ARUNACHAL PRADESH

state of India. It is a sparsely populated mountainous area in the extreme northeastern part of the subcontinent. It is bordered by the kingdom of Bhutan to the west, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, Myanmar (Burma) to the south and southeast, and the state of Assam to the south and southwest. The total area is 32,333 square miles (83,743 square kilometres). The capital is Itanagar. The name Arunachal Pradesh means Land of the Rising Sun. Formerly the North East Frontier Agency, it became a union territory in 1972 and a state in 1987. formerly (195472) North East Frontier Agency, constituent state of India, situated in the extreme northeastern part of the country. It is bounded by Tibet (China) to the north, by Myanmar (Burma) to the east, by the Indian states of Nagaland and Assam to the south, and by Bhutan to the west. Its capital is Itanagar. The Puranas make reference to the region that is now Arunachal Pradesh, and, according to legend, the sage Para surama opened a passage through the hills for the Brahmaputra River with a stroke of his ax at Brahma Kund, now a well-known pilgrimage centre in eastern Arunachal Pradesh. A portion of the region was annexed by the Ahom kings of Assam in the 16th century. By 1826 the British had made Assam part of British India, and in 1882 a political adviser was appointed as a step toward bringing what is now Arunachal Pradesh under British administrative control. In 1954 the region became known as the North East Frontier Agency and was constitutionally part of Assam state. In 1972 it became a union territory with its name changed to Arunachal Pradesh (Land of the Rising Sun), and in 1987 it became a state of India. Arunachal Pradesh stretches broadly from the Assam plain of the Brahmaputra River (known as the Dihang River in Arunachal Pradesh) northward to the main crest of the Eastern Himalayas and eastward to an irregular line passing through a series of lofty peaks, known as the hump during World War II, when supplies to China were carried over it by air. The state's northern boundary with Tibet is some 550 miles (890 km) in length; known as the McMahon Line, it follows the crest of the Himalayas and was long in dispute between India and China. In northwestern Arunachal Pradesh, the Himalayas are dotted with peaks and passes. The average elevation of the Himalayas decreases from west to east, although high peakssuch as Mount Dapha (15,020 feet )are also found in the northeast. Major ranges of Himalayan foothills include the Miri and Dafla hills (average elevation 6,500 feet ) near the Brahmaputra River in the west, and the Mishmi Hills in the Lohit region along the upper reaches of the Dibang River in the northeast. The Tirap region of Arunachal Pradesh, which extends southwestward between Assam state and Myanmar, is also hilly. From west to east the major rivers of the state (all of which are tributaries to the Brahmaputra) are the Kameng, Subansiri, Dibang, Lohit, and Tirap rivers. The state receives heavy rainfall of 80 to 160 inches (2,000 to 4,000 mm) annually, most of it falling between May and September. The mountain slopes and hills are covered with alpine, temperate, and subtropical forests of dwarf rhododendron, oak, pine, maple, fir, and juniper; sal (Shorea) and teak are the main economic species. The population consists of many ethnic groups who speak dialects of the Tibeto-Burman linguistic family. The Monpas live west of the Kameng River, raise cattle, and grow crops on terraced hillsides. East of the Kameng River are the Bangni, a people with a reputation for rebelliousness. The Apa Tani are the main ethnic group in the Subansiri River region; they practice settled subsistence agriculture on irrigated and permanently terraced fields on the hill slopes. Farther east in the Dihang River valley and Abor Hills live the Adi, whose chief means of livelihood is shifting cultivation (jhum). The Mishmi peoples grow crops on the terraced hill slopes of the Mishmi Hills and trade musk, beeswax, and vegetables with the peoples of the Assam plains to the south. In the Tirap region, the Wancho, Nocte, and Tangsa ethnic groups compose most of the population and practice shifting cultivation. Population density generally decreases from west to east in the state. The main crops include rice, corn (maize), millet, wheat, and potatoes. Barley, soybeans, chilies, cotton, and fruit are also raised. Small reserves of low-grade coal, copper, graphite, dolomite, limestone, clay, and iron ore are worked. Cottage industries include cloth weaving, silverworking, blacksmithing, and caneworking. Transport in most of the state is by trails, although roads connect a few of the larger towns with the rest of India. Because of the ruggedness of the terrain, air transport has become increasingly important. Arunachal University was founded in 1985 in Itanagar. Area 32,333 square miles (83,743 square km). Pop. (1991) 864,558. Additional reading J.N. Chowdhury, Arunachal Panorama: A Study in Profile (1973, reissued 1982), and Arunachal Pradesh: From Frontier Tracts to Union Territory (1983), relate the history, geography, and culture of the state. Christoph von Frer-Haimendorf, Highlanders of Arunachal Pradesh (1982), is an ethnologic study. Chander Sheikhar Panchani, Arunachal Pradesh: Religion, Culture, and Society (1989), focuses on tribal society. S.D. Jha, The Wealth of Arunachal Pradesh (1985), Arunachal Pradesh: Rich Land and Poor People (1986), and Socio-economic and Demographic Dimensions of Arunachal Pradesh (1988), are social and economic studies. Chandrika Singh, Emergence of Arunachal Pradesh as a State (1989), examines political history from the British period to the present. Also useful is Frederic A. Greenhut II, The Tibetan Frontiers Question from Curzon to the Colombo Conference: An Unresolved Factor in Indo-Sinic Relations (1982). History The northern boundary, about 550 miles long, in dispute between India and China, is known as the McMahon Line because Sir Henry McMahon was secretary in the Indian foreign department and represented Great Britain at the conference held in Simla (191314) to settle frontier and other matters relating to Tibet. The line was regarded by the British as the natural, ethnic, and administrative boundary. Representatives of Britain, China, and Tibet agreed that the frontier between Tibet and northeastern India should follow the crest of the high Himalayas. Two days later the Chinese republican government disavowed its plenipotentiary and refused to sign a convention. Prior to that, the British-Indian government had made agreements with the indigenous tribes and set up the Balipara frontier tract in the west and the Sadiya frontier tract in the east, together constituting the North East Frontier Agency (191213) and including undoubted Assamese territory. After the independence of India in 1947, China made claims to practically the whole area covered by the districts of East and West Kameng, Lower and Upper Subansiri, East and West Siang, and Lohit, arguing that the McMahon Line had never been accepted by China and was the result of British aggression. In letters to the Indian prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Chinese prime minister, Zhou Enlai, quoted a map in the 1929 edition of Encyclopdia Britannica showing the disputed territory as Chinese, with the boundary following the alignment of Chinese maps. Some Chinese maps before 1935 showed the North East Frontier Agency (Arunachal Pradesh) as part of India, and since then as part of Tibet. The Survey of India (1883) showed the disputed tribal areas as de facto administered by British India. British and Indian maps since 1914 have usually followed the McMahon Line. If the Chinese claims were allowed, the Indian-Chinese border would follow roughly the margin of the Assam plain, a frontier almost impossible to defend. Following this dispute, Chinese troops crossed the McMahon Line on August 26, 1959, and captured an Indian outpost at Longju, a few miles south of the line. They abandoned this in 1961 but in October 1962 crossed the line, this time in force. After first striking toward the Tanglha ridge and Tawang near the Bhutan border, the Chinese later extended their attack along the whole frontier. Deep inroads were made at a number of points. Later the Chinese agreed to withdraw approximately to the McMahon Line and in 1963 returned Indian prisoners of war. Deryck O. Lodrick