The Galwan River flows from the disputed Aksai Chin area administered by China to the Union Territory of Ladakh, India. It originates near the caravan camping ground of Samzungling on the eastern side of the Karakoram range and flows west to join the Shyok River. The point of confluence is 102 km south of Daulat Beg Oldi. Shyok River itself is a tributary of the Indus River, making Galwan a part of the Indus River system.
The narrow valley of the Galwan River as it flows through the Karakoram mountains has been a flashpoint between China and India in their border dispute. In 1962, a forward post set up by India in the upper reaches of the Galwan Valley caused an "apogee of tension" between the two countries. China attacked and eliminated the post in the 1962 war, reaching its 1960 claim line. In 2020, China attempted to advance further in the Galwan Valley,Ajai Shukla, A new and worrying chapter: Chinese intrusions in Ladakh gather pace , Business Standard, 23 May 2020: "That means that, in sending thousands of PLA troops three-to-four kilometres into the Galwan Valley, China has violated its own claim line and occupied territory that Beijing itself has traditionally acknowledged to be Indian.... Indian troops in the area were taken by surprise when a large Chinese force crossed the LAC into the Galwan area in late April."Nitin J. Ticku, India, China Border Dispute in Ladakh as Dangerous as 1999 Kargil Incursions - Experts , EurAsian Times, 24 May 2020: 'An Australia-based security analyst tweeted what he claimed were satellite images of "Chinese incursion" in Galwan.'Snehesh Alex Philip, Stand-off with China in Ladakh is India's worst border tension since Kargil in 1999 , The Print, 25 May 2020: "Now, news agency ANI has reported that Chinese troops have moved in “nearly 10-15 km from the Indian post KM 120” in the Galwan Valley, and have pitched tents and stationed themselves close to the post." leading to a bloody clash on 16 June 2020.
Etymology The river is named after Ghulam Rasool Galwan (1878–1925), a Ladakhi explorer and caravan manager of Kashmiri descent, who accompanied numerous expeditions of European explorers. The river appears with the Galwan name in Survey of India maps from 1940 onwards.1940 Kashmir Jammu and Gilgit Agency by Survey of India (Wikimedia commons) (It was earlier unlabelled.)
Folklore holds that in the 1890s, Galwan was part of a British expedition team exploring north of the Chang Chenmo valley, and when the team got caught in a storm Galwan found a way out through the Galwan valley. Harish Kapadia notes that this is one of the rare instances where a major geographical feature was named after a native explorer.Gaurav C Sawant, Exclusive: My great grandfather discovered Galwan Valley, China's claims are baseless, says Md Amin Galwan , India Today, 20 June 2020.
Geography
The Galwan River runs across the entire width of the Karakoram range at this location, for about , where it cuts deep gorges along with its numerous tributaries.: "The peculiarity of the Galwan theatre was that the main Karakoram Range in this region is better defined than in the Northern Sector. It is cut by the Galwan river at a place about 30 miles to the east of the Shyok-Galwan river junction." At the eastern edge of this 30 mile range, marked by the Samzungling camping ground, the main channel of the Galwan River runs north–south, but several other streams join it as well. To the east of Samzungling, the mountains resemble an elevated plateau, which gradually slopes down to the Lingzi Tang Plains in the east. To the west of Samzungling lie numerous mountains of the Karakoram range, the majority of which are drained by the Galwan River through a multitude of tributaries.
At the northeastern edge of the Galwan River basin, the mountains form a watershed, sending some of their waters into the Karakash River basin. The watershed between the two river basins is difficult to discern, as noted by British cartographers.
To the south of the Galwan River, the Karakoram range divides into two branches, one that lies between the Kugrang and Changlung rivers (both tributaries of Chang Chenmo), and the other to the east of Changlung.: "In the south it divides itself into two ranges. One separates the Kugrang river from the Changlung and the other runs along the left bank of the latter and is also called the Nischu Mountains. The first is named Karakoram I and the second Karakoram II."
Travel routes
The narrow gorge of the Galwan river prohibited human movement, and there is no evidence of the valley having been used as a travel route. Samzunling however formed an important halting point of a north–south caravan route (the westernmost "Changchenmo route") to the east of Karakoram range. One reaches Samzungling from the Changchenmo valley by following the channel of the Changlung river and crossing over to the Galwan river basin via the Changlung Pangtung La Beyond Samzungling, one follows the Galwan channel to one of its sources, after which the Lingzi Tang plain is entered. The next halting point on the caravan route is Dehra Kompas. Thus the upper Galwan Valley formed a key north–south communication link between the Chang Chenmo valley and the Karakash River basin.: "The other main route ran through Shamal Lungpa and Samzung Ling [Samzungling] to Dehra Compas, along the upper valley of the Qara Qash River to Qizil Jilga and Chungtosh, through the Qara Tagh Pass and the Chibra valley to Malikshah and Shahidulla."
In modern times, the Chinese Wen Jia Road () traverses this route up to the Galwan River.Wen Jia Road marked on the OpenStreetMap, retrieved 16 October 2020. The eastern route through Nischu now carries the Tiankong Highway (Tianwendian–Kongka highway) and a new Galwan Highway links the two.Galwan Highway marked on OpenStreetMap, retrieved 16 October 2020.
