Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

of the Indian

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Maharashtra and the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' financial centre of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. According to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-most populous city in India after

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...

and the eighth-most populous city in the world with a population of roughly 20 million (2 crore). As per the Indian government population census of 2011, Mumbai was the

most populous city The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the city proper, cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or th ...

in India with an estimated

city proper A city proper is the geographical area contained within city limits. The term ''proper'' is not exclusive to cities; it can describe the geographical area within the boundaries of any given locality. The United Nations defines the term as "the sin ...

population of 12.5 million (1.25 crore) living under the

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC; IAST: ), also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. It is India's richest municipal corporation. The ...

. Mumbai is the centre of the

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Mumbai Metropolitan Region (abbreviated to MMR and previously also as Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area), is a metropolitan area consisting of Mumbai (Bombay) and its satellite towns in the northern Konkan division, of the Maharashtra state in ...

, the sixth most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million (2.3 crore). Mumbai lies on the

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

coast on the west coast of India and has a deep

natural harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is a ...

. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It has the highest number of

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

s and billionaires among all cities in India. The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were earlier home to communities of

Marathi language Marathi (; ''Marāṭhī'', ) is an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by Marathi people in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the official language of Maharashtra, and additional official language in the state of Goa. It is one of t ...

speaking

Koli people The Koli is an Indian caste found in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha and Jammu and Kashmir states in India. Koli is an agriculturist caste of Gujarat but in coastal areas they ...

. For centuries, the seven islands of Bombay were under the control of successive indigenous rulers before being

ceded The act of cession is the assignment of property to another entity. In international law it commonly refers to land transferred by treaty. Ballentine's Law Dictionary defines cession as "a surrender; a giving up; a relinquishment of jurisdictio ...

to the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

, and subsequently to the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

in 1661, through the

dowry of Catherine Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...

when she was married off to Charles II of England. During the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of major

roads A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

and

railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

, the reclamation project, completed in 1845, transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. Bombay in the 19th century was characterised by economic and educational development. During the early 20th century it became a strong base for the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. Upon India's independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the

Samyukta Maharashtra Movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Centr ...

, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital. Mumbai is the financial, commercial, and the entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world's top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India's GDP, and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (

Mumbai Port Trust Mumbai Port Trust (also known as the Bombay Port Trust) is a port which lies midway on the West coast of India, on the natural deep-water harbour of Mumbai (Bombay) in Maharashtra.The harbour spread over is protected by the mainland of Konkan t ...

and

JNPT Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) or JLN Port, also known as Nhava Sheva Port, is the second largest container port in India after Mundra Port. Located in Navi Mumbai's Raigad district, this port on the Arabian Sea is accessed via Thane Cree ...

), and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. Mumbai has the eighth-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, and Mumbai's billionaires had the highest average wealth of any city in the world in 2008. The city houses important financial institutions and the corporate headquarters of numerous

Indian companies India is a country in South Asia. It is the List of sovereign states and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries by population, second-most populous country (with over Demographics of India, 1.2 billion peo ...

and

multinational corporations A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes. The city is also home to

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

and

Marathi cinema Marathi cinema is an Indian film industry of Marathi-language motion pictures. It is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Based in old Mumbai, it is the oldest film industry of Indian cinema. The first Marathi film to be released in India was '' ...

industries. Mumbai's business opportunities attract migrants from all over India.

Etymology

The name ''Mumbai'' (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

: ,

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

: મુંબઈ,

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

: मुंबई) derived from ''Mumbā'' or ''Mahā-Ambā''—the name of the patron goddess ( kuladevata)

Mumbadevi Mumba Devi Mandir is an old temple in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India dedicated to the goddess ', the local incarnation of the Devi (Mother Goddess). The Marathi ' derives from Sanskrit. Mumba Devi is the goddess of the city of Mumbai. The name Mumb ...

of the native

Koli Koli may refer to: Places * Koli, Finland, a hill in Finland * Koli National Park, a national park in Finland * Koli, Iran (disambiguation), several places in Iran * Koli Airfield, a former airfield in the South Pacific Other uses * Koli peopl ...

community—and ''ā'ī'' meaning "mother" in the

, which is the mother tongue of the Koli people and the official language of Maharashtra. The Koli people originated in

Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...

and

Central Gujarat Central Gujarat is region which is geographically located in center of Gujarat in India. It includes following districts: *Vadodara * Mahisagar * Anand (called Charotar) *Kheda *Panchmahal *Dahod Dahod is a city on the banks of the Dudh ...

, and according to some sources they brought their goddess Mumba with them from Kathiawar (Gujarat), where she is still worshipped. However, other sources disagree that Mumbai's name was derived from the goddess Mumba. Mumbadevi temple

The oldest known names for the city are ''Kakamuchee'' and ''Galajunkja''; these are sometimes still used. In 1508, Portuguese writer

Gaspar Correia Gaspar Correia (1492 – c. 1563 in Goa) was a Portuguese historian considered a Portuguese Polybius. He authored ''Lendas da Índia'' (Legends of India), one of the earliest and most important works about Portuguese rule in Asia. This name possibly originated as the

Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...

phrase ''bom baim'', meaning "good little bay", and ''Bombaim'' is still commonly used in Portuguese. In 1516, Portuguese explorer

Duarte Barbosa Duarte Barbosa (c. 14801 May 1521) was a Portuguese writer and officer from Portuguese India (between 1500 and 1516). He was a Christian pastor and scrivener in a '' feitoria'' in Kochi, and an interpreter of the local language, Malayalam. Barbo ...

used the name ''Tana-Maiambu'': ''Tana'' appears to refer to the adjoining town of

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

and ''Maiambu'' to ''Mumbadevi''. Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include: ''Mombayn'' (1525), ''Bombay'' (1538), ''Bombain'' (1552), ''Bombaym'' (1552), ''Monbaym'' (1554), ''Mombaim'' (1563), ''Mombaym'' (1644), ''Bambaye'' (1666), ''Bombaiim'' (1666), ''Bombeye'' (1676), ''Boon Bay'' (1690), and ''Bon Bahia''. After the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

gained possession of the city in the 17th century, the Portuguese name was anglicised as ''Bombay''. Ali Muhammad Khan, imperial

dewan ''Dewan'' (also known as ''diwan'', sometimes spelled ''devan'' or ''divan'') designated a powerful government official, minister, or ruler. A ''dewan'' was the head of a state institution of the same name (see Divan). Diwans belonged to the e ...

or revenue minister of the Gujarat province, in the ''Mirat-i Ahmedi'' (1762) referred to the city as ''Manbai''. The French traveller

Louis Rousselet Louis-Théophile Marie Rousselet (1845-1929) was a French traveller, writer, photographer and pioneer of the darkroom. His photographic work now commands high prices. Many of his drawings and photographs were made into engravings by others. Li ...

, who visited in 1863 and 1868, states in his book ''L'Inde des Rajahs'', which was first published in 1877: "Etymologists have wrongly derived this name from the Portuguese Bôa Bahia, or (French: "bonne bai", English: "good bay"), not knowing that the tutelar goddess of this island has been, from remote antiquity, Bomba, or Mumba Devi, and that she still ... possesses a temple". By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as ''Mumbai'' or ''Mambai'' in Marathi, Konkani,

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and Sindhi, and as ''Bambai'' in

. The Government of India officially changed the English name to ''Mumbai'' in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party, which had just won the Maharashtra state elections, and mirrored similar name changes across the country and particularly in Maharashtra. According to '' Slate'' magazine, "they argued that 'Bombay' was a corrupted English version of 'Mumbai' and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule." ''Slate'' also said "The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region." While the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and by some Indians from other regions, mention of the city by a name other than ''Mumbai'' has been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts, sometimes of a violently political nature.

People from Mumbai

A resident of Mumbai is called ''Mumbaikar'' in

, in which the suffix ''-kar'' means a ''resident of''. The term had been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai. Older terms such as ''Bombayite'' are also in use.

History

Early history

Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Isle of Bombay, Parel,

Mazagaon Mazagaon, also spelled Mazgaon and Mazagon (Portuguese rule Mazagão), and pronounced by the Catholics as 'Mazgon' or 'Maz-a-gon' and the Marathi-speakers as Mazhgav, is one of the seven islands of Mumbai. References ;Notes {{reflist ;Sou ...

, Mahim, Colaba,

Worli Worli (ISO: ''Varaḷī'', �əɾ(ə)ɭiː is a locality in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other being Colaba, Bandra and Malabar Hill. The sea connects it with Bandra via the B ...

, and

Old Woman's Island The Old Woman's Island, also known as ''Little Colaba'' is one of the seven islands composing the city of Mumbai, India, and part of the historic Old Mumbai. The Colaba Causeway Colaba Causeway, officially known as Shahid Bhagat Singh Road ...

