The Sion Hillock Fort is a fort in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was built under the regime of the English East India Company, between 1669 and 1677, atop a conical hillock when Gerard Aungier was the Governor of Bombay. It was notified in 1925 as a Grade I Heritage structure. [1] When it was built, the fort marked the boundary between British-held Parel island and the Portuguese held Salsette Island that lay to the north across the creek. [2]
The hillock is situated 500 metres from the Sion railway station. [3] At the base of the hill is the Mumbai Circle office of the Archaeological Survey of India, [4] and a garden – the Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Udyan. Nearby forts include the Riwa Fort and Sewri Fort.
The fort is dilapidated and a collection of broken stone steps, scattered walls and ruins, overrun by trees and ground cover. The fort wall has a small room on top. A series of pathways lead to it. The fort offers a panoramic view, overlooking the salt pans in the Thane Creek. However vandalism and apathy have taken their toll on the structure. Restoration of the fort had begun in 2009 but was stopped mid-way due to paucity of funds. [2]
Sion is a neighbourhood of Mumbai. In the 17th century the village formed the boundary between Mumbai and Salsette Island. The British named it marking the end of the city. The name remained even after Mumbai was joined to the Salsette and extended up to Mulund. One of the local historical places in Sion is a hilltop garden commonly known as Sion Fort or Sheevon Killa in the Marathi language.
Dadar ([d̪aːd̪əɾ]) is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity. It is Mumbai’s first planned area and it a hub for the city's Marathi culture.
Kurla is a suburb of East Mumbai, India. It is the headquarters of the Kurla taluka of Mumbai Suburban district. The neighbourhood is named after the eponymous East Indian village that it grew out of. It falls under Zone 5, Ward 'L' of the Bombay Municipal Corporation. Its railway station, spelt as Coorla until 1890, is one of the busiest on the Mumbai suburban railway on the central and harbour railway lines of Mumbai as is the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) for out-station passenger/express trains.
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.
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).
South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbourhoods, and comprises the city's main business localities, making it the wealthiest urban precinct in India. Property prices in South Mumbai are by far the highest in India and among the highest in the world.
Vasai is a historical place and city located in Palghar district; which was partitioned out of the Thana district in 2014. It also forms a part of Vasai-Virar twin cities in the Konkan division, Maharashtra, India, and comes under the Police Jurisdiction of Mira-Bhayander, Vasai-Virar Police Commissionerate.
Madh Island is a group of several quaint fishing villages and farmlands in northern Mumbai.
Fort Vasai is a ruined fort of the town of Vasai (Bassein), Konkan Division, Maharashtra, Indian Union. 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.
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.
Isle of Bombay was one of the Seven Islands of Bombay, an archipelago of islands that were, in the eighteenth century, connected to form the area of the modern city of Bombay in India. The island was the main harbour and the Base of the British from where the city expanded.
Bombay Castle is one of the oldest defensive structures built in the city of Mumbai. The current castle is a structure built by the British on the site of the Manor House built by a Portuguese nobleman Garcia de Orta. Orta had leased the island of Bombay from the King of Portugal between 1554 and 1570.
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.
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.
Sadashivgad is a village located in Karwar, Uttara Kannada district, in the state of Karnataka in India. Significant and picturesque, it is now a popular tourist destination located by the Kali river bridge, which has been built at the confluence of the river and the Arabian Sea.
Holy Cross Church, Kurla is a Roman Catholic Church in Kurla, a suburb of Mumbai, India. It was built during the Portuguese era by the Jesuits in 1588 and rebuilt in 1848. It is one of the oldest churches in Mumbai. The church belongs to the Archdiocese of Bombay.
Asheri Fort / Asheri is a fort located 102 km from Mumbai and 88 km from Thane. It is in Palghar district, of Maharashtra. This fort is an important fort in Palghar district. The fort is located on the hills near Mendhavan Khind on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway. The base village Khodkona is a very small tribal village. The Fort restoration is done by the local villagers.
Dativare Fort / Hira Dongar is a fort located 72 km from Vasai, in Palghar district, of Maharashtra. The fort is located at a commanding point upon a small hillock beside the Vaitarna River, which runs until Arnala Fort.
Dharavi Island is an island situated at the mouth of Vasai Creek on the western side of Salsette Island, within the city of Mumbai, India. Dharavi Island comprises six villages, Dongri, Uttan, Pali, Chowk, Gorai, and Manori.
19°02′48″N72°52′04″E / 19.0467°N 72.8677°E