Arunachal Pradesh (; lit. 'Dawn-Lit Mountain Province') is a state in northeast India. It was known as the North-East Frontier Agency until 1972, after which it became a union territory under the name Arunachal Pradesh. It became a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and largest town.
It shares international borders with Bhutan in the west, Myanmar in the east, and a disputed 1,129 km border with China's Tibet Autonomous Region in the north at the McMahon Line. Nearly four-fifths of Arunachal Pradesh is claimed by China as Southern Tibet as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region; China occupied some regions of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962 but later withdrew its forces.
As per the 2011 census, Arunachal Pradesh has a population of 1,383,727. With only 17 inhabitants per square kilometre, it is the least densely populated state in India. It is an ethnically diverse state, with predominantly Monpa people in the west, Tani people in the centre, Mishmi and Tai people in the east, and Naga people in the southeast of the state. About 23 major tribes and 100 sub-tribes live in the state, including Nocte, Adi, Nyishi, Singpho, Galo, Tagin, and Apatani. The Nyishi are the largest ethnic group in the region. The Mishmi tribe has three sub-tribes, namely Idu-Mishmi, Digaru-Mishmi, and Miju-Mishmi.
Arunachal Pradesh means Land of the Dawn-Lit Mountains, which is the sobriquet for the state in Sanskrit. The term was coined during the formation of the state. Prior to the year 1972, it was called North-East Frontier Agency.
The People's Republic of China (PRC) does not recognise Arunachal Pradesh, and claims the land to be part of Tibet, calling it Southern Tibet (Chinese: 藏南 pinyin: Zàngnán). In ancient Tibetan texts, eastern Arunachal Pradesh and some parts of Tibet were called Lhoyü while the residents were called Lhobha people, while Tawang district and West Kameng district in western Arunachal Pradesh were called Monyul.
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Reference material for this entry is drawn from the open encyclopedic record, including Wikipedia , available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Images are credited individually beside each photo.
History
Ancient period
Very little ancienthistory is known about the region apart from the Northwestern corner, and the areas bordering current Assam. The Northwestern regions came under Monpa and Tibetan control.
Northwestern parts of this area came under the control of the Monpa kingdom of Monyul under Tibet which flourished between 500 BCE and 600 CE. The Monpa and Sherdukpen keep historical records of the existence of local chiefdoms in the northwest as well.
According to Tibetan chronicles, Monyul was ruled by Gongkar Gyal, descendant of an exiled Tibetan ruler named Lhase Tsangma, the brother of Tibetan king Ralpacan who arrived in Monyul in 837 A.D or earlier.
A descendant of Gongkar Gyal became the ruler of Trashiyangtse region of Bhutan and Gapde Tsan another descendant was the ruler of Khorwong valley in Thembang town (now West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh).
Later, the second son of Gongkar Gyal, Wongme Palde who returned to Tibet owing to the poverty in Khorwong valley came back to Monyul to become its ruler.
The Rgyal rigs text written in 1668 or 1728 contains a record of taxes collected. Taxes were paid via coins, foodstuffs, or livestock from area around present-day Kameng district and Tawang district.
The Monpas (Tibetan: མོན་པ) ་known to the Chinese as Menba were responsible for trade between Assam and Tibet and held the Koriapar Dooar at Sonitpur district of Assam. The Monpa chief were subordinate to the ruler of Tawang who in turn were subordinate to the Government of Tibet or Ganden Phodrang in Lhasa. The Tibetan government at Lhasa appointed Tibetan officials called Gellongs to supervise the local Monpa chief. The Monpa chief who looked after the Duar were called Tsorgon, a position created in the 16th century.
According to historical Tibetan text the state of Arunachal Pradesh known as Lhoyu came under the control of Tubo Kingdom or Tibetan Empire in the 7th century CE.
Medieval period
In the 17th century, the 5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617–1682), who achieved political supremacy over Tibet in 1642, imposed a tax called Khrey over Monyul and instructed the construction of fortresses in Monpa area called Dzong which served as centres for administration and tax collection.