(also known as ''Little Colaba''). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited.

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

sediments found along the coastal areas around

Kandivali Kandivali (Pronunciation: aːn̪d̪iʋəliː formerly Khandolee is a neighbourhood in the north of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and has a large Marathi and Koli population followed by Gujarati population living in small areas. The area also ...

in northern Mumbai suggest that the islands were inhabited since the

South Asian Stone Age The South Asian Stone Age covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods in South Asia. Evidence for the most ancient ''Homo sapiens'' in South Asia has been found in the cave sites of Cudappah of India, Batadombalena and Belilena in ...

. Perhaps at the beginning of the

Common Era Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the o ...

, or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community. In the 3rd century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

. The

Kanheri Caves The Kanheri Caves (''Kānherī-guhā'' aːnʱeɾiː ɡuɦaː are a group of caves and rock-cut monuments cut into a massive basalt outcrop in the forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, on the former island of Salsette in the western outs ...

Borivali Borivali (Pronunciation: oːɾiʋəliː is a suburb and is located at the north-western end of Mumbai and has a large Gujarati population followed by others. Traditionally the tribals and East Indians lived in Borivali. The attractions incl ...

were excavated from basalt rock in the first century CE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as ''Heptanesia'' (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

in 150 CE. The Mahakali Caves in

Andheri Andheri ( �n̪d̪ʱeɾiː is a locality in the western part of the city of Mumbai in India. Udayanagari, the name of a hill near the Mahakali caves, inspired the name Andheri. On the former islet of Versova, also known as Vasave, there was ano ...

were cut out between the 1st century BCE and the 6th century CE. Between the 2nd century BCE and 9th century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties:

Satavahanas The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the lat ...

Western Satraps The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas (Brahmi:, ''Mahakṣatrapa'', "Great Satraps") were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central part of India ( Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ...

Abhira The Abhira tribe is mentioned in the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata. A historical people of the same name are mentioned in the ''Periplus of the Erythraean Sea''. They are thought to be people who moved in from eastern Iran in the aftermath of ...

Vakataka The Vakataka dynasty () was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in th ...

, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas,

Chalukyas The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...

and

Rashtrakutas Rashtrakuta ( IAST: ') (r. 753-982 CE) was a royal Indian dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. The earliest known Rashtrakuta inscription is a 7th-century copper plate grant detailing the ...

, before being ruled by the Shilaharas from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are the

Jogeshwari Caves The Jogeshwari Caves are some of the earliest Hinduism cave temples sculptures located in the Mumbai suburb of Jogeshwari, India. The caves date back to 520 to 550 CE. These caves belongs to the Hindu deity Jogeshwari. According to historian ...

(between 520 and 525),

Elephanta Caves The Elephanta Caves are a collection of cave temples predominantly dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. They are on Elephanta Island, or ''Gharapuri'' (literally "the city of caves"), in Mumbai Harbour, east of Mumbai in the Indian state of Mahā ...

(between the sixth to seventh century),

Walkeshwar Temple Walkeshwar Temple, also known as the ''Baan Ganga Temple'', is a temple dedicated to the Hindu god, Shiva located in Walkeshwar, near Malabar Hill neighbourhood, in South Mumbai precinct of the city of Mumbai, India. It is situated at the h ...

(10th century), and

Banganga Tank The Banganga Tank is a temple tank which is part of the Hindu Walkeshwar Temple complex in the Malabar Hill area of the city of Mumbai, India. History The tank was built in AD 1127 by Lakshman Prabhu, a minister in the court of Silhara dynas ...

(12th century). Hajiali

King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in ''Mahikawati'' (present day Mahim). The

Pathare Prabhu Pathare Prabhu is one of the Hindu communities in the city of Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). Introduction The Pathare Prabhus and the Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhus ( CKPs) are considered sister communities, both being part of the 'Prab ...

s, among 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 until 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate. The islands were later governed by the independent

Gujarat Sultanate The Gujarat Sultanate (or the Sultanate of Guzerat), was a Medieval Indian kingdom established in the early 15th century in Western India, primarily in the present-day state of Gujarat, India. The dynasty was founded by Sultan Zafar Khan Mu ...

, which was established in 1407. The Sultanate's patronage led to the construction of many mosques, prominent being the

Haji Ali Dargah The Haji Ali Dargah is a mosque and dargah or the monument of Pir Haji Ali Shah Bukhari located on an islet off the coast of Worli in the southern Mumbai. An exquisite example of Indo-Islamic Architecture, associated with legends about doo ...

, built in honour of the Muslim saint Haji Ali in 1431. From 1429 to 1431, the islands were a source of contention between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Bahmani Sultanate of Deccan. In 1493, Bahadur Khan Gilani of the Bahmani Sultanate attempted to conquer the islands but was defeated.

Portuguese and British rule

The

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, founded in 1526, was the dominant power in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

during the mid-16th century. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor

Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...

, Sultan

Bahadur Shah of Gujarat Qutb-ud-Din Bahadur Shah, born Bahadur Khan was a sultan of the Muzaffarid dynasty who reigned over the Gujarat Sultanate, a late medieval kingdom in India from 1526 to 1535 and again from 1536 to 1537. He ascended to throne after competing with h ...

was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the

on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the Seven Islands of Bombay, the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The territories were later surrendered on 25 October 1535. The Portuguese were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

religious orders in Bombay. They called the islands by various names, which finally took the written form ''Bombaim''. The islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. The Portuguese

Franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

and

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

built several churches in the city, prominent being the St. Michael's Church at Mahim (1534), St. John the Baptist Church at

(1579), St. Andrew's Church at Bandra (1580), and Gloria Church at

Byculla Byculla (ISO: Bhāykhaḷā; pronunciation: ʱaːjkʰəɭaː is an area of South Mumbai. Location Byculla is neighboured by Nagpada and Mumbai Central and Mahalaxmi on the west; Agripada, Jacob Circle on the north-west: Chinchpokli to the no ...

(1632). The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the

Bombay Castle Bombay Castle (also Casa da Orta) is one of the oldest defensive structures built in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). The current castle is a structure built by the British on the site of the ''Manor House'' built by a Portuguese nobleman ...

, ''

Castella de Aguada Castella de Aguada (corruption of ''Castelo da Aguada'', Portuguese for "Fort of the Waterpoint"), also known as the Bandra Fort, is a fort located in Bandra, Mumbai. "Castella" is a misspelling for Portuguese "Castelo" (castle), although it s ...

'' (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort), and

Madh Fort Madh Island (Marathi pronunciation: əɖʱ is a group of several quaint fishing villages and farmlands in northern Mumbai. Geography The area is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, and the Malad creek on the east. There are few beaches li ...

. The

were in constant struggle with the Portuguese vying for hegemony over Bombay, as they recognised its strategic natural harbour and its natural isolation from land attacks. By the middle of the 17th century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the

to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and

Catherine of Braganza Catherine of Braganza ( pt, Catarina de Bragança; 25 November 1638 – 31 December 1705) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland during her marriage to King Charles II, which lasted from 21 May 1662 until his death on 6 February 1685. She ...

, daughter of

King John IV of Portugal John IV ( pt, João, ; 19 March 1604 – 6 November 1656), nicknamed John the Restorer ( pt, João, o Restaurador), was the King of Portugal whose reign, lasting from 1640 until his death, began the Portuguese restoration of independence from ...

, placed the islands in possession of the

English Empire The English overseas possessions, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Ac ...

, as part of Catherine's

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

to Charles. However,

Salsette Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra on India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the city district of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thane lie wit ...

, Bassein,

, Parel,

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Pl ...

Dharavi Dharavi is a locality in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, considered to be one of the world's largest slums. Dharavi has an area of just over and a population of about 1,000,000. With a population density of over , Dharavi is one of the most dens ...

, and

Wadala Wadala (also spelled Vadala, formerly spelt Wuddala, �əɖaːɭa is a locality in Mumbai. Wadala Road is a station on the Harbour Line of Mumbai's railway network. Overview Wadala has several schools and some renowned institutions like ...

still remained under Portuguese possession. From 1665 to 1666, the English managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala. AMH-6748-NA Two views of the English fort in Bombay

AMH-6748-NA Two views of the English fort in Bombay

In accordance with the

Royal Charter of 27 March 1668 {{Use Indian English, date=May 2018 The ''Royal Charter'' of 27 March 1668 was an agreement between the Kingdom of England and the English East India Company. It led to the transfer of Bombay from Charles II of England to the English East India Com ...

, England leased these islands to the English East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675. The islands were subsequently attacked by

Yakut Khan Qasim Yakut Khan also known as Yakut Shaikhji, Yakub Khan and Sidi Yaqub was a naval Admiral and administrator of Janjira Fort who first served under Bijapur Sultanate and later under the Mughal Empire.The African dispersal in the Deccan: from ...