Sino-Indian border dispute
There is no evidence of Qing China making any claims on the Aksai Chin plateau.: "There is no evidence that under the Ch'ing dynasty China ever attempted to come further south than this [a pillar 64 miles south of the Suget Pass]. In other words, they accepted the Kuen Lun range as the frontier, and both Kashmir and the Government of India were equally willing to accept it..." The Republic of China (1912–1949), having faced a revolution in Tibet in 1911, apparently made secret plans to acquire Aksai Chin plateau in order to create a road link between Xinjiang and Tibet. These plans began to get manifested in public maps only towards the end of its rule.: "As a part of India, it [Aksai Chin] formed an awkward salient projecting between Sinkiang and Tibet; to get rid of this salient must be an objective of Chinese policy whenever opportunity might offer". While the Republican Chinese claims included the Aksai Chin proper, they stopped at the foot of the Karakoram mountains, leaving all the rivers that flow into the Shyok River within India. (See map.) Communist China also published the "Big Map of the People's Republic of China" in 1956 with a similar boundary, now called the 1956 claim line. In the Galwan Valley, this line just skirted the Samzungling campsite, leaving the rest of the valley within India.: 'However, the "Big Map of the People's Republic of China" published in 1956, reverted to the alignment shown on the 1947 Kuomintang map. It is important to note that Chou En-lai, in a letter of 17 December 1959, stated that the 1956 map "correctly shows the traditional boundary between the two countries in this sector."'
However, in 1960 China advanced its claim line to the western end of the Galwan river, running along the crest of the mountain ridge adjoining the Shyok river valley. The Chinese said little by way of justification for this advancement other than to claim that it was their "traditional customary boundary" which was allegedly formed through a "long historical process". They claimed that the line was altered in the recent past only due to "British imperialism".: "When questioned on the divergence between the two maps, Chen Yi, the Chinese Foreign Minister, made the demonstrably absurd assertion that the boundaries as marked on both maps were equally valid. There is only one interpretation that could make this statement meaningful: this was an implied threat to produce another map claiming additional Indian territory if New Delhi continued in its stubborn refusal to cede Aksai Chin.": "Beijing insisted that there was no disparity between its maps of 1956 and 1960, a claim that only served to reinforce Delhi's opinion that the Chinese were untrustworthy. By the summer of 1960 meaningful diplomacy juddered to a halt.": "The Chinese officials maintained ... [the] traditional customary line, reflected in their map, was formed gradually through a long historical process, mainly by the extent up to which each side had exercised administrative jurisdiction;... Without admitting any inconsistency they also argued that the line of actual control differed from the traditional customary line because of British imperialism and the recent pushing forward of India. These factors apparently could not contribute to the continuous process of change."
Meanwhile, India continued to claim the entire Aksai Chin plateau.
1962 standoff
These claims and counterclaims led to a military standoff in the Galwan River valley in 1962.
The Indian Intelligence Bureau proposed in September 1961 that the Galwan Valley should be patrolled and posts established up in the valley because it was strategically connected to the Shyok Valley.: "In September, 1961, we prepared another note on the problems of frontier security and suggested that in Northern Ladakh we should reconnoitre the Galwan River Valley and open posts as far eastward as possible, because this valley was connected with the Shyok valley through which the Shyok River ran and finally joined the Indus in Pakistan-held territory. If the Chinese commanded the Galwan valley, it would give them easy access to Skardu, Gilgit, etc. and our routes to Murgo, Daulat Beg Oldi, Panamik would be cut." Nehru supported the proposal and the CGS B. M. Kaul ordered the setting up of a forward post. However, the terrain of the valley proved too difficult for the troops to proceed up the valley. In April 1962, Kaul ordered that a southern route should be tried. By this time, the Chinese had announced that they were resuming patrols and it was also learnt that they had established a post at Samzungling. The Western Command's objections that the establishment of an Indian post would be a provocative act were overruled by the high command.: He [General Daulet Singh] concluded that, in the circumstances, no Indian post could be established at Samzungling but Kaul overruled him. "The Galwan river was an axis along which the Chinese can make a substantial advance", he replied, and therefore they must be forestalled.'
A platoon of Indian Gorkha troops set out from Hot Springs in the Chang Chenmo Valley, and, by 5 July, arrived at the upper reaches of the Galwan Valley. They established a post on a ridge overlooking the valley from the south, on the bank of a tributary that China calls "Shimengou".Shimengou stream , mapped on OpenStreetMap, retrieved 23 February 2021. The post ended up cutting the lines of communication to a Chinese post downstream along the Galwan River, called 'Day 9'. The Chinese interpreted it as a premeditated attack on their post, and surrounded the Indian post, coming within 100 yards of it. The Indian government warned China of "grave consequences" and informed them that India was determined to hold the post at all costs. The post remained surrounded for four months and was supplied by helicopters. The Central Intelligence Agency opined that the presence of the post temporarily blocked any further movement of the Chinese troops down the Galwan Valley.