Click here to watch
Click here to download
Click here to view
The City of Mumbai (previously known as Bombay), nestles on the western coast of India on the Arabian Sea. The city which originally consisted of seven islands, joined together by a series of reclamations over the years, formed part of the kingdom of Ashoka, the famous Emperor of India.
In 1534 the Portuguese, who already possessed many important trading centers on the Western coast as Panjim, Daman and Diu, took Bombay by force and fortified their new possession. Not content with merely ruling over this new land, they also changed the name of the city to "Bom Baia" which in Portuguese means "Good Bay." One hundred and twenty-eight years later, the islands were given as a dowry to King Charles II of England on his marriage to the Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza. In 1668, the English East India Company, which was in search of a deep-water port to dock its large shipping vessels, paid a princely sum of 10 pounds of gold and acquired these islands on lease from the Crown. Being unable to pronounce the Portuguese name for the city, the British then changed the name from "Bom Baia" to "Bombay".
In 1947 India achieved her independence, and with it, the demise of the British domination of a once proud and prosperous colony.
After independence in 1960, Bombay State, which included Bombay city as its seat of government, was divided into two states along linguistic lines; two new states, namely Maharashtra and Gujarat were born, the former retaining Bombay city as its capital.
The city once again saw the cementing of its many open spaces, most notable the back-bay reclamation in the late 1960s and early 1970s that led to the creation of the downtown Central Business District of nariman point. This area boasts some of the most expensive real estate in the world. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was established in 1857 and has evolved over the decades into its present status as the premier Stock Exchange in India and the third largest in the world. Trading of stocks is carried out in billions of rupees every day and has earned the city the proud distinction of contributing about 40% of the gross domestic product generated in India Known as the 'nerve' center of India, Mumbai (named after the Goddess Mumba Devi, the patron Goddess of the city according to the Koli or the indigenous fisher folk of the city) is, today, home to about 20 million people who speak eight of the major Indian languages.
The city is a virtual melting pot of people who can enjoy everything from the hundreds of restaurants catering to virtually every cuisine to art galleries; heritage buildings numbering over 600 that are living examples of the greatest Indo-Saracenic and Gothic architecture to more contemporary styles creating a skyline to rival any major international city; and home to Bollywood, the world's largest film industry.
