Bombay Before the British: The Indo-Portuguese Layer

Both senior investigators of the "BBB", Dr. Walter Rossa[2] and Dr. Paulo Varela Gomes,[3] were and are professors at the Architecture Department, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of Coimbra (Portugal).

In 2000, both of them travelled to the area of Greater Mumbai, together with the second-year students of the Department of Architecture, University of Coimbra, visiting many of the historical sites pertaining to the territory's Indo-Portuguese layer.

The research possibilities developed during this trip and the recent scholarly activity of both Rossa and Gomes led up to the proposal for a three-year scientific research project - the "BBB" The Portuguese presence in the Baçaim (Vasai) District of the Northern Province between 1534 and 1739 - which included the present day region of Greater Mumbai - has left considerable traces on the present-day territory.

Most of the Churches that cater to the Catholic population of Greater Mumbai today - the Bombay East Indians - were founded by Portuguese missionaries.

Especially in Salsette Island, this network of villages was still in place during the first decades of the 20th century and would later become the most important territorial matrix for the development of Suburban Mumbai.

Indeed, the two main railway lines built during the 19th century in Salsette followed closely a pre-existing road pattern (from Kurla to Thane and from Bandra to Bhyandar) that crossed many East-Indian villages, with their distinct landscape, architecture and churches.

Although not officially included as part of the BBB's resulting scientific output, the following two Masters dissertations were accomplished in close association with the project's senior investigators: Nuno Grancho, Bombaim: A Explosão Urbana Análise de Assentamentos e Vias, dissertação de mestrado em Planeamento e Projecto do Ambiente Urbano apresentada à Universidade do Porto.