History of Mumbai
[citation needed] During the English East India Company's rule in mid-18th century, it emerged as an important port city, having maritime trade contacts with Mecca, Basra etc.
The Bombay metro area faced some unfortunate events like the inter-communal riots of 1992–93, while the 1993 Mumbai bombings caused extensive loss of life and property.
An eruption here some 66 mya is thought to have laid down the Deccan Traps, a vast bed of basalt lava that covers parts of central India.
[4] Pleistocene sediments found near Kandivali in northern Mumbai by British archaeologist Malcolm Todd in 1939 indicate habitation since the Stone Age.
[18][25] King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century[26] and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim).
[28] The Pathare Prabhus, one of the earliest settlers of the city, were brought to Mahim from Patan and other parts of Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev during his reign.
[33] Firishta, a Persian historian, recorded that by 1429 the seat of government of the Gujarat Sultanate in north Konkan had transferred from Thane to Mahim.
[39] After the end of the Bahamani Sultanate, Bahadur Khan Gilani and Mahmud Gavan (1482–1518) broke out in rebellion at the port of Dabhol and conquered the islands along with the whole of Konkan.
[33][40][41] Portuguese explorer Francisco de Almeida's ship sailed into the deep natural harbour of the island in 1508, and he called it Bom baía (Good Bay).
[43] During 1528–29, Lopo Vaz de Sampaio seized the fort of Mahim from the Gujarat Sultanate, when the King was at war with Nizam-ul-mulk, the emperor of Chaul, a town south of the islands.
[44][45][46] Bahadur Shah had grown apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun and he was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese on 23 December 1534.
[47] Bassein and the seven islands were surrendered later by a treaty of peace and commerce between Bahadur Shah and Nuno da Cunha, Viceroy of Portuguese India, on 25 October 1535, ending the Islamic rule in Mumbai.
[60] The growing power of the Dutch by the middle of the seventeenth century forced the Surat Council of the British Empire to acquire Bombay from King John IV of Portugal in 1659.
[64] On 21 September 1668, the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, led to the transfer of Bombay from Charles II to the English East India Company for an annual rent of £10 (equivalent retail price index of £1,226 in 2007) or Indian Rs 1,48,000 today.
[69] He offered various business incentives, which attracted Parsis, Goans, Jews, Dawoodi Bohras, Gujarati Banias from Surat and Diu, and Brahmins from Salsette.
[75] On 10 October 1673, the Siddi admiral Sambal entered Bombay and destroyed the Pen and Nagothana rivers, which were very important for the English and the Maratha King Shivaji.
Soon it was trading in salt, rice, ivory, cloth, lead and sword blades with many Indian ports as well as with the Arabian cities of Mecca and Basra.
[85] By the middle of the eighteenth century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town and soon Bhandaris from Chaul in Maharashtra, Vanjaris from the Western Ghat mountain ranges of Maharashtra, Africans from Madagascar, Bhatias from Rajasthan, Vaishya Vanis, Goud Saraswat Brahmins, Daivajnas from konkan, ironsmiths and weavers from Gujarat migrated to the islands.
[92] Salsette, Elephanta, Hog Island, and Karanja were formally ceded to the British East India Company by the Treaty of Salbai signed in 1782, while Bassein and its dependencies were restored to Raghunathrao of the Maratha Empire.
[68] On 5 November 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone[102] defeated Bajirao II, the Peshwa of the Maratha Empire, in the Battle of Kirkee which took place on the Deccan Plateau.
The Wellington Pier (Apollo Bunder) in the north of Colaba was opened for passenger traffic in 1819 and the Elphinstone High School was established in 1822.
[68] With the construction of a good carriage road up the Bhor Ghat during the regimes of Mountstuart Elphinstone and Sir John Malcolm gave better access from Bombay to the Deccan.
[131] The Bombay Millowners' Association was formed in February 1875 by Dinshaw Maneckji Petit in order to lourdes central school protect interests of workers threatened by possible factory and tariff legislation by the British.
[145] On 22 July 1908, Lokmanya Tilak, the principal advocate of the Swadeshi movement in Bombay, was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment, on the charge of writing inflammatory articles against the Government in his newspaper Kesari.
The movement was started as a result of the Rowlatt Act, which indefinitely extended emergency measures during World War I in order to control public unrest.
[162] After the Partition of India on 15 August 1947, over 100,000 Sindhi refugees from the newly created Pakistan were relocated in the military camps five kilometres from Kalyan in the Maharashta Region.
[173] During the 1970s, coastal communication increased between Bombay and south western coast of India, after introduction of ships by the London-based trade firm Shepherd.
[181] In December 1992 – January 93, over 1,000 people were killed and the city paralyzed by communal riots between the Hindus and the Muslims caused by the destruction of the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya.
On 6 December 2002, a bomb placed under a seat of an empty BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) bus exploded near Ghatkopar station in Mumbai.
[199] In 2008, the city experienced xenophobic attacks by the activists of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) under Raj Thackeray on the North Indian migrants in Mumbai.