, the Muslim

admiral of the

, in October 1672, Rickloffe van Goen, the Governor-General of

Dutch India Dutch India consisted of the settlements and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. It is only used as a geographical definition, as there was never a political authority ruling all Dutch India. Instead, Dutc ...

on 20 February 1673, and Siddi admiral

Sambal Sambal is an Indonesian chilli sauce or paste, typically made from a mixture of a variety of chilli peppers with secondary ingredients, such as shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallion, palm sugar, and lime juice. ''Sambal'' is an ...

on 10 October 1673. In 1687, the English 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 The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

under ''

Peshwa The Peshwa (Pronunciation: e(ː)ʃʋaː was the appointed (later becoming hereditary) prime minister of the Maratha Empire of the Indian subcontinent. Originally, the Peshwas served as subordinates to the Chhatrapati (the Maratha king); later ...

'' Baji Rao I captured

in 1737, and Bassein in 1739. 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

and Bassein, resulting in the

First Anglo-Maratha War The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782) was the first of three Anglo-Maratha Wars fought between the British East India Company and Maratha Empire in India. The war began with the Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai. The w ...

. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the

Treaty of Purandar (1776) The Treaty of Purandar (or Treaty of Purandhar) was a doctrine signed on 1 March 1776 by the peshwa of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company's Supreme Council of Bengal in Calcutta. Based on the terms of the accord, the British we ...

, and later through the

Treaty of Salbai The Treaty of Salbai was signed on 17 May 1782, by representatives of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company after long negotiations to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War it was signed between Warren Hastings and Mah ...

(1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War. Ships in Bombay Harbour, 1731

From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands of Bombay into a single amalgamated mass by way of a causeway called the Hornby Vellard, which was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under

Mountstuart Elphinstone Mountstuart Elphinstone (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the open ...

defeated

Baji Rao II Shrimant Peshwa Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851) was the 13th and the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. He governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles, whose growing power prompted ...

, the last of the Maratha ''Peshwa'' in the

Battle of Khadki The Battle of Khadki, also known as or The Battle of Ganeshkhind, took place at modern day Khadki, India on 5 November 1817 between the forces of the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire under the leadership of Appasaheb Bhonsle. T ...

. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by th ...

came under British suzerainty, and was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan marked the end of all attacks by native powers. By 1845, the seven islands 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

Thana Thana means "police station" in South Asian countries, and can also mean the district controlled by a police station. * Thanas of Bangladesh, former subdistricts in the administrative geography of Bangladesh; later renamed ''upazila'' * in (Briti ...

(now Thane). During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

(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. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the

. In September 1896, Bombay was hit by a bubonic plague epidemic where the death toll was estimated at 1,900 people per week. About 850,000 people fled Bombay and the textile industry was adversely affected. While the city was the capital of the Bombay Presidency, the

fostered the Quit India Movement in 1942 and the Royal Indian Navy mutiny in 1946.

Independent India

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. In April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the

Bombay Suburban District Mumbai Suburban district ( Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils ( ...

and Bombay City to form the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation. The

Samyukta Maharashtra movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Centr ...

to create a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay was at its height in the 1950s. In the ''

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

'' discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. The States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–

with Bombay as its capital in its 1955 report.

Bombay Citizens' Committee Bombay Citizens' Committee was an advocacy group which lobbied to keep Bombay city out of Maharashtra during the state reorganisation. The group was headed by a leading cotton industrialist Sir Purshottamdas Thakurdas (1879-1961), with J.R.D. Tat ...

, an advocacy group of leading

industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status. Following protests during the movement in which 105 people died in clashes with the police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960.

-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

-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 Hutatma Chowk ("Martyrs' Square, (Officially, Hutatma Smarak Chowk) ("Martyrs Memorial Square"), is a square in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The square hosts Flora Fountain and was known by that name until 1961 when it was officially rena ...

'' (Martyr's Square) and a memorial was erected. Hutatma Chowk

The following decades saw massive expansion of the city and its suburbs. In the late 1960s,

Nariman Point Nariman Point is a prominent downtown area of Mumbai in Maharashtra, India. Located on the southern tip of the Mumbai peninsula, at the end of the Mumbai's Marine Drive, Nariman Point houses some of India's prestigious business headquarters. ...

and

Cuffe Parade Cuffe Parade is a historic and significant business district of the city of Mumbai, India. It is home to a collection of commercial and office high-rises. It is bordered to the north by Nariman Point which, along with Cuffe Parade, forms the gre ...

were reclaimed and developed. The Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) was established on 26 January 1975 by the Government of Maharashtra as an apex body for planning and co-ordination of development activities in the Bombay metropolitan region. In August 1979, a sister township of

New Bombay Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, located in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The city is ...

was founded by the

City and Industrial Development Corporation The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) is an Indian city planning agency and richest government authority in India which is formed and controlled by the Government of Maharashtra. CIDCO was formed on 17 March 197 ...

(CIDCO) across the

and

Raigad district Raigad district (Marathi pronunciation: �aːjɡəɖ, previously Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The district was renamed to Raigad after the fort that was the first capital of the former Marath ...

s to help the dispersal and control of Bombay's population. The textile industry in Bombay largely disappeared after the widespread 1982 Great Bombay Textile Strike, in which nearly 250,000 workers in more than 50 textile mills went on strike. Mumbai's defunct cotton mills have since become the focus of intense redevelopment. Industrial development began in Mumbai. When its economy started focusing on the fields of petrochemicals, electronics, electronics and automobile. In 1954 Hindustan Petroleum comissoned Mumbai Refinery at

Trombay Trombay is an eastern suburb in Bombay (Mumbai), India. History Trombay was called Neat's Tongue because of its shape. Once, it was an island nearly 5 km East of Mumbai and was about 8 km in length and 8 km in width. The island ...

and BPCL Refinery. The

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) or JLN Port, also known as Nhava Sheva Port, is the second largest container port in India after Mundra Port. Located in Navi Mumbai's Raigad district, this port on the Arabian Sea is accessed via Thane Cree ...

, which handles 55–60% of India's containerized cargo, was commissioned on 26 May 1989 across the creek at

Nhava Sheva Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) or JLN Port, also known as Nhava Sheva Port, is the second largest container port in India after Mundra Port. Located in Navi Mumbai's Raigad district, this port on the Arabian Sea is accessed via Thane Cree ...

with a view to de-congest

Bombay Harbour Mumbai Harbour (also English language, English; Bombay Harbour or Front Bay, Marathi language, Marathi''Mumba'ī bandar''), is a natural deep-water harbour in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary. The narrower, northern part of the es ...

and to serve as a hub port for the city. The geographical limits of Greater Bombay were coextensive with municipal limits of Greater Bombay. On 1 October 1990, the Greater Bombay district was bifurcated to form two revenue districts namely, Bombay City and Bombay Suburban, though they continued to be administered by same Municipal Administration. The years from 1990 to 2010 saw an increase in violence and terrorism activities. Following the

demolition of the Babri Masjid The demolition of the Babri Masjid was illegally carried out on 6 December 1992 by a large group of activists of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and allied organisations. The 16th-century Babri Masjid in the city of Ayodhya, in Uttar Pradesh, had ...

Ayodhya Ayodhya (; ) is a city situated on the banks of holy river Saryu in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Ayodhya, also known as Saketa, is an ancient city of India, the birthplace of Rama and setting of the great epic Ramayana. Ayodhya wa ...

, the city was rocked by the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–93 in which more than 1,000 people were killed. In March 1993, a series of 13 coordinated bombings at several city landmarks by Islamic extremists and the

Bombay underworld Organised crime in India refers to organised crime elements originating in India and active in many parts of the world. The purpose of organised crime in India, as elsewhere in the world, is monetary gain. Its virulent form in modern times is d ...

resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. In 2006, 209 people were killed and over 700 injured when seven bombs exploded on the city's commuter trains. In 2008, a series of ten coordinated attacks by armed terrorists for three days resulted in 173 deaths, 308 injuries, and severe damage to several heritage landmarks and prestigious hotels. The three coordinated bomb explosions in July 2011 that occurred at the

Opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically fo ...

Zaveri Bazaar Zaveri Bazaar is a jewellery market and a major hub for B2B and B2C jewellery industry in Mumbai, India. Located at Bhuleshwar in South Mumbai, just north of Crawford Market, Zaveri Bazaar is a muddle of narrow lanes, dotted with hundreds of ...

and

Dadar Dadar (Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪aːd̪əɾ is a densely populated residential and shopping neighbourhood in Mumbai. It is also a prominent railway and bus service hub with local and national connectivity. Dadar holds the distinction of being Mum ...

were the latest in the series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai which resulted in 26 deaths and 130 injuries. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and has evolved into a global financial hub. For several decades it has been the home of India's main financial services companies, and a focus for both infrastructure development and private investment. From being an ancient fishing community and a colonial centre of trade, Mumbai has become South Asia's largest city and home of the world's most prolific film industry.