The fortresses built were Dirang Dzong, Taklung Dzong and Gyangkhar Dzong to collect tax from the Dirang Monpa, Kalaktang Monpa and Tawang Monpa respectively. The officials who collected the taxes were called Dzongpon.
The tax was carried to Tawang Monastery and then to Lhasa via Tsona city (present-day China).
The 6th Dalai Lama Tsangyang Gyatso (1683–1706) was born in Tawang and died in Amdo (present-day China) on his way to Beijing after being kidnapped by the Mongol forces under Lha-bzang Khan, the last ruler of Khoshut Khanate on the approval of Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty.
Before his death the 6th Dalai Lama instructed the construction of notable buildings like Tromzikhang in Barkhor, Lhasa.
Arunachal Pradesh falls under Kham (Tibetan: ཁམས་) and Ü-Tsang (Tibetan: དབུས་གཙང་) cultural region of Tibet which also includes the Brahmaputra River watershed.
The foothills and the plains, were under the control of the Chutia kings of Assam. Inner parts of the state remained independent and self-governed even though interactions with external parties did exist.
The main archaeological sites of the state include:
British India
Following the annexation of Assam after the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British inherited the previous Ahom Kingdom's tributary system in appeasing the frontier tribes known as posa. The system was optimised with contracts to the leading chiefs to standardise who had the right to demand tribute from the British to curb raiding. With the goals of economic growth and extraction of tea, coal, oil and minerals in Assam, the British set out on a policy to curb tribal headhunting, civil wars and slavery. Prior to the Simla Conference there was no declaration of British intentions towards the frontier tracts and tribes of the region. The region was treated as terra nullius neither to the British Raj or to any other entity. The British in their official documentation did not assert any recognition or affiliation of the frontier tracts with Tibetan or Chinese polities. Their assumption rested in that tribal territories were within the British sphere of influence until clear Tibetan boundaries were evident. In the 19th century, there was uncertainty along the border and no urgency to demarcate it.
The first territorial policy with the frontier tracts was the introduction of the Inner Line system. This was designed to restrict people beyond a certain territory to avoid provoking hostile relations with tribal groups on the frontier. However, the Inner Line was less of an international boundary and more of a framework for migration management. Before 1880, tribal relations with the British were handled ad-hoc by British officials. In 1880, a Frontier Tract Regulation was adopted and extended to any tract inhabited or freqeuented by barbarous or semi-civilised tribes adjoining or within the borders of any of the districts with the Territories under the administration of the Chief Commissioner of Assam. With this declaration, the Dibrugah Frontier Tract (east of the Subansiri River) was formally put under the administration of Lakhimpur with a political officer at Sadiya. The western section was in charge of the Deputy Commissioner of Darrang.
In 1912, the sudden activity of Chinese military forces in the vicinity prompted the British to negotiate a formal delimitation of the international boundary. This was attributed to the Qing Empire's attempts to establish Chinese authority in the Kham area of Tibet in 1910. The British recorded that various reports of dubious origin stated Chinese influence in the region. A party of Chinese were rumoured to have appeared in the Aka country, not far from the Inner Line boundary in the west. Chinese officials in Rima had also reportedly summoned the Mishmi chiefs to offer them to submit. Other rumours described a Chinese force ordered to march down the Siang river valley into the homeland of the Abors. As a response to these rumours, the British dispatched three missions into the hills. The Miri Mission explored the hills west of the Subansiri River. The Abor Mission between Subansiri and Siang was conducted along with the Mishmi Mission in the Sisseri, Dibang and Lohit river valleys. The goal of these missions was to establish the "natural and traditional frontier" between the frontier tribes and Tibet, and to inform the tribes that they were under British sovereignty and must adhere to British laws and punishments.
