Bombay lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River on the western coast of India, in the coastal region known as the Konkan. It sits on Salsette Island, partially shared with the Thane district. Bombay is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west. Many parts of the city lie just above sea level, with elevations ranging from 10 m (33 ft) to 15 m (49 ft); the city has an average elevation of 14 m (46 ft). Northern Bombay (Salsette) is hilly, and the highest point in the city is 450 m (1,476 ft) at Salsette in the Powai–Kanheri ranges. Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali National Park) is located partly in the Bombay suburban district, and partly in the Thane district, and it extends over an area of 103.09 km2 (39.80 sq mi).
Bombay is the seat of the Bombay High Court, which exercises jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra and Goa, and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Bombay also has two lower courts, the Small Causes Court for civil matters, and the Sessions Court for criminal cases. Bombay also has a special TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities) court for people accused of conspiring and abetting acts of terrorism in the city.
Bombay is the headquarters of two of Indian Railways’ zones: the Central Railway (CR) headquartered at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus), and the Western Railway (WR) headquartered at Churchgate. Bombay is also well connected to most parts of India by the Indian Railways. Long-distance trains originate from Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Dadar, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Bombay Central, Bandra Terminus, Andheri and Borivali.
Bombay is the Financial and Commercial capital of India, and the headquarters of many of India’s premier financial institutions are located in the city. Seen here is the Bandra-Worli Sea Link with the skyline of Bombay in background
Bombay is the commercial and entertainment capital of India, it is also one of the world’s top 10 centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 5% of India’s GDP, and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (Bombay Port Trust & JNPT), and 70% of capital transactions to India’s economy. The city houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, the SEBI and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India’s premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy. The city also houses India’s Hindi (Bollywood) and Marathi film and television industry. Bombay’s business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over India and, in turn, make the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures.
Bombay is the birthplace of Indian cinema—Dadasaheb Phalke laid the foundations with silent movies followed by Marathi talkies—and the oldest film broadcast took place in the early 20th century. Bombay also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The Bombay International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards, the oldest and prominent film awards given for Hindi film industry in India, are held in Bombay. Despite most of the professional theatre groups that formed during the British Raj having disbanded by the 1950s, Bombay has developed a thriving “theatre movement” tradition in Marathi, Hindi, English and other regional languages.
Bombay is served by two major ports, Bombay Port Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which lies just across the creek in Navi Bombay. Bombay Port has one of the best natural harbours in the world, and has extensive wet and dry dock accommodation facilities. Jawaharlal Nehru Port, commissioned on 26 May 1989, is the busiest and most modern major port in India. It handles 55–60% of the country’s total containerised cargo. Ferries from Ferry Wharf in Mazagaon allow access to islands near the city.
Bombay is served by National Highway 3, National Highway 4, National Highway 8, National Highway 17 and National Highway 222 of India’s National Highways system. The Bombay-Pune Expressway was the first expressway built in India, while the Bombay Nashik Expressway, Bombay-Vadodara Expressway, Western Freeway and Eastern Freeway is under construction. The Bandra-Worli Sea Link bridge, along with Mahim Causeway, links the island city to the western suburbs. The three major road arteries of the city are the Eastern Express Highway from Sion to Thane, the Sion Panvel Expressway from Sion to Panvel and the Western Express Highway from Bandra to Borivali. Bombay has approximately 1,900 km (1,181 mi) of roads.
Bombay is India’s largest city (by population) and is the financial and commercial capital of the country as it generates 6.16% of the total GDP. It serves as an economic hub of India, contributing 10% of factory employment, 25% of industrial output, 33% of income tax collections, 60% of customs duty collections, 20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of India’s foreign trade and 4000 crore (US$730 million) in corporate taxes.
Bombay is home to two prominent research institutions: the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The BARC operates CIRUS, a 40 MW nuclear research reactor at their facility in Trombay.
Bombay is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman’s Island (also known as Little Colaba). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited. Pleistocene sediments found along the coastal areas around Kandivali in northern Bombay suggest that the islands were inhabited since the Stone Age. Perhaps at the beginning of the Common era (2000 years ago), or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community.
Bombay has numerous newspaper publications, television and radio stations. Marathi dailies enjoy the maximum readership share in the city and the top Marathi language newspapers are Maharashtra Times, Navakaal, Lokmat, Loksatta, Bombay Chaufer, Saamana and Sakaal. Popular Marathi language magazines are Saptahik Sakaal, Grihashobhika, Lokrajya, Lokprabha & Chitralekha. Popular English language newspapers published and sold in Bombay include The Times of India, Mid-day, Hindustan Times, DNA India, and The Indian Express. Newspapers are also printed in other Indian languages. Bombay is home to Asia’s oldest newspaper, Bombay Samachar, which has been published in Gujarati since 1822. Bombay Durpan, the first Marathi newspaper, was started by Balshastri Jambhekar in Bombay in 1832.
