Mumbai occupies a low-lying area that once consisted of seven islands separated only during high tide and was first home to the Koli fishing people who still occupy parts of the shoreline today and were certainly in evidence when I visited Elephanta Island (See a later posting). The name Mumbai originates from Maha-Amba – the name of the Hindu Goddess ‘Mumbadevi’ and “Aai’ – Mother in the local Maathi language.
The islands were ruled by a succession of Hindu dynasties, invaded by Muslims in the 14th Century and then ceded to the Portuguese in 1534 by the Sultan of Gujarat. The Portuguese called it ‘Bom Baim’, which means ’Good Bay’ and established it as a centre of trade but did little to develop it before the major island in the cluster was included in Catherine of Braganza’s dowry when she married Charles II of England in 1661.
The British took possession of the islands in 1665 and leased them 3 years later to the English East India Company for a peppercorn rent of £10 per year. The deep-water harbour on the East Coast proved to be ideal for their first major port in the Indian sub-continent.
Mumbai was transformed into one of the largest seaports in the Arabian Sea with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and after India’s independence in 1947 Mumbai, or then the anglicised Bombay, became the capital of Bombay State.
The name Mumbai was restored in 1995 although one of our guides told us that what you call the city depends on your language so in the local dialect its Mumbai, in English Bombay and in Hindi Bomba – I’ll stick to Mumbai!!
Today Mumbai is the capital of Mahäräshtra State and the commercial and entertainment centre of India and is connected to the mainland by several bridges. It is home to the Reserve Bank of India – ‘the bankers bank’ and is one of the top ten financial centres in the world. The city also houses the Hindi film and television industry known as Bollywood. ‘Believe it or not’ (One of the Captain’s mid-day report phrases) over 1200 Bollywood films and programmes are made annual gross income of £3.2billion pounds.
Additionally Mumbai is a centre for textile manufacture and petrochemicals and overall accounts for 50% of India’s foreign trade. Clearly other manufacturing is also important judging by the numerous coils of rolled steel to be seen everywhere in the port with long queues of lorries waiting to be loaded to transport this raw material away from the docks.
The photo is of the Indian Gateway with the Taj Mahal Place Hotel in the background.
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