The results of these missions led the boundary commission to create the McMahon Line, which was influenced by the findings of the three missions. The one major exception was the incorporation of Tawang in the westernmost area. The inhabitants held close cultural and religious ties to Tibet and Bhutan, and the British had previously characterised this as a "dependancy of Thibet" not included in the tribal area designation. However, as knowledge of the Lhasa and Sub-Himalayan Buddhist communities grew, the accuracy of the statements of Tawang being a Tibetan dependency was questioned by the British and attributed to a category analogous to Bhutan and Sikkim, who were distinct groups with ties to the religious institution of Tibet. Another region between the tribals and Bhutan was considered highly undesirable, which in 1914 was examined by the British. The report by the Balipara Political Officer stated that the Tawang Monastery, the political authority of the region, was an offshoot of Drepung Monastery near Lhasa but recommend incorporation into the British regardless. Hence with these cosniderations the current McMahon line was drawn up.
In 1912–13, the British Indian government established the North-East Frontier Tracts via three divisions: the Western section, the Central and Eastern section, and the Lakhimpur tract. In 1919, they eventually came to be called the Ballipara Frontier Tract, Lakhimpur Frontier Tract and Sadiya Frontier Tract.
The McMahon line
In 1913–1914, representatives of the de facto independent state of Tibet and Britain met in India to define the borders of 'Outer Tibet' (with respect to China). British administrator Sir Henry McMahon drew the 550 miles (890 km) McMahon Line as the border between British India and Tibet, placing Tawang and other areas within British India. The Tibetan and British representatives devised the Simla Accord including the McMahon Line, but the Chinese representatives did not concur. The Simla Accord denies other benefits to China unless it assents to the Accord.
The Chinese position was that Tibet was not independent from China and could not sign treaties, so the Accord was invalid, like the Anglo-Chinese (1906) and Anglo-Russian (1907) conventions. British records show that the condition for the Tibetan government to accept the new border was that China must accept the Simla Convention. As Britain was not able to get an acceptance from China, Tibetans considered the McMahon line invalid.
In the time that China did not exercise power in Tibet, the line had no serious challenges. In 1935, a Deputy Secretary in the Foreign Department, Olaf Caroe, "discovered" that the McMahon Line was not drawn on official maps. The Survey of India published a map showing the McMahon Line as the official boundary in 1937. In 1938, two decades after the Simla Conference, the British finally published the Simla Accord as a bilateral accord and the Survey of India published a detailed map showing the McMahon Line as a border of India.
In April 1938, a small British force led by Captain G. S. Lightfoot arrived in Tawang and informed the monastery that the district was now Indian territory. The Tibetan government at Lhasa protested and its authority was restored after Lightfoot's return.
In 1944, Britain established administrations in the area, from Dirang Dzong in the west to Walong in the east. Administrative control extended over the area of the Tawang tract lying south of the Sela Pass when J.P. Mills set up an Assam Rifles post at Dirang Dzong and sent the Tibetan tax-collectors packing. Tibetan protests were brushed aside. However, no steps were taken to evict Tibet from the area north of the pass which contained Tawang town. The Tawang district remained under Tibetan authority until 1951.
Sino-Indian War
Following the conclusion of British rule, India gained independence in 1947, while the People's Republic of China (PRC) was founded in 1949. The new Chinese administration maintained the position that the McMahon Line was not valid.
In October 1947, independent Tibet wrote a note to the Government of India asking for a "return" of the territories that the British had allegedly occupied from Tibet. Among these were listed Zayul and Walong and in direction of Pemakoe, Lonag, Lopa, Mon, Bhutan, Sikkim, Darjeeling. After negotiation with the Indian government, Tibet relinquished claims on these territories.
In November 1950, the PRC was poised to take over Tibet by force, and India supported Tibet. Journalist Sudha Ramachandran argued that China claimed Tawang on behalf of Tibetans, though Tibetans did not claim Tawang as part of Tibet.
In February 1951, India sent Ralengnao Khathing of Manipur with a small escort and several hundred porters to Tawang and took control of the remainder of the Tawang tract from the Tibetans, removing the Tibetan administration.
What is now Arunachal Pradesh was established as the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) in 1954. Sino-Indian relations were cordial until 1960. Resurgence of the border disagreement was a factor leading to the Sino-Indian War in 1962, during which China captured most of Arunachal Pradesh, including the Tawang tract. China soon declared victory, withdrew back to the McMahon Line, and returned Indian prisoners of war in 1963.
