-link=A. G. Noorani |title=India–China Boundary Problem 1846–1947: History and Diplomacy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GoAyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT79 |year=2010 |publisher=Oxford University Press India |isbn=978-0-19-908839-3 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198070689.001.0001 |ref={{sfnref|Noorani, India–China Boundary Problem|2010}}}}
• {{citation |first=R. H. |last=Phillimore |title=Survey of Kashmir and Jammu, 1855 to 1865 |journal=The Himalayan Journal |volume=22 |year=1960 |url=https://www.himalayanclub.org/hj/22/11/survey-of-kashmir-and-jammu-1855-to-1865/ |ref={{sfnref|Phillimore, Survey of Kashmir and Jammu|1960}}}}
• {{citation |last=Phillimore |first=R. H. |title=Historical Records of the Survey of India, Volume 5: 1844 to 1861 |publisher=The Surveyor General of India |date=1968 |url=https://archive.org/details/1968-historical-records-of-survey-of-india-vol-5-by-phillimore-s-volume-v |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, Volume 5|1968}}}}
• {{citation |last=Raghavan |first=Srinath |title=War and Peace in Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EbtBJb1bsHUC |date=2010 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-00737-7 |ref={{sfnref|Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India|2010}}}}
• {{citation |last=Woodman |first=Dorothy |title=Himalayan Frontiers: A Political Review of British, Chinese, Indian, and Russian Rivalries |publisher=Praeger |year=1969 |url=https://archive.org/details/himalayanfrontie00wood |via=archive.org |ref={{sfnref|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1969}}}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ardagh-Johnson Line}}

Category:China–India border

Category:Eponymous border lines