Geography

Mumbai is on a narrow peninsula on the southwest of

Salsette Island Salsette Island is an island in Konkan division of the state of Maharashtra on India's west coast. Administratively known as Greater Mumbai, the city district of Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban District, Mira Bhayander and a portion of Thane lie wi ...

, which lies between the

to the west,

Thane Creek Thane Creek (or Thana Creek) is an inlet in the shoreline of the Arabian Sea that isolates the city of Mumbai (Bombay) from the Konkan region of the Indian mainland. It comprises the area between Mumbra Retibunder and the Mankhurd-Vashi Bridg ...

to the east and

Vasai Creek Vasai Creek, previously Bassein Creek, is an estuary and one of the two main distributaries of the Ulhas River, in Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The Ulhas splits at the northeast corner of Salsette island into its two main distributa ...

to the north. Mumbai's suburban district occupies most of the island.

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, located in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The city i ...

is east of Thane Creek and

is north of

. Mumbai consists of two distinct regions: Mumbai City district and

Mumbai Suburban district Mumbai Suburban district ( Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils ( ...

, which form two separate revenue districts of Maharashtra. The city district region is also commonly referred to as the ''Island City'' or

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...

. The total area of Mumbai 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

Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC; IAST: ), also known as the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), is the governing civic body of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra. It is India's richest municipal corporation. The BMC ...

(MCGM). The remaining areas belong to various Defence establishments, the

, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Borivali National Park, which are out of the jurisdiction of the MCGM. The

which includes portions of

Palghar Palghar () is a town in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, India and a municipal council. It is in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, and since 2014 it has been the administrative capital of the Palghar district. Palghar lies on the West ...

and Raigad districts in addition to Greater Mumbai, covers an area of 4,355 km² (1681.5 sq mi). Mumbai lies at the mouth of the

Ulhas River The Ulhas River is a river in Maharashtra, India. It is in the Thane, Raigad, and Pune districts of that state. It flows north and west from it source to where it splits into Vasai Creek and Thane Creek, near Thane. The Ulhas divides Salsett ...

on the western coast of India, in the coastal region known as the

. It sits on

(Sashti Island), which it partially shares with the

Thane district Thane district (Pronunciation: �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the country, with 11,060,148 inhabitants; however, ...

. Mumbai is bounded by the

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 Mumbai (Salsette) is hilly, and the highest point in the city is 450 m (1,476 ft) at Salsette in the

Powai Powai (Pronunciation: əʋəiː is an upscale residential neighbourhood located in central Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is situated on the banks of Powai Lake, and is bound by the hills of Vikhroli Parksite to the south-east, Chandivali ...

–

Kanheri The Kanheri Caves (''Kānherī-guhā'' aːnʱeɾiː ɡuɦaː are a group of caves and rock-cut monuments cut into a massive basalt outcrop in the forests of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park, on the former island of Salsette in the western out ...

ranges. The

Sanjay Gandhi National Park Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as SGNP, is an protected area in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was established in 1969 with its headquarters situated at Borivali. The 2400-year-old Kanheri caves, sculpted by monks out of the rocky basalti ...

(Borivali National Park) is located partly in the

Mumbai suburban district Mumbai Suburban district ( Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils ( ...

, and partly in the Thane district, and it extends over an area of 103.09 km² (39.80 sq mi). Apart from the

Bhatsa Dam Bhatsa Dam, is an earthfill and gravity dam on Bhatsa river near Shahapur, Thane district in state of Maharashtra in India. Specifications The height of the dam above lowest foundation is while the length is . The volume content is and gros ...

, there are six major lakes that supply water to the city: Vihar, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna,

Tulsi ''Ocimum tenuiflorum'', commonly known as holy basil, ''tulsi'' or ''tulasi'', is an aromatic perennial plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Indian subcontinent and widespread as a cultivated plant throughout the Southeast Asian ...

, Tansa and

. 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 The Mithi River (Pronunciation: iʈʰiː is a river on Salsette Island, the island of the city of Mumbai, India. It is a confluence of tail-water discharges of the Powai and Vihar lakes. The river is seasonal and rises during the monsoons ...

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 the

Thane creek Thane Creek (or Thana Creek) is an inlet in the shoreline of the Arabian Sea that isolates the city of Mumbai (Bombay) from the Konkan region of the Indian mainland. It comprises the area between Mumbra Retibunder and the Mankhurd-Vashi Bridg ...

on the eastern to Madh Marve on the western front. The eastern coast of Salsette Island is covered with large

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

swamps, rich in biodiversity, while the western coast is mostly sandy and rocky. Soil cover in the city region is predominantly sandy due to its proximity to the sea. In the suburbs, the soil cover is largely alluvial and loamy. The underlying rock of the region is composed of black

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

basalt flows, and their acidic and basic variants dating back to the late

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

and early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

eras. Mumbai sits on a seismically active zone owing to the presence of 23

fault line In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...

s in the vicinity. The area is classified as a Seismic Zone III region, which means an earthquake of up to magnitude 6.5 on the Richter magnitude scale may be expected.

Climate

India mumbai temperature precipitation averages chart

Mumbai has a

tropical climate Tropical climate is the first of the five major climate groups in the Köppen climate classification identified with the letter A. Tropical climates are defined by a monthly average temperature of 18 °C (64.4 °F) or higher in the cool ...

, specifically a

tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(Aw) under the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

. It varies between a dry period extending from October to May and a wet period peaking in June. The cooler season from December to February is followed by the hotter season from March to May. 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. Between June and September, the

South-west monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

rains occur in Mumbai. Pre-monsoon showers are received in May. Occasionally, north-east monsoon showers occur in October and November. The maximum annual rainfall ever recorded was for 1954. The highest rainfall recorded in a single day was on 26 July 2005. The average total annual rainfall is for the Island City, and for the suburbs. The average annual temperature is , and the average annual

precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...

is . In the Island City, the average maximum temperature is , while the average minimum temperature is . In the suburbs, the daily mean maximum temperature range from to , while the daily mean minimum temperature ranges from to . The record high is set on 14 April 1952, and the record low is set on 27 January 1962. Tropical Cyclones are rare in the city, The worst Cyclone to ever impact Mumbai was the 1948 Mumbai Cyclone where gusts reached in Juhu, The storm left 38 people dead and 47 missing, The storm reportedly impacted Bombay for 20 hours and left the city devastated Mumbai is prone to

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

floods, caused due to

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

that is affected by heavy rains and

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

in the sea, according to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

, unplanned drainage system and

informal settlement Informal housing or informal settlement can include any form of housing, shelter, or settlement (or lack thereof) which is illegal, falls outside of government control or regulation, or is not afforded protection by the state. As such, the info ...

is a key factor of frequent floods in Mumbai. Among other causes of flooding in Mumbai is its

geographic location In geography, location or place are used to denote a region (point, line, or area) on Earth's surface or elsewhere. The term ''location'' generally implies a higher degree of certainty than ''place'', the latter often indicating an entity with an ...

, Mumbai urban is in peninsular form, (a land-filled area that connects seven islands) a low laying area, compared to its suburb that sits on an elevated location, Over the past few decades, the new informal settlements were formed in the suburb, causing a rapid increase in population, Improper waste management, and drainage congestion. The rainwater from these areas heavily flows towards low-lying urban areas consisting of substantial slums and high-rise buildings. As a result, poorly constructed slums are either swamped, washed away, or collapse causing heavy casualties, and post-flood water logging lasts for a long time that causing blockage of railway lines-(most frequently used public transport in Mumbai), traffic snarl, inundated roads, and sub-merged bylanes. Over the past few decades, the frequency of floods in Mumbai is enormous, the 2005 Mumbai floods are characterized by 500-1000 deaths, household displacements, damaged infrastructure-(including heritage sites), and a financial loss of 1.2 billion. In the process of reducing floods in Mumbai, the Maharashtra government adopted a flood mitigation plan; according to which the drainage system will be restructured, restoration of

, and re-establishment of informal settlements. Local civic body

(BMC) authorities are assigned to forecast and issue eviction notices while BMC along with NGO's prepare for the evacuation of slum dwellers to temporary safe camps.

