About Bombay -
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General Introduction |
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Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra and the economic powerhouse
India. It's an exhilarating city, fuelled by entrepreneurial energy,
determination and dreams. Compared to the torpor of the rest of India,
it can seem like a foreign country. Mumbai is the finance capital of
the nation, the industrial hub of everything from textiles to
petrochemicals, and it's responsible for half the country's foreign
trade. To many visitors, Mumbai is the glamour of Bollywood cinema,
cricket on the maidans on weekends, bhelpuri on the beach at Chowpatty
and red double-decker buses. While it boasts an impressive Victoria
townscape, a sculptured island cave temple and a national park that's
roamed by wild tigers, the city's formal attractions pale in
comparison to the nonstop theater of its streets. Sixteen million
people from all over India are wedged into Mumbai and after a short
stroll you will feel like you have rubbed shoulders with and bumped
into every single one of them. As the cultural bridgehead between east
and west, whatever happens in the rest of India tends to happens first
in Mumbai, and it usually happens with the maximum amount of swank and
noise. Most visitors to India gear themselves up to confront poverty,
but it's the extravagant display of wealth in Mumbai that seem
shocking. In many parts of the city flash cars and mobile phones are
as common as street kids or beggars, and Mumbai loves to claim it has
more millionaires than Manhattan. Flush with money, the city has an
established social elite and an entertainment hungry middle class,
which mean diversions are never in short supply.
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Mumbai Facts and Figures |
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| Area
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440 sq km (170 sq m) |
| Population |
18 millions |
| State |
Maharashtra |
| Language |
Marathi, Hindi, english, Gujrati |
| STD Code |
022 |
| Time Zone |
GMT/UTC plus 5.5
hours |
| Weather |
Sum. Max 34o C Min
27o C
Wint. Max 30o C Min 19o C |
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Mumbai History |
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The seven islands that now form Mumbai were first home to the Koli
fisherfolk whose shanties still occupy parts of the city shoreline
today. The islands were ruled by a succession of Hindu dynasties,
invaded by Muslims in the 14th century and then ceded to Portugal by
the Sultan of Gujarat in 1534. The Portuguese did little to develop
them before the major island of the group was included in Catherine of
Braganza's dowry when she married England's Charles II in 1661. The
British Government took possession of all seven islands in 1665 but
leased them three years later to the East India Company for a meagre
annual rent of 10 pounds sterling.
Bombay soon developed as a trading port thanks to its fine harbour and
the number of merchants who were attracted from other parts of India
by the British promise of religious freedom and land grants. Migrants
included sizeable communities of Parsis and Gujaratis, and south
Indian Hindus fleeing Portuguese persecution in Goa. Their arrival,
and that of later immigrant groups, laid the basis for Bombay's
celebrated multicultural society. Within 20 years, the presidency of
the East India Company was transferred to Bombay from Surat, and the
town soon became the trading headquarters for the whole west coast of
India.
Bombay's fort was built in the 1720s, and soon after land reclamation
projects began the century-long process of joining the seven islands
into a single land mass. Although Bombay grew steadily during the 18th
century, it remained isolated from its hinterland until the British
defeated the Marathas and annexed substantial portions of Western
India in 1818. Growth was spurred by the arrival of steam ships and
the construction of the first railway in Asia from Bombay to Thana in
1853. Cotton mills were built in the city the following year, and the
American Civil War - which temporarily dried up Britain's supply of
cotton - sparked Bombay's cotton boom. The fort walls were dismantled
in 1864 and the city embarked on a major building spree as it sought
to construct a civic townscape commensurate with its new found wealth.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the massive expansion of
Bombay's docks cemented the city's future as India's primary port. |
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Mumbai Best Season |
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Mumbai can be visited any time of the year, though the hot and humid
months of June, July and August are best avoided. |
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