Bombay has been ranked 48th on the Worldwide Centres of Commerce Index 2008. In April 2008, Bombay was ranked seventh in the list of “Top Ten Cities for Billionaires” by Forbes magazine, and first in terms of those billionaires’ average wealth.
Bombay has been a traditional stronghold and birthplace of the Indian National Congress, also known as the Congress Party. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay from 28–31 December 1885. The city played host to the Indian National Congress six times during its first 50 years, and became a strong base for the Indian independence movement during the 20th century.
Bombay has a zoo named Jijamata Udyaan (formerly Victoria Gardens), which also harbours a garden. The rich literary traditions of the city have been highlighted internationally by Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga. Marathi literature has been modernised in the works of Bombay based authors such as Mohan Apte, Anant Kanekar, and Gangadhar Gadgil, and is promoted through an annual Sahitya Akademi Award, a literary honour bestowed by India’s National Academy of Letters.
Bombay has a tropical climate, specifically a tropical wet and dry climate under the Köppen climate classification, with seven months of dryness and peak of rains in July. The cooler season from December to February is followed by the summer season from March to June. The period from June to about the end of September constitutes the south-west monsoon season, and October and November form the post-monsoon season.
Bombay had about 1.53 million vehicles in 2008, 56,459 black and yellow taxis as of 2005, and 106,000 auto rickshaws, as of May 2013. According to State transport department figures, the number of vehicles registered with the city’s three RTOs went up from 10,69,499 in 2002 to 20,35,051 in 2012, a rise of 90.28%. A comprehensive transport study conducted shows that between between 1991 and 2005, cars have increased by 137%, two wheelers by 306%, autos by 420%, and taxis by 125% in Bombay.
Bombay consists of two distinct regions: Bombay City district and Bombay Suburban district, which form two separate revenue districts of Maharashtra. The city district region is also commonly referred to as the Island City or South Bombay. The total area of Bombay is 603.4 km2 (233 sq mi). Of this, the island city spans 67.79 km2 (26 sq mi), while the suburban district spans 370 km2 (143 sq mi), together accounting for 437.71 km2 (169 sq mi) under the administration of BrihanBombay Municipal Corporation (BMC). The remaining area belongs to Defence, Bombay Port Trust, Atomic Energy Commission and Borivali National Park, which are out of the jurisdiction of the BMC.
Bombay , formerly known as Bombay, is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighbouring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Bombay and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Bombay lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Bombay was named an Alpha world city. It is also the wealthiest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West or Central Asia.
Most of India’s major television and satellite networks, as well as its major publishing houses, are headquartered in Bombay. The centre of the Hindi movie industry, Bollywood, is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest in the world as well as centre of Marathi Film Industry. Along with the rest of India, Bombay, its commercial capital, has witnessed an economic boom since the liberalisation of 1991, the finance boom in the mid-nineties and the IT, export, services and outsourcing boom in 2000s.
Misra, Satish Chandra (1982). The Rise of Muslim Power in Gujarat: A History of Gujarat from 1298 to 1442. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers.
King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century, and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim). The Pathare Prabhus, one of the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to Mahikawati from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev. The Delhi Sultanate annexed the islands in 1347–48, and controlled it till 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of Gujarat, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate.
In the third century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. The Kanheri Caves in Borivali were excavated in the mid-third century BCE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as Heptanesia (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE.
In the Indian national elections held every five years, Bombay is represented by six parliamentary constituencies: Bombay North, Bombay North West, Bombay North East, Bombay North Central, Bombay South Central, and Bombay South. A Member of Parliament (MP) to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, is elected from each of the parliamentary constituencies. In the 2009 national elections, out of the six parliamentary constituencies, five were won by the Congress, and one by the NCP. In the Maharashtra state assembly elections held every five years, Bombay is represented by 36 assembly constituencies.
In the east are factories and some slums. On the West coast are former-textile mills being demolished and skyscrapers built on top. There are 31 buildings taller than 100m, compared with 200 in Shanghai, 500 in Hong Kong and 500 in New York.
In 1989, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a major national political party, forged an electoral alliance with the Shiv Sena to dislodge the Congress in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections. In 1999, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) separated from the Congress, but later allied with the Congress, to form a joint venture known as the Democratic Front. Currently, other parties such as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and several independent candidates also contest elections in the city.