Air pollution

Air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different typ ...

is a major issue in Mumbai. According to the 2016

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

Global Urban Ambient Air Pollution Database, the annual average

PM2.5 Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...

concentration in 2013 was 63 μg/m³, which is 6.3 times higher than that recommended by the WHO Air Quality GuidelinesWHO Air Quality Guidelines.
''World Health Organization''. September 2016. Retrieved 8 April 2017. for the annual mean PM2.5. The

Central Pollution Control Board The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C.C.). It was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1 ...

for the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

and the

Consulate General of the United States, Mumbai The Consulate General of the United States in Mumbai represents the interests of the U.S. government in Mumbai, India and nearby surrounding areas. Location The Consulate General is located at C-49 G-Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East ...

monitor and publicly share real-time air quality data. In December 2019,

IIT Bombay The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay or IITB) is a public research university and technical institute in Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is considered as one of the best engineering universities in India and is top rank ...

, in partnership with the

McKelvey School of Engineering The James McKelvey School of Engineering is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. Founded in 1854, the engineering school is a research institution occupying seven buildings on Washington University's Danforth Campus. Research emphasis ...

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

, launched the Aerosol and Air Quality Research Facility to study air pollution in Mumbai, among other Indian cities.

Economy

Mumbai is India's second 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; as of 2006, Mumbai contributed 10% of the nation's factory employment, 25% of industrial output, 33% of

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

collections, 60% of

customs duty A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and po ...

collections, 20% of central excise tax collections, 40% of

foreign trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (see: World economy) In most countries, such trade represents a significant ...

, and in corporate taxes. Along with the rest of India, Mumbai 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 the 2000s. Although Mumbai had prominently figured as the hub of economic activity of India in the 1990s, the

's contribution to India's GDP is currently declining. Recent estimates of the economy of the

is estimated to be $606.625 billion ( PPP metro GDP) ranking it either the most or second-most productive metro area of India.* * * Many of India's numerous conglomerates (including

Larsen & Toubro Larsen & Toubro Ltd, commonly known as L&T, is an Indian multinational conglomerate company, with business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, information technology and financial services, headquartered in Mumba ...

, State Bank of India (SBI),

Life Insurance Corporation of India Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Life Insurance Corporation of ...

(LIC),

Tata Group The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continents ...

, Godrej and Reliance), and five of the

Fortune Global 500 The ''Fortune'' Global 500, also known as Global 500, is an annual ranking of the top 500 corporations worldwide as measured by revenue. The list is compiled and published annually by ''Fortune'' magazine. Methodology Until 1989, it listed onl ...

companies are based in Mumbai. This is facilitated by the presence of the

Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India, chiefly known as RBI, is India's central bank and regulatory body responsible for regulation of the Indian banking system. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India. It is responsible f ...

(RBI), the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange i ...

(BSE), the

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, M ...

(NSE), and financial sector regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Until the 1970s, Mumbai owed its prosperity largely to textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has since then diversified to include finance,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, diamond-polishing, healthcare and information technology. The key sectors contributing to the city's economy are: finance, gems & jewellery, leather processing, IT and

ITES ''Ites'' is a genus of longhorn beetles of the subfamily Lamiinae,Biolib.cz - ''Ites''
Retrieved on 8 September 20 ...

, textiles, petrochemical, electronics manufacturing, automobiles, and entertainment.

and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) are Mumbai's major financial centres. Despite competition from

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

and

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, Mumbai has carved a niche for itself in the information technology industry. The Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone (SEEPZ) and the International Infotech Park (

) offer excellent facilities to IT companies. State and central government employees make up a large percentage of the city's workforce. Mumbai also has a large unskilled and semi-skilled self-employed population, who primarily earn their livelihood as hawkers, taxi drivers, mechanics, and other such

blue collar A blue-collar worker is a working class person who performs manual labor. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involving manufacturing, warehousing, mining, excavation, electricity generation and power ...

professions. The port and shipping industry is well established, with

Mumbai Port Mumbai Port Trust (also known as the Bombay Port Trust) is a port which lies midway on the West coast of India, on the natural deep-water harbour of Mumbai (Bombay) in Maharashtra.The harbour spread over is protected by the mainland of Konkan t ...

being one of the oldest and most significant ports in India.

, in central Mumbai, has an increasingly large recycling industry, processing recyclable waste from other parts of the city; the district has an estimated 15,000 single-room factories. Mumbai has been ranked sixth among top ten global cities on the billionaire count with 28, and it has 46,000 millionaires. With a total wealth of around $960 billion ($96,000 crore), it is the richest Indian city and 12th richest city in the world. and seventh in the list of "Top Ten Cities for Billionaires" by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' magazine (April 2008), and first in terms of the average wealth of billionaires. , the Globalization and World Cities Study Group (GaWC) has ranked Mumbai as an "Alpha world city", third in its categories of Global cities. Mumbai is the third most expensive office market in the world, and was ranked among the fastest cities in the country for business startup in 2009.

Civic administration

Greater Mumbai (or Brihanmumbai), an area of , consisting of the

Mumbai City Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014, during the inaugural season of ...

and

Mumbai Suburban Mumbai Suburban district (Marathi: ''Mumbai Upanagar Jilhā'') is the second most populous district of Maharashtra in the Konkan Division. With its administrative headquarters in Bandra, the district consists of three subdivisions or tehsils (t ...

districts, extends from Colaba in the south, to

Mulund Mulund (Pronunciation: uluɳɖ is a suburb in the north-east of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is also a railway station on the Central Railway line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is also the first railway station of Mumbai Suburban dis ...

and

Dahisar Dahisar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪əɦisəɾ is the northernmost neighborhood (and railway station) of Mumbai. Dahisar is the first locality of Mumbai from the north. The suburb is a very cosmopolitan suburb, which has a large Gujarati popula ...

in the north, and

Mankhurd Mankhurd (Pronunciation: aːnkʰuɾd̪(ə) is a suburb in eastern Mumbai, Maharashtra. Mankhurd railway station is on the Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. Geography The Mankhurd suburb is part of and the easternmost boundary of ...

in the east. Its population as per the 2011 census was 12,442,373. It is administered by the

(BMC) (sometimes referred to as the

), formerly known as the ''Bombay Municipal Corporation'' (BMC). The BMC is in charge of the civic and infrastructure needs of the metropolis. The mayor, who serves for a term of two and a half years, is chosen through an

indirect election An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...

by the councillors from among themselves. The municipal commissioner is the chief executive officer and head of the executive arm of the municipal corporation. All executive powers are vested in the municipal commissioner who is an

Indian Administrative Service The Indian Administrative Service (IAS) is the administrative arm of the All India Services of Government of India. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian ...

(IAS) officer appointed by the state government. Although the municipal corporation is the legislative body that lays down policies for the governance of the city, it is the commissioner who is responsible for the execution of the policies. The commissioner is appointed for a fixed term as defined by state statute. The powers of the commissioner are those provided by statute and those delegated by the corporation or the standing committee. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was ranked 9th out of 21 cities for best governance & administrative practices in India in 2014. It scored 3.5 on 10 compared to the national average of 3.3. Mumbai 03-2016 41 Bombay High Court

The two revenue districts of Mumbai come under the jurisdiction of a

District Collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal reven ...

. The collectors are in charge of property records and revenue collection for the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

, and oversee the national elections held in the city. The Mumbai Police is headed by a police commissioner, who is an

Indian Police Service The Indian Police Service ( IPS) is a civil service under the All India Services. It replaced the Indian Imperial Police in 1948, a year after India became independent from the British Raj. Along with the Indian Administrative Service (I ...

(IPS) officer. The Mumbai Police is a division of the

Maharashtra Police Maharashtra Police (IAST: ''Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā'', formerly ''Bombay State Police'') is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Rajnish Seth (IPS), and h ...

, under the state Home Ministry. The city is divided into seven police zones and seventeen traffic police zones, each headed by a deputy commissioner of police. The Mumbai Traffic Police is a semi-autonomous body under the Mumbai Police. The

Mumbai Fire Brigade The Mumbai Fire Brigade is the fire brigade serving the city of Mumbai, India. It is responsible for the provision of fire protection as well as responding to building collapses, drownings, gas leakage, oil spillage, road and rail accidents, bi ...

, under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporation, is headed by the chief fire officer, who is assisted by four deputy chief fire officers and six divisional officers. The

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is a body of the Government of Maharashtra that is responsible for preparation oRegional Plan for MMRand the infrastructure development of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The MMRDA was se ...

(MMRDA) is responsible for infrastructure development and planning of

. Mumbai is the seat of the Bombay High Court, which exercises jurisdiction over the states of Maharashtra and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, and the Union Territory of

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is a union territory in India. The territory was constituted through the merger of the former territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Plans for the proposed merger were announced by t ...