The war resulted in the termination of barter trade with Tibet, although since 2007 the Indian government has shown signs of wanting to resume barter trade.
Renaming and statehood
Under the leadership of Indira Gandhi, The North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) was renamed Arunachal Pradesh by Bibhabasu Das Shastri, Daya Krishna Goswami and O. P. Upadhya on 20 January 1972, and it became a union territory. Later on, Arunachal Pradesh became a state on 20 February 1987 during Rajiv Gandhi's government.
NB: K A A Raja, as Chief Commissioner to NEFA, under Assam, whose Capital used to be Shillong, later on went to become the first Lieutenant Governor to the Union Territory of Arunachal Pradesh.
Recent claims
The 14th Dalai Lama did not originally recognise India's sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh. As late as 2003, he said that "Arunachal Pradesh was actually part of Tibet". In January 2007, the Dalai Lama said that both Britain and Tibet had recognised the McMahon Line in 1914. In 2008, he said that Arunachal Pradesh was a part of India under the agreement signed by Tibetan and British representatives. According to the Dalai Lama, "In 1962 during the India-China war, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) occupied all these areas (Arunachal Pradesh) but they announced a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew, accepting the current international boundary".
In recent years, China has occasionally asserted its claims on Tawang. India rebutted these claims and told the Chinese government that Tawang is an integral part of India. India reiterated this to China when the two prime ministers met in Thailand in October 2009. A report that the Chinese Army had briefly invaded Arunachal Pradesh in 2016 was denied by India's Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju. In April 2017, China strongly objected to a visit to Tawang by the Dalai Lama, as it had to an earlier visit by the US ambassador. China had objected to the Dalai Lama's previous visits to the area.
In 2024, The New York Times reported that, according to satellite imagery, China had constructed villages along and inside of disputed territory within Arunachal Pradesh. Chinese individuals, called "border guardians", received annual subsidies to relocate to newly built villages and paid to conduct border patrols.
Insurgency
Arunachal Pradesh has faced threats from insurgent groups, notably the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), who are believed to have base camps in the districts of Changlang and Tirap. These groups seek to decrease the influence of Indian government in the region and merge part of Arunachal Pradesh into Nagaland.
The Indian army is present along the Tibetan border to thwart any Chinese incursion. Under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order 1958 (India), Inner Line Permits (ILPs) are required to enter Arunachal Pradesh through any of its checkgates on the border with Assam.
Geography
Arunachal Pradesh is located between 26.28° N and 29.30° N latitude and 91.20° E and 97.30° E longitude and has an area of 83,743 km2 (32,333 sq mi).
The highest peak in the state is Kangto, at 7,060 metres (23,160 ft). Nyegi Kangsang, the main Gorichen peak, and the Eastern Gorichen peak are other tall Himalaya peaks. The state's mountain ranges, in the extreme East of India, are described as "the place where the sun rises" in historical Indian texts and named the Aruna Mountains, which inspired the name of the state. The villages of Dong (more accessible by car, and with a lookout favoured by tourists) and Vijaynagar (on the edge of Myanmar) receive the first sunlight in all of India.
Major rivers of Arunachal Pradesh include the Kameng, Subansiri, Siang (Brahmaputra), Dibang, Lohit and Noa Dihing rivers. Subsurface flows and summer snow melt contribute to the volume of water. Mountains until the Siang river are classified as the Eastern Himalayas. Those between the Siang and Noa Dihing are classified as the Mishmi Hills that may be part of the Hengduan Mountains. Mountains south of the Noa Dihing in Tirap and Longding districts are part of the Patkai Range.
Climate
The climate of Arunachal Pradesh varies with elevation. The low-altitude areas have a humid subtropical climate. High-altitude areas (3,500–5,500 m) have a subtropical highland climate and alpine climate. Arunachal Pradesh receives 2,000 to 5,000 millimetres (79 to 197 in) of rainfall annually, 70%–80% obtained between May and October.