In 1687, the British East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company’s establishments in India. Towards the end of the 17th century, the islands again suffered incursions from Yakut Khan in 1689–90. The Portuguese presence ended in Bombay when the Marathas under Peshwa Baji Rao I captured Salsette in 1737, and Bassein in 1739.
Ganesh Chaturthi, a popular festival in Bombay, involves worship of Ganesha. Featured here is the popular public Ganesh idol kept at Lalbaug, known as Lalbaugcha Raja.
From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone defeated Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha Peshwa in the Battle of Khadki. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the Deccan came under British suzerainty, and were incorporated in Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan witnessed the freedom of Bombay from all attacks by native powers.
Football is another popular sport in the city, with the FIFA World Cup and the English Premier League being followed widely. In the I-League (matches in the city are played at the Cooperage Ground), the city is represented by three teams, Bombay FC, Mahindra United and Air-India. Bombay is home to the Bombay Marines and Bombay Magicians in the World Series Hockey and Hockey India League respectively . When the Elite Football League of India was introduced in August 2011, Bombay was noted as one of eight cities to be awarded a team for the inaugural season. Named the Bombay Gladiators, the team’s first season will be played in Pune in late 2012, and it will be Bombay’s first professional American football franchise.
Following protests during the movement in which 105 people were killed by police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat. Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them. As a memorial to the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Flora Fountain was renamed as Hutatma Chowk (Martyr’s Square), and a memorial was erected.
Every February, Bombay holds derby races at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse. Mcdowell’s Derby is also held in February at the Turf club in Bombay. In March 2004, the Bombay Grand Prix was part of the F1 powerboat world championship. and the Force India F1 team car was unveiled in the city, in 2008. The city is planning to build its own F1 track and various sites in the city were being chalked out, of which the authorities have planned to zero down on Marve-Malad or Panvel-Kalyan land. If approved, the track will be clubbed with a theme park and will spread over 400 to 500 acres (202 ha). In 2004, the annual Bombay Marathon was established as a part of “The Greatest Race on Earth”. Bombay has also played host to the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open, an International Series tournament of the ATP World Tour, in 2006 and 2007.
Electricity is distributed by BrihanBombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) in the island city, and by Reliance Energy, Tata Power, and Mahavitaran (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd) in the suburbs. Consumption of electricity is growing faster than production capacity. The largest telephone service provider is the state-owned MTNL, which held a monopoly over fixed line and cellular services up until 2000, and provides fixed line as well as mobile WLL services.
Cricket is one of the most popular sport in the city. Due to a shortage of grounds, various modified versions (generally referred to as gully cricket) are played everywhere. Bombay is also home to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Indian Premier League (IPL). The Bombay cricket team represents the city in the Ranji Trophy and has won 40 titles, the most by any team. The city is also represented by the Bombay Indians in the Indian Premier League. The city has two international cricket grounds, the Wankhede Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium. The first cricket test match in India was played in Bombay at Bombay Gymkhana. The biggest cricketing event to be staged in the city so far is the final of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup which was played at the Wankhede Stadium. Bombay and London are the only two cities to have hosted both a World Cup final and the final of an ICC Champions Trophy which was played at the Brabourne Stadium in 2006.
Contemporary art is featured in both government-funded art spaces and private commercial galleries. The government-funded institutions include the Jehangir Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Built in 1833, the Asiatic Society of Bombay is one of the oldest public libraries in the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum) is a renowned museum in South Bombay which houses rare ancient exhibits of Indian history.
Cell phone coverage is extensive, and the main service providers are Vodafone Essar, Airtel, MTNL, Loop Mobile, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular and Tata Indicom. Both GSM and CDMA services are available in the city. Many of the above service providers also provide broadband internet and wireless internet access in Bombay. Bombay has highest number of internet users in India with 14.3 million users.
By the middle of the 18th century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town, and received a huge influx of migrants from across India. Later, the British occupied Salsette on 28 December 1774. With the Treaty of Surat (1775), the British formally gained control of Salsette and Bassein, resulting in the First Anglo-Maratha War. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the Treaty of Purandar (1776), and later through the Treaty of Salbai (1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War.
By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as Bombay or Mambai in Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as Bambai in Hindi, Persian and Urdu. The English name was officially changed to Bombay in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party that had just won the Maharashtra state elections and mirrored similar name changes across the country. They argued that “Bombay” was a corrupted English version of “Bombay” and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule. The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region. However, the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and Indians from other regions as well. However, mentions of the city by the name other than Bombay have been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts sometimes of a violently political nature.
By 1845, the seven islands were coalesced into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard project via large scale land reclamation. On 16 April 1853, India’s first passenger railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the neighbouring town of Thane. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world’s chief cotton trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy that subsequently enhanced the city’s stature.