. Mumbai also has two lower courts, the

Small Causes Court In Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cities, the Small Causes Court is responsible for adjudicating matters related to civil cases. The court is responsible for cases relating to tax, (family matters are not dealt by small causes court), property ...

for civil matters, and the

Sessions Court A Sessions Court or even known as the Court of Sessions Judge is a court of law which exists in several Commonwealth countries. A Court of Session is the highest criminal court in a district and the court of first instance for trying serious offe ...

for criminal cases. Mumbai also has a special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (TADA) court for people accused of conspiring and abetting acts of terrorism in the city.

Politics

Mumbai had been a traditional stronghold and birthplace of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

, also known as the Congress Party. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay from 28 to 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

during the 20th century. The 1960s saw the rise of regionalist politics in Bombay, with the formation of the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966, under the leadership of Balasaheb Thackeray out of a feeling of resentment about the relative marginalisation of the native Marathi people in Bombay. Shiv Sena switched from 'Marathi Cause' to larger 'Hindutva Cause' in 1985 and joined hands with

Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

(BJP) in the same year. The Congress had dominated the politics of Bombay from independence until the early 1980s, when the Shiv Sena won the 1985 Bombay Municipal Corporation elections. In 1989, the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

(BJP), a major national political party, forged an electoral alliance with the Shiv Sena to dislodge the Congress in the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 me ...

elections. In 1999, several members left the Congress to form the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

(NCP) but later allied with the Congress as part of an alliance known as the Democratic Front. Other parties such as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and several independent candidates also contest elections in the city. In the Indian national elections held every five years, Mumbai is represented by six parliamentary constituencies:

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

, North East, North Central, South Central, and South. A

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) to the ''

'', the lower house of the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India ( IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the ...

, is elected from each of the parliamentary constituencies. In the 2019 national election, all six parliamentary constituencies were won by the BJP and Shiv Sena in alliance, with both parties winning three seats each. In the Maharashtra state assembly elections held every five years, Mumbai is represented by 36 assembly constituencies. A

member of the legislative assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLA) to the Maharashtra ''

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

'' (legislative assembly) is elected from each of the assembly constituencies. In the 2019 state assembly election, out of the 36 assembly constituencies, 16 were won by the BJP, 11 by the Shiv Sena, 6 by the Congress, 2 by the NCP and one by independent candidate. Elections are also held every five years to elect corporators to power in the MCGM. The Corporation comprises 227 directly elected Councillors representing the 24 municipal wards, five nominated Councillors having special knowledge or experience in municipal administration, and a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

whose role is mostly ceremonial. In the 2012 municipal corporation elections, out of the 227 seats, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance secured 107 seats, holding power with the support of independent candidates in the MCGM, while the Congress-NCP alliance bagged 64 seats. The tenure of the

, deputy mayor, and municipal commissioner is two and a half years.

Transport

Public transport

Public transport systems in Mumbai include the

Mumbai Suburban Railway The Mumbai Suburban Railway ( Marathi: मुंबई उपनगरीय रेल्वे) (colloquially called local trains or simply locals) consists of exclusive inner suburban railway lines augmented by commuter rail on main lines ser ...

Monorail A monorail (from "mono", meaning "one", and " rail") is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail or a beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurat ...

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urb ...

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport The Brihanmumbai Electricity Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST) is a civic transport and electricity provider public body based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was originally set up in 1873 as a tramway company called "Bombay Tramway Co ...

(BEST) buses, black-and-yellow meter

taxis A taxis (; ) is the movement of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light or the presence of food. Taxes are innate behavioural responses. A taxis differs from a tropism (turning response, often growth towards or away from a stim ...

auto rickshaw An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...

s and

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

. Suburban railway and BEST bus services together accounted for about 88% of the passenger traffic in 2008. Auto rickshaws are allowed to operate only in the suburban areas of Mumbai, while taxis are allowed to operate throughout Mumbai, but generally operate in

. Taxis and rickshaws in Mumbai are required by law to run on

compressed natural gas Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...

(CNG), and are a convenient, economical, and easily available means of transport.

Railway

The

, popularly referred to as Locals forms the backbone of the city's transport system. It is operated by the Central Railway and Western Railway zones of the

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

. Mumbai's suburban rail systems carried a total of 63 lakh (6.3 million) passengers every day in 2007. Trains are overcrowded during peak hours, with nine-car trains of rated capacity 1,700 passengers, actually carrying around 4,500 passengers at peak hours. The Mumbai rail network is spread at an expanse of 319 route kilometres. 191 rakes (train-sets) of 9 car and 12 car composition are utilised to run a total of 2,226 train services in the city. The

Mumbai Monorail MMRDA Mumbai Monorail is an monorail system in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, built as part of a major expansion of public transport in the city. The project was implemented and is currently operated by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regio ...

and

Mumbai Metro The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit (MRT) system serving the city of Mumbai and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region in Maharashtra, India.Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority is responsible authority for maintaining the metro system ...

have been built and are being extended in phases to relieve overcrowding on the existing network. The Monorail opened in early February 2014. The first line of the Mumbai Metro opened in early June 2014. Mumbai is the headquarters of two zones of the

: the Central Railway (CR) headquartered at

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bombay station code: CSMT ( mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The terminus wa ...

(formerly Victoria Terminus), and the Western Railway (WR) headquartered at Churchgate. Mumbai is also well connected to most parts of India by the

. Long-distance trains originate from

Lokmanya Tilak Terminus Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (also known by its former name Kurla Terminus, station code: LTT) is a railhead and a major railway terminus in the Kurla suburb of Mumbai, India. LTT is managed by the Central Railway. The and suburban railway station ...

Mumbai Central Mumbai Central (formerly Bombay Central, station code: MMCT) is a major railway station on the Western line, situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra in an area known by the same name. It serves as a major stop for both Local and Inter-City/Express tr ...

Bandra Terminus Mumbai Bandra Terminus (station code: BDTS) also known as Vandre Terminus (in Marathi)is a railway terminus in Bandra from where trains bound for Northern India and Western India are scheduled regularly. It was built in the 1990s to deconges ...

and

Bus

Mumbai's bus services carried over 55 lakh (5.5 million) passengers per day in 2008, which dropped to 28 lakh (2.8 million) in 2015. Public buses run by BEST cover almost all parts of the metropolis, as well as parts of

Mira-Bhayandar Mira-Bhayandar is a city and municipal corporation in Thane district in the state of Maharashtra, India located in the northern part of Salsette Island before the Vasai Creek, and shares a border with North Mumbai. Mira-Bhayandar is administe ...

and Thane. The BEST operates a total of 4,608 buses with CCTV cameras installed, ferrying 45 lakh (4.5 million) passengers daily over 390 routes. Its fleet consists of single-decker, double-decker, vestibule, low-floor, disabled-friendly, air-conditioned and Euro III compliant diesel and

powered buses. BEST introduced air-conditioned buses in 1998. BEST buses are red in colour, based originally on the Routemaster buses of London. Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC, also known as ST) buses provide intercity transport connecting Mumbai with other towns and cities of Maharashtra and nearby states. The

Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) is the transport wing of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, which operates bus services in Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, loc ...

(NMMT) and Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) also operate their buses in Mumbai, connecting various nodes of Navi Mumbai and Thane to parts of Mumbai. Buses are generally favoured for commuting short to medium distances, while train fares are more economical for longer distance commutes. The ''Mumbai Darshan'' is a tourist bus service which explores numerous

tourist attractions in Mumbai Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

. Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) lanes have been planned throughout Mumbai. Though 88% of the city's commuters travel by public transport, Mumbai still continues to struggle with traffic congestion. Mumbai's transport system has been categorised as one of the most congested in the world.

Water

Water transport in Mumbai Water transport in Mumbai consists of ferries, hovercraft and catamarans. Proposals to start more water services were initially mooted in the 1990s but were held up due to legal issues. Services are provided by both government agencies as well a ...

consists of ferries, hovercraft and catamarans. Services are provided by both government agencies as well as private partners. Hovercraft services plied briefly in the late 1990s between the Gateway of India and

CBD Belapur The Central Business District of Belapur (C.B.D Belapur) is a node of Navi Mumbai. The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation is headquartered in Belapur. The Reserve Bank of India maintains a branch office at CBD Belapur. This area is one of the ...

in Navi Mumbai. They were subsequently scrapped due to lack of adequate infrastructure.

