Mumbai [ Maharashtra ]

Mumbai City

Mumbai is India´s finance centre, the economic powerhouse of the nation, heart of the Hindi film industry and the industrial hub of everything from textiles to petrochemicals.Mumbai is the glamour of Bollywood cinema, cricket on the maidans(open grassed areas), bhelpuri (a spicy sweet Mumbai snack) on the beach of Chowpatty, outstanding colonial architecture and red double-decker buses.

Mumbai was Bombay and this vast port and metropolis grew over three centuries from a collection of seven small, swampy islands into a giant magnet that each year still draws thousands of hopeful migrants seeking their fortune.

The islands, originally inhabited by Koli fishermen, remained as they were for several centuries in the pre-Christian era. It was only in the following centuries, the development of important townships and ports took place on the mainland surrounding the islands.

The place did witness some growth during the rule of several Hindu and Muslim dynasties, but a physical metamorphosis of the islands began only after the Portuguese takeover from the Muslim rulers of Gujarat in 1534.

Bombay and the freedom struggle

The Freedom Struggle received a tremendous impetus with Bombay taking the lead in almost every major political movement. Independence came in 1947, with refugees from Pakistan further adding to the population.

In the latter half of the 20th century, Bombay quickly grew upwards in the form of high rises and outwards too, rapidly expanding into the northern suburbs and the mainland. Today the city's population is estimated at around 14 million.