Bombay :: essays research papers

The city of Bombay originally consisted of 7 islands, namely Colaba, Mazagaon, Old Womans Island, Wadala, Mahim, Parel, and Matunga-Sion. This group of islands, which have since been joined together by a series of reclamations, formed part of the kingdom of Ashoka, the famous emperor moth of India.      After his death, these islands passed into the hands of various Hindu rulers until 1343. In that year, the Mohammedans of Gujerat took obstinacy and the Kings of that responsibleness of India ruled for the next two centuries. The only vestige (mark) of their dominion all over these islands that remains today is the mosque at Mahim.      In 1534 the Portuguese, who already possessed galore(postnominal) important trading centers on the western coast, such as Panjim, Daman, and Diu, took Bombay by force of arms from the Mohammedans. This led to the establishment of numerous churches which were constructed in expanses where the volume of peo ple were Roman Catholics. There used to be two areas in Bombay called "Portuguese Church". However, only one church with Portuguese-style facade noneffervescent remains it is the St. Andrews church at Bandra. The Portuguese also change their possession by building forts at Sion, Mahim, Bandra, and Bassien which, although in disrepair, can still be seen. They named their new possession as "Bom Baia" which in Portuguese means " goodly Bay". Sir George Oxenden became the first British Governor of the islands, and was succeeded later by Mr. Gerald Aungier who make Bombay more populous by attracting Gujerati traders, Parsi ship-builders, and Muslim and Hindu manufacturers from the mainland. He fortified defenses by constructing the Bombay Castle (the Fort, since then vanished except for a small allot of the wall) and provided stability by constituting courts of law. Between 1822 and 1838, cattle from the congested fort area used to graze freely at the Camp Maid an (now called Azad Maidan), an open terra firma opposite the Victoria Terminus. In 1838, the British rulers introduced a grazing fee which several cattle-owners could non afford. Therefore, Sir Jamshedji Jeejeebhoy spent Rs. 20,000 from his own purse for purchasing some grasslands near the seafront at Thakurdwar and saw that the starving cattle grazed without a fee in that area. In time the area became to be known as "Charni" core grazing. When a rail line station on the BB&CI railway was constructed there it was called Charni Road. The Zoroastrian Towers of Silence on Malabar hill were built by Seth Modi Hirji Vachha in 1672.