Gifts to Mumbai

Mumbai originally consisted of seven separate islands that were only connected at low tide. The original people of the islands were a traditional fishing people known as the Kolis . In 1348 Mumbai was conquered by the neighboring kingdom of Gujarat and remained under their possession until it was taken by the Portuguese in 1534. The British acquired it in 1661 through the marriage of Princess Catherine of Portugal to Prince Charles II of England. However, the British Crown did not want it due to the fact that it was swampy and quite uninhabitable. This was good news to the British East India Company because that type of landscape is fairly good for growing cotton, so they lea sed the property from the Crown beginning in 1668.

The British East India Company took upon the challenge of developing Mumbai, then known as Mumbai, and they built the fort, now the current Central Business District, in 1717. The Company began reclaiming land from the sea in 1730 and by 1830 a causeway which linked mainland Mumbai to the two southernmost islands had been built, making Mumbai look much like it still does today.

The main industry that the British East India Company developed was textiles, which still remains Mumbai's largest industry.

Because of the lack of connection that Mumbai had to mainland India, the Company heavily emphasized overseas trade, and Mumbai's port began to grow. Completion of the Bombay Railroad in 1852 began Mumbai's expansion into the interior of the subcontinent. Cotton production boomed incredibly during the American Civil War between 1861-1865 because Britain relied solely on India for cotton rather that both India and America. Also during this time the port was modernized and Mumbai expanded northward on more reclaimed land.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the completion of the Bombay-Delhi Railroad in 1872 helped solidify Mumbai's stature as India's most important port. In fact textile mills increased from 7000 workers in 1860 to more than 73000 workers in 1900.