Bollywood, the Hindi film industry based in Bombay, produces around 150–200 films every year. The name Bollywood is a portmanteau of Bombay and Hollywood. The 2000s saw a growth in Bollywood’s popularity overseas. This led filmmaking to new heights in terms of quality, cinematography and innovative story lines as well as technical advances such as special effects and animation. Studios in Goregaon, including Film City, are the location for most movie sets. The city also hosts the Marathi film industry which has seen increased popularity in recent years, and TV production companies.
Between the second century BCE and ninth century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: Satavahanas, Western Kshatrapas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by the Silhara dynasty from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are, Jogeshwari Caves (between 520 to 525), Elephanta Caves (between the sixth to seventh century), Walkeshwar Temple (10th century), and Banganga Tank (12th century).
Between June and September, the south west monsoon rains lash the city. Pre-monsoon showers are received in May. Occasionally, north-east monsoon showers occur in October and November. The maximum annual rainfall ever recorded was 3,452 mm (136 in) for 1954. The highest rainfall recorded in a single day was 944 mm (37 in) on 26 July 2005. The average total annual rainfall is 2,146.6 mm (85 in) for the Island City, and 2,457 mm (97 in) for the suburbs.
Auto rickshaws are allowed to operate only in the suburban areas of Bombay, while taxis are allowed to operate throughout Bombay, but generally operate in South Bombay. Taxis and rickshaws in Bombay are required by law to run on compressed natural gas (CNG), and are a convenient, economical, and easily available means of transport.
As of 2008, Bombay’s GDP is 919600 crore (US$170 billion), and its per-capita income in 2009 was 486,000 (US$8,900), which is almost three times the national average. Many of India’s numerous conglomerates (including Larsen and Toubro, State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation of India, Tata Group, Godrej and Reliance), and five of the Fortune Global 500 companies are based in Bombay. Many foreign banks and financial institutions also have branches in this area, with the World Trade Centre being the most prominent one.
Apart from the Bhatsa Dam, there are six major lakes that supply water to the city: Vihar, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Tulsi, Tansa and Powai. Tulsi Lake and Vihar Lake are located in Borivili National Park, within the city’s limits. The supply from Powai lake, also within the city limits, is used only for agricultural and industrial purposes. Three small rivers, the Dahisar River, Poinsar (or Poisar) and Ohiwara (or Oshiwara) originate within the park, while the polluted Mithi River originates from Tulsi Lake and gathers water overflowing from Vihar and Powai Lakes. The coastline of the city is indented with numerous creeks and bays, stretching from Thane creek on the eastern to Madh Marve on the western front. The eastern coast of Salsette Island is covered with large mangrove swamps, rich in biodiversity, while the western coast is mostly sandy and rocky.
After India’s independence in 1947, the territory of the Bombay Presidency retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that joined the Indian union were integrated into the state. Subsequently, the city became the capital of Bombay State. On April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the Bombay Suburban District and Bombay City to form Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation.
According to the 2011 census, the population of Bombay was 12,479,608. The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square kilometre. The living space is 4.5sq metre per person. As Per 2011 census, Greater Bombay, the area under the administration of the BMC, has a literacy rate of 94.7%, higher than the national average of 86.7%. The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to be 9 million, up from 6 million in 2001, that is, 62% of all Bombaykers live in informal slums.
About 700 million litres of water, out of a daily supply of 3500 million litres, is lost by way of water thefts, illegal connections and leakages, per day in Bombay. Almost all of Bombay’s daily refuse of 7,800 metric tonnes, of which 40 metric tonnes is plastic waste, is transported to dumping grounds in Gorai in the northwest, Mulund in the northeast, and to the Deonar dumping ground in the east. Sewage treatment is carried out at Worli and Bandra, and disposed of by two independent marine outfalls of 3.4 km (2.11 mi) and 3.7 km (2.30 mi) at Bandra and Worli respectively.
A widespread popular etymology of Bombay holds that it was derived from a Portuguese name meaning “good bay”. This is based on the facts that bom is Portuguese for “good” and baía (or the archaic spelling bahia) means “bay”. However, this literal translation would have been incorrect in grammatical gender, as bom is masculine, while baia is feminine; a correct Portuguese rendering of “good bay” would be boa ba(h)ia. Having said this, baim is an archaic, masculine word for “little bay”.
A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) is elected from each of the assembly constituencies. In the 2009 state assembly elections, out of the 36 assembly constituencies, 17 were won by the Congress, 6 by the MNS, 5 by the BJP, 4 by the Shiv Sena, 3 by the NCP and 1 by SP. Elections are also held every five years to elect corporators to power in the BMC.
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