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{{short description|Boundary line in Aksai Chin}}
{{Too few opinions|date=October 2019}}
{{Redirect|Johnson Line|the company with the same name|Johnson Line (company)}}
[[File:Kashmir map big.jpg|thumb|right|270px|Map 1: The Ardagh–Johnson line marked in red as the "traditional boundary" of the state of Jammu and Kashmir]]

The '''Ardagh–Johnson Line''' is the northeastern boundary of [[Kashmir]] drawn by surveryor [[William Johnson (surveyor)|William Johnson]] and recommended by [[John Charles Ardagh]] as the official boundary of India. It abuts China's [[Xinjiang]] and [[Tibet]] autonomous regions.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}}

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.{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=12}} 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.{{sfnp|Noorani, India–China Boundary Problem|2010|loc=Chapter 4, "Two Schools on the Boundary"}} 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]].{{sfnp|Hoffmann, India and the China Crisis|1990|p=13}}

== Etymology ==
[[File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1909 map from the Imperial Gazetteer.jpg|thumb|right|Map 2: Boundary of Kashmir shown in the 1909 [[Imperial Gazetteer of India]]]]
[[File:Jammu and Kashmir in 1946 map of India by National Geographic.jpg|thumb|right|Map 3: Jammu and Kashmir in 1946 map by the [[National Geographic]]]]
[[W. H. Johnson]] was a surveryor with the [[Survey of India]],{{efn|The organisation was called the "Great Trigonometrical Survey" in Johnson's time}} who, as part of the [[Kashmir Survey]] team in 1865, surveyed the region now called Aksai Chin.{{sfnp|Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India, Volume 5|1968|pp=237–238}}<ref>{{citation |first=W. H. |last=Johnson |title=Report on His Journey to Ilchí, the Capital of Khotan, in Chinese Tartary |author-link=W. H. Johnson |journal=The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London |volume=37 |year=1867 |pp=1-47 |jstor=1798517}}</ref> 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 and 3.)

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.<ref>{{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".</ref> 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}}

== Initial survey ==
[[File:Johnson-journey-ilchi1865-mapa.jpg|thumb|right|280px|Johnson's proposed boundary line marked in dark green]]
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 [[Terra incognita|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 [[Hotan|Khotan]]'s border was at Brinjga, in the Kunlun mountains, and the entire [[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}}.

=== Immediate Reception ===

==== China ====
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 1887-90. 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.<ref>{{harvnb|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."</ref>

==== Britain ====
Johnson's map did not find much favor with the higher authorities initially; his unauthorized stay at Khotan and efforts at a coverup further sullied reputation. However, it eventually become the cornerstone of local cartography till twentieth century.

== Ardagh Proposal ==
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]].<ref name=himalayanfrontier>{{Cite book
| last = Woodman
| first = Dorothy
| title = Himalayan Frontiers
| publisher = Barrie & Rockcliff
| year = 1969
| pages = 101 and 360ff
}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Calvin">{{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
}}</ref> 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]].{{sfn|Woodman, Himalayan Frontiers|1970}}<ref name=middlepath>{{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
}}</ref> The "Peking University Atlas", published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India.{{sfn|Fisher, Rose & Huttenback, Himalayan Battleground|1963|p=101}}

==Border of independent India==
Upon [[Indian independence movement|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''.”.<ref>{{harvnb|Raghavan, War and Peace in Modern India|2010|p=235}}</ref> Unlike the Johnson line, India did not claim the northern areas near [[Shahidulla]] and [[Khotan]].{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

==Gallery==
{{Gallery
| title =
| align =
| footer =
| style =
| state =
| height =
| width =
| captionstyle =
| 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|1970|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.
}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{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}}}}
* {{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}}}}
* {{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=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}}
* {{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 |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=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}}}}

[[Category:China–India border]]
[[Category:Eponymous border lines]]

Ardagh Johnson Line - Revision history

>Kautilya3 at 22:13, 5 June 2021