Road

Mumbai is served by National Highway 48, National Highway 66, National Highway 160 and National Highway 61. The Mumbai–

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and Mumbai–Delhi prongs of the

Golden Quadrilateral The Golden Quadrilateral ( hi, स्वर्णिम चतुर्भुज, Svarnim Chaturbhuj; abbreviated GQ) is a national highway network connecting several major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a ...

system of National Highways start from the city. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was the first expressway built in India. The Eastern Freeway was opened in 2013. The Mumbai Nashik Expressway, Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway, are 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 The Eastern Express Highway, abbreviated to EEH, is a city express highway serving the cities of Mumbai and Thane. It is one of the busiest and most important roads in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area and is a part of the National Highway 48. It ...

from

to Thane, the Sion Panvel Expressway from

Panvel Panvel () is a city and taluka in Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. It is highly populated due to its closeness to Mumbai. Panvel is also governed for development purpose by the body of Mumbai Metropolitan Region. Panvel Municipal Corpor ...

and the

Western Express Highway The Western Express Highway, abbreviated to WEH (officially Ali Yavar Jung Marg after the former Governor of Maharashtra), is a major north–south 8-10 lane arterial road in Mumbai, India, stretching from the suburb of Mira Road to Bandra. T ...

from Bandra to

Bhayander Bhayandar is a suburb outside the Mumbai located near the Vasai Creek. It has a large Gujarati and Marwari population as well other mixed populations as well. It falls under the North Central ward of the Municipal Corporation. Geography Bhaya ...

. Mumbai has approximately of roads. There are five tolled entry points to the city by road. Mumbai had about 721,000 private vehicles as of March 2014, 56,459 black and yellow taxis , and 106,000 auto rickshaws, as of May 2013.

Air

The

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic af ...

(formerly Sahar International Airport) is the main aviation hub in the city and the second busiest airport in India in terms of passenger traffic. It handled 36.6 million (3.66 crore) passengers and 694,300 tonnes of cargo during FY 2014–2015. An upgrade plan was initiated in 2006, targeted at increasing the capacity of the airport to handle up to 40 million (4 crore) passengers annually and the new terminal T2 was opened in February 2014. The proposed

Navi Mumbai International airport Navi Mumbai International Airport, officially D. B. Patil International Airport, is an international airport being constructed in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It will serve in parallel as an alternative with Mumbai's existing Chhatrapati S ...

to be built in the Kopra-

area has been sanctioned by the Indian Government and will help relieve the increasing traffic burden on the existing airport. The Juhu Aerodrome was India's first airport, and now hosts the

Bombay Flying Club The Bombay Flying Club is the oldest flying club in India, established in 1928, located at Juhu aerodrome, Mumbai. At present, the Bombay Flying Club's College of Aviation offers programs such as pilot training, Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, ...

and a heliport operated by state-owned

Pawan Hans Pawan Hans Limited is a central public sector undertaking based at Noida in Delhi NCR, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It has cumulatively flown more than 1 million hours and has had ...

Sea

Mumbai is served by two major ports,

and

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) or JLN Port, also known as Nhava Sheva Port, is the second largest container port in India after Mundra Port. Located in Navi Mumbai's Raigad district, this port on the Arabian Sea is accessed via Thane Cr ...

, which lies just across the creek in

. Mumbai 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

allow access to islands near the city. The city is also the headquarters of the

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

, and also an important base for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...

Utility services

Under colonial rule, tanks were the only source of water in Mumbai, with many localities having been named after them. The MCGM supplies potable water to the city from six lakes, most of which comes from the Tulsi and Vihar lakes. The Tansa lake supplies water to the western suburbs and parts of the island city along the Western Railway. The water is filtered at Bhandup, which is Asia's largest water filtration plant. India's first underground water tunnel was completed in Mumbai to supply water to the Bhandup filtration plant. About 700 million (70 crore) litres of water, out of a daily supply of 3.5 billion (350 crore) litres, is lost by way of water thefts, illegal connections and leakages, per day in Mumbai. Almost all of Mumbai's daily refuse of 7,800 metric tonnes, of which 40 metric tonnes is

plastic waste Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

, is transported to dumping grounds in

Gorai Gorai ( �oɾaːi is a village at Dharavi Bhet, in Mumbai, India. It is located on the North-western part of the island of Salsette. Gorai is accessed more usually by a ferry crossing the Manori Creek and Gorai creek or otherwise by the over ...

in the northwest,

in the northeast, and to the

Deonar dumping ground The Deonar dumping ground is a waste dumping ground or landfill in the city of Mumbai. Located in Shivaji Nagar, an eastern suburb of the city, it is India's oldest and largest dumping ground, set up in 1927. The dumping ground is managed by ...

in the east. Sewage treatment is carried out at

and Bandra, and disposed of by two independent marine outfalls of and at Bandra and Worli respectively. Electricity is distributed by the

(BEST) undertaking in the island city, and by

Reliance Energy Reliance Infrastructure Limited (R-Infra), formerly Reliance Energy Limited (REL) and Bombay Suburban Electric Supply (BSES), is an Indian private sector enterprise involved in power generation, infrastructure, construction and defence. It is p ...

Tata Power Tata Power Company Limited is an Indian electric utility company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and is part of the Tata Group. The core business of the company is to generate, transmit and distribute electricity. With an installed electri ...

, and the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd ( Mahavitaran) in the suburbs. Power supply cables are

underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground ...

, which reduces pilferage, thefts and other losses. Cooking gas is supplied in the form of liquefied petroleum gas cylinders sold by state-owned oil companies, as well as through piped natural gas supplied by Mahanagar Gas Limited. The largest telephone service provider is the state-owned

MTNL Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) (d/b/a MTNL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited which is in turn under the ownership of Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India. Head ...

, which held a monopoly over fixed line and cellular services up until 2000, and provides fixed line as well as mobile WLL services. Mobile phone coverage is extensive, and the main service providers are Vodafone Essar,

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Current ...

, MTNL,

Loop Mobile Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, a ...

Reliance Communications Reliance Communications Limited (RCOM) was an Indian mobile network provider headquartered in Navi Mumbai that offered voice and 2G and 3G and 4G data services. In February 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy as it was unable to sell asse ...

Idea Cellular Idea Cellular (commonly referred to as Idea, and stylised as ''!dea'') was an Indian mobile network operator based at Mumbai, Maharashtra. Idea was a pan-India integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018. Id ...

and

Tata Indicom Tata Tele Business Services Limited (TTBSL), formally known as Tata Tele Services Limited (TTSL), is an Indian broadband, telecommunications and cloud service provider based in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of the Tata Group, an Indian conglome ...

. Both

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...

and

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

services are available in the city. Mumbai, along with the area served by telephone exchanges in

and

Kalyan Kalyan (Pronunciation: əljaːɳ is a city on the banks of Ulhas River in Thane district of Maharashtra state in Konkan division. It is governed by Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation. Kalyan is a subdivision (Taluka) of Thane district ...

is classified as a ''Metro'' telecom circle. Many of the above service providers also provide broadband internet and wireless internet access in Mumbai. , Mumbai had the highest number of internet users in India with 16.4 million (1.64 crore) users.

Cityscape

Architecture

The architecture of the city is a blend of Gothic Revival,

Indo-Saracenic Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

, and other contemporary styles. Most of the buildings during the British period, such as the

Victoria Terminus Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (officially Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bombay station code: CSMT ( mainline)/ST (suburban)), is a historic railway terminus and UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The terminus was d ...

and

Bombay University The University of Mumbai is a collegiate, state-owned, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the university had 711 affiliated colleges. Ratan Tata is the appointed ...

, were built in Gothic Revival style. Their architectural features include a variety of European influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arches, Tudor casements, and traditional Indian features. There are also a few Indo-Saracenic styled buildings such as the Gateway of India. Art Deco styled landmarks can be found along the

Marine Drive Marine Drive may refer to: Roads Bangladesh * Cox Bazar-Tekhnaf Marine Drive, world's longest marine drive road. Canada *Marine Drive (Nova Scotia), a scenic route in Nova Scotia *Marine Drive (Greater Vancouver), a number of roadways in Metropo ...

and west of the

Oval Maidan Oval Maidan is a large Grade I recreational ground situated in South Mumbai, India. It is so named because of its oval shape and is situated just south of Churchgate. It is a popular recreation ground, with the most popular sports played there ...

. Mumbai has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world after

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. In the newer suburbs, modern buildings dominate the landscape. Mumbai has by far the largest number of skyscrapers in India, with 956 existing skyscrapers and 272 under construction . The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), established in 1995, formulates special regulations and by-laws to assist in the conservation of the city's heritage structures. Mumbai has three

UNESCO World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the

and the Victorian and Art Deco Ensemble. In the south of Mumbai, there are colonial-era buildings and Soviet-style offices. 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 237 buildings taller than 100 m, compared with 327 in Shanghai and 855 in New York. Victoria Terminus, Mumbai

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, the population of Mumbai city was 12,479,608. The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square kilometre. The living space is 4.5 square metres per person.

was home to 20,748,395 people by 2011. Greater Mumbai, the area under the administration of the MCGM, has a literacy rate of 94.7%, higher than the national average of 86.7%. The number of slum-dwellers in the

is estimated to be 90 lakh (9 million), up from 60 lakh (6 million) in 2001 which constitutes approximately 41.8% of the region. The

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species d ...

in 2011 was 838 females per 1,000 males in the island city, 857 in the suburbs, and 848 as a whole in Greater Mumbai, all numbers lower than the national average of 914 females per 1,000 males. The low sex ratio is partly because of the large number of male migrants who come to the city to work. Shree Siddhivinayak Temple Mumbai

Residents of Mumbai call themselves '' Mumbaikar'', ''Mumbaiite'', ''Bombayite'' or ''Bombaiite''. Mumbai suffers from the same major urbanization problems seen in many fast growing cities in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

: poverty and unemployment. With available land at a premium, Mumbai residents often reside in cramped, relatively expensive housing, usually far from workplaces, and therefore requiring long commutes on crowded mass transit, or clogged roadways. Many of them live close to bus or train stations, although suburban residents spend significant time travelling southward to the main commercial district.

