Bombay, 1672Bombay, Niebuhr's Map, 1764Bombay Fort, 1771–1864Plan of Bombay, 1760St. Thomas Cathedral, constructed by Charles Boone in 1718, was the first Anglican Church in Bombay.
In 1682, the Company fortified the Middle Ground Coastal Battery isle in the archipelago to curb the sea piracy in the area. Between 1678 and 1682, Yakut Khan, the Siddi admiral of the Mughal Empire, landed at Sewri and torched Mahim. By 15 February 1689, Khan conquered almost the whole island, and razed the Mazagon Fort in June 1690. After a payment made by the English to Aurangzeb, the ruler of the Mughal Empire, Yakut evacuated Bombay on 8 June 1690. Sidi Qasim, or Yakut Khan, who acted as Mughal Empire empire navy officer, wintered the Bombay port as in practice the Mughals, and Maratha sailors are treating Bombay as their own.[3] The Siddi sailors under Yakut Khan dominance in Bombay even prevented Sir John Child to seek retribution towards them when there is accident between Yakut Khan sailors with the english sailors in 1683.[3]
In 1715, the construction of Bombay Castle was finished, which fortified the island of Bombay from sea attacks by the Portuguese and Mughals. By 26 December 1715, Charles Boone assumed the Governorship of Bombay, and constructed the St. Thomas Cathedral in 1718, which was the first Anglican Church in Bombay. In 1737, Salsette was captured by the Maratha Empire and most of the Portuguese provinces in Bombay was ceded to the Marathas in 1739. In 1753, the Naval Dockyard was opened which remains the oldest docks in the city. The first land-use laws were also enacted in Bombay during this period. The British occupied Salsette in 1774, which was formally ceded to the British East India Company by the Treaty of Salbai signed in 1782. In 1782, William Hornby assumed the office of Governor of Bombay, and initiated the Hornby Vellard engineering project of connecting the isles in 1784. However, the project was rejected by the British East India Company in 1783. The construction of the Sion Causeway commenced in 1798 and was completed in 1803.[4] In 1803, Bombay was hit by a severe famine, which led to a large-scale emigration. On 5 November 1817, the British East India Company defeated Bajirao II, the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, in the Battle of Kirkee which took place on the Deccan Plateau. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan witnessed the freedom of Bombay from all attacks by native powers.
City development (1817–1886)
Tanna railway viaducts
The smaller railway viaduct (top) and the longer railway viaduct (bottom) near Tanna (circa 1855)
The encouragement of the trade of Bombay with Jeshwanth combined with the company's military successes in the Deccan paved the way for the educational and economic progress which characterized the city during the nineteenth century. The Hornby Vellard project gained momentum in 1817. One of the chief improvements to the north of Colaba was the construction of the Wellington Pier (Apollo Bundar) the present Gateway of India area, which was opened for passenger traffic in 1819. Bombay was hit by a water famine in 1824. In July 1832, the Parsi-Hindu riots took place in consequence of a Government order for killing of dogs. In 1838, the islands of Colaba and Little Colaba were connected to Bombay by the Colaba Causeway.[4] The Bank of Bombay was opened in 1840, which remains the oldest bank in the city. By 1845, all the seven islands had been connected to form a single island called Old Bombay having an area of 435km2 (167.95sqmi) by the Hornby Vellard project. In 1845, the Mahim Causeway, which connected Mahim to Bandra was completed. In 1845, the Grant Medical College and hospital, the third in the country, was founded by Governor Robert Grant. Riots broke out between Muslims and Parsis in October 1851, in consequence of an ill-advised article on Muhammad which appeared in the Gujarathi newspaper. On 16 April 1853 the first-ever Indian railway line began operations between Bombay and neighbouring Tanna, over a distance of 21 miles.
The first cotton mill in Bombay, the Bombay Spinning and Weaving Company was established on 7 July 1854. The foundation of the University of Bombay in 1857 made it the first modern institution of higher education in India, along with the University of Calcutta. The Great Indian Peninsular Railway and the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway (BB&CI) were started in 1860. The outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861 increased the demand for cotton in the West, and led to an enormous increase in cotton-trade. In 1866, the British Government established the Bombay Coast and River Steam Navigation Company for the maintenance of steam ferries between Bombay and nearby islands; while the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 completely revolutionized the marine trade of Bombay. In 1870 the docks were consolidated under the Bombay Port Trust, and the Bombay Municipal Corporation was established in 1872, providing a modern framework of governance for the rapidly growing city. Tramway communication was also instituted in 1872. Public gardens such as the Victoria Gardens and Northbrook Gardens were opened in 1873 and 1874 respectively. Violent Parsi-Muslim riots again broke out in February 1874, which were caused by an attack upon Muhammad published by a Parsi resident. The Bombay Gymkhana was formed in 1875 and soon organizations such as Bombay Quadrangular followed. Bombay became one of the few cities in the world to include a large national park within its limits, and the Bombay Natural History Society was founded in 1883. The Princess Dock was built in 1885 as part of a scheme for improving the whole foreshore of the Bombay harbour.
