Beautiful sunset -Arabian Sea With mumbai Skyline

Mumbai - A historical overview



The present day city was built on archipelago of seven islands of Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as Little Colaba). The islands were joined into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard engineering project in 1784.

The Koli fishing community had long inhabited the islands. They were Dravidian in origin and included a large number of scattered tribes along the Vindhya Plateau, Gujarat, and Konkan.

Over the centuries, the seven islands were predominantly under Hindu dynasties. They faced a Muslim invasion in the 14th century before being handed over to the Portuguese colonialists by Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat in 1534.

In 1661 the biggest island was included in the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, when she married Charles II of England. Although the British Government owned all seven islands by 1665, they were leased to the East India Company in 1668 for an annual rent of 10 pounds.



Seven islands of earlier Mumbai



The development of Bombay Mumbai as a thriving port owes much to this exchange of hands.,the East India Company attracted a huge number of Gujaratis, Parsis and South Indian Hindus by promising land grants and religious freedom.

In the next 20 years Mumbai became such a huge success that the Presidency of the East India Company moved here from Surat. The British built the Bombay Fort in the 1720's.

One important development in Mumbai's favour was the construction of the first railway in Asia from Bombay to Thane in 1853.

The first railway line of India between Victoria Terminus and Thana was inaugurated on 16th April 1853. The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) and the Bombay Baroda and Central India (BB&CI) Railway were started in 1860 and a regular service of steamers on the west coast was commenced in 1869.

Many buildings such as the Victoria Terminus, the General Post Office, Municipal Corporation, the Prince of Wales Museum, Rajabai Tower and Bombay University, Elphinstone College and the Cawasji Jehangir Hall, the Crawford Market were constructed in the later half of the 19th century. The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of king George V and Queen Mary for the Darbar at Delhi in 1911.

Historic All India Congress Committee session was started on 7th of August 1942 at Gowala Tank Maidan. Mahatma Gandhi gave 'Quit India' call at this session. British arrested the Indian leaders soon afterwards but the momentum of the Quit India movement could not be stopped and led to the final withdrawal of the British on 15 August 1947.

After independence, the state of Bombay was split into Maharashtra and Gujarat states in 1960 on linguistic basis, while the former retaining Bombay city as its capital. The Congress party continued to rule Maharashtra until 1994 when the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) replaced it. 

The name Mumbai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Mumba or Maha-Amba—the name of the Koli goddess Mumbadevi—and Aai, "mother" in Marathi. The former name Bombay had its origins in the 16th century when the Portuguese arrived in the area and called it by various names, which finally took the written form Bombaim, still common in current Portuguese use.

After the British gained possession of the city in the 17th century, it was believed to be anglicized to Bombay from the Portuguese Bombaim. The city was known as Mumbai or Mambai to Marathi speakers and as Bambai in Hindi, Persian and Urdu. Mumbai is also refered as Kakamuchee and Galajunkja

In November 1995 The English name was officially changed to its Marathi pronunciation of Mumbai .http://www.themumbaiguide.com/contents.php?cat=2