Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Mumbai Highlights
Marvel at the magnificence of Mumbai's colonial-era architecture:
Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus
(
Click
here
),
University of Mumbai
(
Click here
) and
High Court
(
Click here
)
Get lost amid the millions of things for sale in Mumbai's ancient
bazaars
(
Click here
)
Dine like a maharaja at one of India's best
restaurants
(
Click here
)
Feel the city's sea breeze amongst playing kids, big balloons and a hot-pink sunset at
Girgaum Chowpatty
(
Click here
)
Ogle the Renaissance-revival interiors of the
Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum
(
Click here
)
Learn to meditate at the awe-inspiring
Global Pagoda
(
Click here
), then see how it was originally done at the
Kanheri Caves
(
Click here
)
Behold the commanding triple-headed Shiva at
Elephanta Island
(
Click here
)
Sleep in one of the world's iconic hotels, the
Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
(
Click here
)
or have a drink at its
bar
(
Click here
)
, Mumbai's first
History
Koli fisherfolk have inhabited the seven islands that form Mumbai as far back as the 2nd
century BC. Amazingly, remnants of this culture remain huddled along the city shoreline
today. A succession of Hindu dynasties held sway over the islands from the 6th century AD
until the Muslim Sultans of Gujarat annexed the area in the 14th century, eventually ceding
it to Portugal in 1534. The only memorable contribution the Portuguese made to the area
was christening it Bom Bahai, before throwing the islands in with the dowry of Catherine
of Braganza when she married England's Charles II in 1661. The British government took
possession of the islands in 1665 but leased them three years later to the East India Com-
pany.
Bombay flourished as a trading port, and within 20 years the East India Company presid-
ency was transferred here. The city's fort was completed in the 1720s, and a century later
ambitious land reclamation projects joined the islands into today's single landmass. The
city continued to grow, and in the 19th century the fort walls were dismantled and massive
building works transformed the city in grand colonial style. When Bombay became the
principal supplier of cotton to Britain during the American Civil War, the population soared
and trade boomed as money flooded into the city.
Bombay was a major player in the Independence movement, and the Quit India cam-
paign was launched here in 1942 by frequent visitor Mahatma Gandhi. The city became