Political consciousness and independence struggle (1885–1947)
The growth of political consciousness started after the establishment of the Bombay Presidency Association by Dadabhai Naoroji on 31 January 1885. The Bombay Millowners' Association was formed in February 1875 in order to protect interests threatened by possible factory and tariff legislation by the British. The foundation of the Indian National Congress in 1885 was one of the most important political event in Bombay. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay from 28 to 31 December 1885. In 1888, the Bombay Municipal Act was enacted which gave the British Government wide powers of interference in civic matters. The Victoria Terminus of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, one of the finest stations in the world, was also completed in 1888. On 11 August 1893, a very serious riot took place between the Hindus and Muslims in Bombay, which led to 1500 arrests and 80 were injured. In 1896, Bombay was hit by bubonic plague which killed thousands of citizens. In a single week in 1897, over 10,000 persons fled Bombay. On 9 March 1898 there was a serious riot which started with a sudden outbreak of hostility against the measures adopted by Government for suppression of plague. The riot led to a strike of dock and railway workers which paralysed the city for a few days. The significant results of the plague was the creation of the Bombay City Improvement Trust in 1898 and the Haffkine Institute in 1899. The cotton mill industry was also adversely affected during 1900 and 1901 due to the flight of workers because of the plague. The years 1904–05, however, witnessed a reversion of this state of affairs.
The Partition of Bengal in 1905 initiated the Swadeshi movement, which led to the boycotting of British goods, had a tremendous impact on Bombay. On 22 July 1908, Lokmanya Tilak, the principal advocate of the Swadeshi movement in Bombay, was sentenced to six years imprisonment, which led to huge scale protests in the city. The Bombay Chronicle was started by Pherozeshah Mehta, the leader of the Indian National Congress, in April 1913, which played an important role in the national movement till India's Independence. The most important event in Bombay early in 1915 was the visit of Mahatma Gandhi to Bombay. The All India Home Rule League was inaugurated by Annie Besant at Madras in September 1916. Meanwhile, Tilak had already started his own Home Rule League at Bombay in May 1916 to bid for support of the mill workers in Bombay. Lord Willingdon convened the Provincial War Conference at Bombay on 10 June 1918, whose objective was to seek the co-operation of the people in the World War I measures which the British Government thought it necessary to take in the Bombay Presidency. The conference was followed by huge rallies across the city. The worldwide influenza epidemic raged through Bombay from September to December 1918, causing hundreds of deaths per day. The first important strike in the textile industry in Bombay began in January 1919. Bombay was the main centre of the Rowlatt Satyagraha movement started by Mahatma Gandhi from February— April 1919. The movement was started as a result of the Rowlatt Act, which indefinitely extended emergency measures during the First World War in order to control public unrest.
Following World War I, which saw large movement of India troops, supplies, arms and industrial goods to and from Bombay, the city life was shut down many times during the Non-cooperation movement from 1920 to 1922.[5] In 1926, the Back Bay scandal occurred, when the Bombay Development Department under the British reclaimed the Back Bay area in Bombay after the financial crisis incidental to the post-war slump in the city.[6] In 1927, the first electric locomotives were put into service up to Poona and Igatpuri and later electric multiple rake commuter trains ran up to Virar on the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway. In the late 1920s, many Persians migrated to Bombay from Yazd to escape the drought in Iran.[7] In the early 1930s, the nationwide Civil disobedience movement against the British Salt tax spread to Bombay. Vile Parle was the headquarters of the movement in Bombay under Jamnalal Bajaj.[8][9] On 15 October 1932 industrialist and aviator J.R.D. Tata pioneered civil aviation in Bombay by flying a plane from Karachi to Bombay. Bombay was affected by the Great Depression of 1929, which saw a stagnation of mill industry and economy from 1933 to 1939.[10] With World War II, the movement of thousands of troops, military and industrial goods and the fleet of the Royal Indian Navy made Bombay an important military base for the battles being fought in West Asia and South East Asia.[11] The climactic Quit India rebellion was promulgated on 7 August 1942 by the Congress in a public meeting at Gowalia Tank.[12] The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 18 February 1946 in Bombay marked the first and most serious revolt by the Indian sailors of the Royal Indian Navy against British rule.[13] On 15 August 1947, finally India became independent. The last British troops to leave India, the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, passed through the arcade of the Gateway of India in Bombay on 28 February 1948.[14] The 282-year-long period of the British domination in Bombay ended after India's Independence in 1947.
