The Story of Mumbai: PART 0

SubPart II

To being at the very beginning The 7 islands on which the city grew are right in the middle of a large bay in the west coast of India about 18 degrees north of the equator. This bay provides a very safe harbour for ships of all sizes and all Types. Before the Europeans arrived on the shores in the 16TH century its population largely consisted of the fishermen community known as Kolis. The Kolis are a type of Fishermens who have spread all over the coast and in the villages. The seas and the creeks around the villages provides them with nourishment they need to live healthy lives, Though some of them practice small scale agriculture growing rice, various leaves, coconuts and mangoes. They are in a great, peace loving community, who have lived in the Mumbai area for centuries without seeking to build and empire or acquire territories in search of wealth.

SubPart III:

SubPart IV: But we are still at the stage where East India is had just begun owner of the variable pieces of the real estate. At that time they had just obtained permission from the Mougal empreor Jahangir to set up a Trading port at Surat about 200 Km north of Mumbai. Surat was a river port at the wide mouth of the Tapti river. Surat had come advantage over Mumbai, It was in the middle of the rich very well developed Gujarat countryside, undoubtedly very enterprising merchant community. It took a hundred years before Mumbai, with much superior characteristics as a port, and harbor, turned the tide in its favor. In These 100 years The east India has changed from just a trading vs. To an association of empire builders. The battle of Plassey ( in far away Bengal ) fought by British Forces under the general ship of Robert Clie must be considered as one of the Turning points of history. The British Routed the ill trained army of the Mogul Governor. The Mogul Empire based in Delhi was already totterring in its position to defend territories 1000s of KMs away. Bengal became a British ruled territory.

SubPart V: That happened in 1757. Twenty years later the British were ruling 3 large Territories in India, 1) Bengal, Bihar and Orissa ( with Kolkotta as its capital ). II) Madras presidency in the southern part of Indian peninsula, all along East Coast bordering Bay of Bengal. III) Western India Presidency ( later known as Bombay presidency ). A Large chunk of land on the west coast, Surat, was its capital for 20 years or so. The Brisish realized that Bombay was much better situated to be made the seal of Government. With a couple of naval ships anchored in the bay and a garrison of soldiers on the island, Bombay was nicely protected against attacks from the mainland. A part of south Bombay was nicely protected against attacks from the mainland by a wall, and came to be known as the Fort area (It still goes by that name, though only part of the Wall remains ).

SubPart VI: [ mumbai ..] It is now a big business area. But in the early 19TH century this was the seat of political power. The governor of Bombay presidency lived in his palatial Bunglows. The city and District courts, all government offices, inc. the office of the collector of Bombay were built within this walled city. Obviosuly this meant a great deal of construction activity and a considerably large population of people of all sorts of skills ( including book keepers, accountants copy writers who would produce copy of documents with minimum of errors ). So Mumbai now really was on the move.

Story of Mumbai: Part VII

The one major Advantage That Mumbai Enjoyed all along its unrivaled harbor now became an even bigger factor than ever. Bigger and bigger ships were being built to carry passengers and cargo across the oceans. Calcutta was still the main city in the operations of the British Trades, but ships had to travel 100 kms up the river Hougly to reach the port. Already it was out of bounds for the bigger ships. Fifty years later when steamships arrived on the scene it was impossible for the ocean goers to reach Calcutta. Bombay with its 400 sq. kms, of safe deep waters could easily accommodate the biggest of shops. That Empress of the oceans, The R.M.S. queen Mary paid Mumbai a couple of visits during her voyages as a Tourist ship, you couldn’t ask for anything bigger than that ship.

About Half way through the nineteenth century Two major events happened which turned Mumbai’s fast center into galloping progress. The first of These events was the arrival of railway trains in India driven by steam locomotives. The first railway company was established in Bombay called The Great Indian Peninsular Railway. Its first Train ran from Fort area to Thane, a suburb north of the city, a total distance of about 25 miles. Minute in comparison to the size of India. But the pioneers were ambitious. They knew These were first steps in establishing a great network, and the most important, the busiest part of the country was the center from which goods and raw materials were sent out to Europe, but also to China and Japan. Also goods brought in from those countries had to be distributed to they were .

The railways companies established in Mumbai, Madras, and Calcutta were fully aware of their responsibility in this business. The rail line from Mumbai to Calcutta was most important of all. A distance of 2000 kms had to be covered crossing mountains, rivers, Thickly forested areas where elephants and Tigers roamed freely. For the engineers, supervisors and hundreds of workers laying the tracks, it was quiet and adventure story.