The city of
Mumbai was originally consisted of seven islands, namely
Colaba,
Mazagaon, Old Woman's Island,
Wadala,
Mahim,
Parel, and
Matunga-
Sion (
salset islands). These seven islands were on the west coast of India. The people then residing on these islands were depended on fishing and hunting. They were using the arms made of stone. The
artefacts found
Kandivali in northern
Mumbai indicate that these islands had been inhabited since the Stone Age. The inhabitaion on these seven islands was the result of the migration of the people of Dravid Community from South India whose main profession was fishing. They are now known as Kolis (fishermen). Accordingly, some of the people from Gujarat also migrated to these seven islands for fishing. These people from Gujarat were known as Macchalimar. The people migrated from south India brought with them their godess Mumba Aai. The name of Mumbai is derived from the name of this godess "Mumba Aai." Gradually, on this western Coast-land, the culture of Aryans started expanding. The king named Bimb then ruling these islands constructed Prabhadevi Temple in 1322. The documented evidence of human habitation dates back to 250 BC. In the 3rd century BC, these islands formed part of the Empire of the
Maurya Dynasty and ruled by the
Indian Buddhist emperor,
Ashoka, the Great. The Hindu rulers of the
Silhara Dynasty later governed the islands until 1343, when the kingdom of Gujarat annexed them. Some of the oldest edifices of the archipelago – the
Elephanta island and the
Walkeshwar Temple Complex date from this era. In the year 1343, the Mohammedans of Gujarat took possession and the Kings of the province of Gujarat, India, ruled untill 1534. The only vestige (mark) of their dominion over these islands are found on the mosque at
Mahim. In 1534 the Portuguese took over
Mumbai by force of arms from the Mohammedans and ruled Mumbai till 1661. This led to the establishment of numerous churches which were
constructed in the areas where the majority of people were Roman Catholics. There used to be two areas in
Mumbai called "Portuguese Church" and "St. Andrew's Church at
Bandra. However, Portuguese-style facade still remains only with St. Andrew's Church at
Bandra. The Portuguese also fortified their possession by building forts at
Sion,
Mahim,
Bandra, and
Bassien which, although in very dilapidated condition, can still be seen. They named their new possession as "
Bom Baia" which in Portuguese means "Good Bay". A hundred and twenty-eight years later, the islands were given to the English King Charles II in dowry on his marriage to Portuguese Princess Catherine of
Braganza in 1662. In the year 1668 the islands were acquired by the English East India Company on lease from the crown for an annual sum of 10 pounds in gold; so little did the British value these islands at that time. The Company, which was operating from Surat, was in search for another deeper water port so that larger vessels could dock and found the islands of Bombay suitable for development. The shifting of the East India Company's headquarters to Bombay in 1687 led to the collapse of Surat as a principal trading center. The company found the deep harbour on the east coast of the islands to be ideal for setting up their first port in the sub-continent. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661 to 60,000 in 1675. The British corrupted the Portuguese name "
Bom Baia" to "Bombay". The city eventually became the headquarters of the
Bombay Presidency. From 1817 onwards, the city was reshaped with large civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as the
Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1845 and resulted in the total area swelling to 438 kms². It was then really enjoyable to see on foot these seven amalgamated islands. Applo-gate, Churchgate and Bazar-gate were inside the wall of the fort. On eastern side of the fort was docks area and on the western side were Girgaum Chowpati, malabar hill and Mazgaon hill. The Worli, Mazgaon, Sewri and Wadala had small sized forts whereas Sion and Mahim had large sized forts. In 1853, India's first passenger
Mumbai Suburban Railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the southenward adjacent town Thane. The first clothe mill in India started in Mumbai in1854. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy and subsequently, enhancing the city's stature. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea.
Mumbai(then known as Bombay) was a major base for the Indian independence movement, with the
Quit India Movement called by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942 being its most rubric event. After India's independence in 1947, it became the capital of Bombay State (refer to
Bombay Presidency). Till independence of India, most of the people in Mumbai had a traditional costume of Dhoti, Sadra, black coat and white gandhi or black round cap. The people engaged in clerical jobs were mostly staying in chawl system with common toilets and water-taps. In the 1950 the city expanded to its present limits by incorporating parts of Salsette island which lay to the north.
After 1955, when the Bombay State was being re-organised along linguistic lines into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, there was a demand that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. However, the
Sanyukta Maharashtra Samiti opposed this, and insisted that Mumbai be declared the capital of Maharashtra. Following a successful protests in which 105 people were killed by police firing, Maharashtra state was formed with Mumbai as its capital on May 1, 1960.
Flora Foutain was renamed Hutatma Chowk, or "Martyr's Square," as a memorial to the Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement
The local fisher communities (locally being called Kolis) used to call the islands "Mumba" after Mumbadevi, the Hindu deity.
When India became independent on 15th August, 1947, the Mumbai had a 3 million (30 lacs) population which grew beyond 1 crore, 30 lacs in 2007. The reason of such fast growth of population of Mumbai was due to the availability of electricity, employment, self-employment, water and transport comparatively with the other parts in India. This population growth resulted into joining suburban area to the main Mumbai. In the recent past, the Mumbai has been converted into Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). Despite the encroachment of the large number of people from other states in India, Mumbai still has 65% majority population of Marathi speaking community. The feature of Mumbai is that it is the only city in India where with Marathi language, the other laguages like English Gujarathi, Malyalam, Telgu and Hindi are spoken at large scale.