1 2 Jon Wilson (25 August 2016). India Conquered Britain's Raj and the Chaos of Empire(ebook). Simon & Schuster UK. ISBN9781471101274. Retrieved 2 December 2023. . In theory, the English were sovereign over the island of Bombay in a way that they were....in a way that they were sovereign over nowhere in Bengal. In practice, such sovereignty meant little as the island
Aspengren, Henrik C. "Sociological knowledge and colonial power in Bombay around the First World War", "British Journal for the History of Science", Dec. 2011, Vol. 44 Issue 4, pp.533–548.
Collins, Charles Dillard (1988). Iconography and Ritual of Siva at Elephanta. State University of New York Press. ISBN978-0-88706-774-7.
David, M. D. (1973). History of Bombay, 1661–1708: 1661–1708. University of Bombay.
Dobbin, Christine. Urban Leadership in Western India: Politics and Communities in Bombay City 1840-1885 (Oxford University Press), 1972.
Khandekar, Vishnu Sakharam; A. K. Bhagwat; Acyuta Kesava Bhagavata (1977). Maharashtra, a Profile. V. S. Khandekar Amrit Mahotsava Satkar Samiti.
Kidambi, Prashant. The Making of an Indian Metropolis. Colonial Governance and Public Culture in Bombay, 1890–1920 (Hampshire: Ashgate), 2007, pp.268
Kosambi, Meera. Bombay in Transition: The Growth & Social Ecology of a Colonial City, 1880–1980 (1986) 204pp
Numark, Mitch. "Translating Dharma: Scottish Missionary-Orientalists and the Politics of Religious Understanding in Nineteenth-Century Bombay," Journal of Asian Studies, May 2011, 70#2, pp 471–500
Sheppard, Samuel Townsend (1932). Bombay. The Times of India Press.
Mumbai is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city of India with an estimated population of 12.5 million (1.25 crore). Mumbai is the centre of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the sixth-most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million living within the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Mumbai lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city.
Mahim (Marathi: माहिम) is a neighbourhood in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The Mahim Junction railway station on the Western Railway and Harbour Railway of the Mumbai Suburban Railway network is the last station of the city, as neighboring Bandra comes in Mumbai Suburb. Mahim is an ethnically and religiously diverse town and has a Hindu temple, church, mosque and Parsi fire-temple existing within a few meters of each other. The town has a large Rich and Upper Middle class Marathi population.
The Seven Islands of Bombay were 16th-century Portuguese colonial possessions lying off the Konkan region by the mid-west coast of India.
Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra, along India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the Mumbai Suburban district, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thane district lie within it, making it very populous and one of the most densely populated islands in the world. It has a population of more than 20 million inhabitants living on an area of about 619 square kilometres (239 sq mi).
The Hornby Vellard was a project to build a causeway uniting all seven islands of Bombay into a single island with a deep natural harbour. The project was started by the governor William Hornby in 1782 and all islands were linked by 1838. The word vellard appears to be a local corruption of the Portuguese word vallado meaning fence or embankment. The seven islets – their anglicised names being Colaba, Old Woman’s Island, Bombay, Mazgaon, Parel, Mahim and Worli – came to the British in 1661 as part of the dowry of Charles II, who married into the Portuguese royal family. Bombay was quickly palmed off to the East India Company for a paltry £10 a year and later the company identified that more land means more money hence got interested in the project.
Fort Vasai is a ruined fort of the town of Vasai (Bassein), Maharashtra, India. The structure was formally christened as the Fort of St Sebastian in the Indo-Portuguese era. The fort is a monument of national importance and is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The Mahim Fort is a fort in Mahim in Mumbai, Maharashtra state, India. Strategically located in the Mahim Bay, the fort overlooks Worli to the south, Bandra to the north, and Mahim to the east. The origins of the fort are unclear, but it occupies a strategic location that has been frequently contested. The fort is currently in disrepair, suffering from administrative neglect, encroachment of slums, and exposure to tidal erosion.
The Mazagaon Fort was a British fort in Mazagaon, Bombay, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, built around 1680. The fort was razed by the Muslim Koli general, Yakut Khan in June 1690. The fort was located at the present-day Joseph Baptista Gardens, atop Bhandarwada Hill outside the Dockyard Road railway station.
The Riwa Fort, locally known as Kala Qilla or Black Fort, is a fort in central Mumbai (Bombay), India on the banks of the Mithi River. The fort is currently in a dilapidated condition amidst the Dharavi slums. It was built by the Mughal governor of Bombay, Yakut Khan. It was part of the larger Bombay Castle, and marked the northern portion of Mughal-held Bombay in the 17th century. The castle was also used as a watchtower, guarding the territory against the Portuguese-held Salsette Island. The Riwa Fort was later captured by the Marathas.
Castella de Aguada, also known as the Bandra Fort, is a fort located in Bandra, Mumbai. "Castella" is a misspelling for Portuguese "Castelo" (castle), although it seems its Portuguese builders actually called it Forte de Bandorá. It is located at Land's End in Bandra. It was built by the Portuguese in 1640 as a watchtower overlooking Mahim Bay, the Arabian Sea and the southern island of Mahim. The strategic value of the fort was enhanced in 1661 after the Portuguese ceded the seven islands of Bombay that lay to the immediate south of Bandra to the English. The name indicates its origin as a place where fresh water was available in the form of a fountain ("Aguada") for Portuguese ships cruising the coasts in the initial period of Portuguese presence. The fort lies over several levels, from sea level to an altitude of 24 metres (79 ft). Castella de Aguada has been featured in several Hindi films, such as Dil Chahta Hai and Buddha Mil Gaya.
Mahim Bay is a bay, part of the Arabian Sea in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The southern end is Worli, northern end is Bandra Reclamation and Mahim is in the centre. The bay was named after the islands of Mahim and Salsette were merged in the early 19th century. The Mithi River drains into Mahim Creek which drains into the Bay, and forms the border between the Mumbai city and its Suburbs.
Indigenous tribals have inhabited Mumbai (Bombay) since the Stone Age. The Kolis and Aagri were the earliest known settlers of the islands. Between the 2nd century BCE and 10th century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: the Satavahanas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Silharas & Chollas.
Qasim Yakut Khan also known as Yakut Shaikhji, Yakub Khan and Sidi Yaqub was a naval Admiral and administrator of Janjira Fort who first served under Bijapur Sultanate and later under the Mughal Empire.
The Ancient history of Mumbai recounts the history of Mumbai from 300 BCE to 1348 CE.
The history of Mumbai under Islamic rule began in 1348 and continued until 1534.
Bombay, also called Bom Bahia or Bom Baim in Indo-Portuguese creole, Mumbai in the local language; is the financial and commercial capital of India and one of the most populous cities in the world. It's also the cosmopolitan city centre of the Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area, and the cultural base of the Bollywood film industry. At the time of arrival of the Portuguese Armadas, Bombay was an archipelago of seven islands. Between the third century BCE and 1348, the islands came under the control of successive Hindu dynasties. The Delhi Sultanate had been ruling the area along with Chaul, New Bombay (Thana) & Damaon, with the administrative centre in Bassein (Vasai) since the raids of Malik Kafur in the Konkan region and across the Indian subcontinent. This territory in North Konkan along with the Bombay islands were later taken over by the Sultan of Guzerat from 1391 to 1534, when he had declared the end of the suzerainty to Delhi, after the Timurid invasion of it. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Moghal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein on 23 December 1534; according to which, the seven islands of Bombay, Fort San Sebastian of Bassein in strategic town of Bassein (Vasai), and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese East Indies. The places were only later officially surrendered on 25 October 1535, by the Sultan of Guzerat.
Pratapbimba was the son of Raja Bhimdev and he ruled the islands of Mumbai from 1303 to 1331. After Bhimdev's death in 1303, he was succeeded by his son Pratapbimba, who built his capital at Marol in Salsette, which he named Pratappur. The islands were wrested from Pratapbimba's control by Mubarak Khan, a self-proclaimed regent of the Khilji dynasty, who occupied Mahim and Salsette in 1318. It was later reconquered by Pratapbimba, which he ruled till 1331.
Sion Causeway is a major causeway in Bombay, India which connects Sion in Bombay with Kurla in Salsette. The construction of the causeway began in 1798 and was completed in 1805 by Jonathan Duncan, Governor of Bombay (1795–1811), at a cost of £5,037. In 1826, its breadth was doubled and improved at a further outlay of £4,000 A volcanic tract extends from Carnac Bunder to Sion Causeway, and forms the entire of the chain of hills bordering the north-eastenn end of the island from the Sewri Fort to Sion.
The military history of Bassein encompasses the period from 1526, when the Portuguese established their first factory at Bassein, until 1818, when Bassein lost its strategic importance following the defeat of the Marathas by the British.
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