, Asia's second largest slum (if

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Orangi Town Orangi Town ( sd, اُورنگي ٽاؤن, ur, ) lies in the northwestern part of the city that was named after the sprawling municipality of Orangi. Orangi Town was formed in 2001 as part oThe Local Government Ordinance 2001 and was subdivi ...

is counted as a single slum) is located in central Mumbai and houses between 800,000 and 10 lakh (one million) people in , making it one of the most densely populated areas on Earth with a population density of at least 334,728 persons per square kilometre. The number of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra during the 1991–2001 decade was 11.2 lakh (1.12 million), which amounted to 54.8% of the net addition to the population of Mumbai. The number of households in Mumbai is forecast to rise from 42 lakh (4.2 million) in 2008 to 66 lakh (6.6 million) in 2020. The number of households with annual incomes of 20 lakh (2 million) rupees will increase from 4% to 10% by 2020, amounting to 660,000 families. The number of households with incomes from 10 to 20 lakh (1–2 million) rupees is also estimated to increase from 4% to 15% by 2020. According to the 2016 report of the

, Mumbai is the noisiest city in India, ahead of

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

and

Ethnic groups and religions

The religious groups represented in Mumbai as of 2011 include

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

s (65.99%), Muslims (20.65%), Buddhists (4.85%), Jains (4.10%), Christians (3.27%) and Sikhs (0.49%). The linguistic/ethnic demographics in the Greater Mumbai Area are: Maharashtrians (32%), Gujaratis (20%), with the rest hailing from other parts of India. Native Christians include East Indians, East Indian Catholics, who were converted by the Portuguese during the 16th century, while Goan Catholics, Goan and Mangalorean Catholics also constitute a significant portion of the Christian community of the city. History of the Jews in Mumbai, Jews settled in Bombay during the 18th century. The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay, who migrated from the

villages, south of Bombay, are believed to be the descendants of the Jews of Israel who were shipwrecked off the Konkan coast, probably in the year 175 BCE, during the reign of the Ancient Greece, Greek ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Mumbai is also home to the largest population of Parsi Zoroastrians in the world, numbering about 60,000, however their population is declining rapidly. Parsis migrated to India from Greater Iran following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The oldest Muslim communities in Mumbai include the Dawoodi Bohras, Ismaili Khojas, and Konkani Muslims.

Language

is the official language and the working language in bureaucracy of the city along with English language, English and Hindi Language, Hindi. Mumbai has a large polyglot population like all other Status of Indian cities, metropolitan cities of India. Sixteen major languages of India are spoken in Mumbai, with the most common being

and its dialect East Indian language, East Indian. These are spoken by 4,396,870 people which is 32.24% of the population(Marathi as a single language is spoken by 22% of the population). Hindi is spoken by 3,582,719 of the population that's 25.90% of the population making it the second largest dominat language in Mumbai. Many Hindi speakers are workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who migrate seasonally to Mumbai to work as labourers. Gujarati with 2,640,990 speakers is spoken by 20.4% of the population, making it the third largest language after Marathi and Hindi. Other languages spoken include Urdu is spoken by 11.69% of the population. English is extensively spoken and is the principal language of the city's White-collar worker, white collar workforce. A colloquial form of Hindi, known as ''Bombay Hindi, Bambaiya'' – a blend of Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English and some invented words – is spoken on the streets. Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu language, Telugu, Malayalam, Odia language, Odia, Punjabi language, Punjabi, Sindhi, Tulu language, Tulu, Assamese language, Assamese, Bengali language, Bengali, Bhojpuri are other minority languages spoken in Mumbai. In the Suburbs, Marathi is spoken by 36.78% of the population of suburban Mumbai, and

by 31.21%.

Food

Mumbai has a variety of street food, including the Vada pav.

Culture

Mumbai 03-2016 70 Asiatic Society Library

Mumbai's culture offers a blend of traditional and cosmopolitan festivals, food, entertainment, and night life. The city's cosmopolitan and urban-centric modern cultural offerings are comparable to other world capitals. Mumbai bears the distinction of being the most cosmopolitan city of India. Its history as a major trading centre and the expansion of an education middle class has led to a diverse range of cultures, religions, and cuisines coexisting in the city. The variety and abundance of restaurants, cinemas, theatres, sports events and museums are a product of Mumbai's unique cosmopolitan culture. Mumbai is the birthplace of Indian cinema—Dadasaheb Phalke laid the foundations with silent movies followed by Marathi cinema, Marathi talkies—and the oldest film broadcast took place in the early 20th century. Mumbai also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The Mumbai 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 Mumbai. Despite most of the professional theatre groups that formed during the British Raj having disbanded by the 1950s, Mumbai has developed a thriving "theatre movement" tradition in Marathi, Hindi, English, and other regional languages. 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 library, public libraries in the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum) is a renowned museum in

which houses rare ancient exhibits of Indian history. Mumbai has a zoo named Jijamata Udyaan (formerly Victoria Gardens), which also harbor's 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 modernized in the works of Mumbai-based authors such as Mohan Apte, Anant Kanekar, and Gangadhar Gadgil, and is promoted through an annual Sahitya Akademi Award, a literary honor bestowed by India's Sahitya Akademi, National Academy of Letters. Chowpatti Beach (Girgaum Chowpatty)

Mumbai residents celebrate both Western and Indian festivals. Diwali, Holi, Eid ul-Fitr, Eid, Christmas, Navratri, Good Friday, Navrati, Dussera, Moharram, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri are some of the popular festivals in the city. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is an exhibition of a world of arts that encapsulates works of artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and films. A week-long annual fair known as Bandra Fair, starting on the following Sunday after 8 September, is celebrated by people of all faiths, to commemorate the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus, on 8 September. The Banganga Festival is a two-day music festival, held annually in the month of January, which is organised by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) at the historic

in Mumbai. The Elephanta Festival—celebrated every February on the Elephanta Islands—is dedicated to classical Indian dance and music and attracts performers from across the country. Public holidays specific to the city and the state include Maharashtra Day on 1 May, to celebrate the formation of Maharashtra state on 1 May 1960, and Gudi Padwa which is the New Year's Day for Marathi people. List of Mumbai beaches, Beaches are a major tourist attraction in the city. The major beaches in Mumbai are Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu Beach, Dadar Chowpatty, Gorai Beach, Marve Beach, Versova Beach, Madh Beach, Aksa Beach, and Manori Beach. Most of the beaches are unfit for swimming, except Girgaum Chowpatty and Juhu Beach. Essel World is a theme park and amusement centre situated close to Gorai Beach, and includes Asia's largest theme water park, Water Kingdom. Adlabs Imagica opened in April 2013 is located near the city of Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

Media

Mumbai has numerous Indian newspapers, newspaper publications, television and radio stations. Marathi dailies enjoy the maximum readership share in the city and the top Marathi-language newspapers, Marathi language newspapers are ''Maharashtra Times'', ''Nava Kaal, Navakaal'', ''Lokmat'', ''Loksatta (newspaper), Loksatta'', ''Mumbai Chaufer'', ''Saamana'' and ''Sakaal''. Popular Marathi language magazines are ''Saptahik Sakaal'', ''Grihashobhika'', ''Lokrajya'', ''Lokprabha'' & ''Chitralekha''. Popular English language newspapers published and sold in Mumbai include ''The Times of India'', ''MiD DAY, Mid-day'', ''Hindustan Times'', ''DNA India'', and ''The Indian Express''. Newspapers are also printed in other Indian languages. Mumbai 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 Mumbai in 1832. Numerous Television in India, Indian and international television channels can be watched in Mumbai through one of the pay-tv, Pay TV companies or the local cable television provider. The metropolis is also the hub of many international media corporations, with many news channels and print publications having a major presence. The national television broadcaster, Doordarshan, provides two free terrestrial channels, while three main cable networks serve most households. The wide range of cable channels available includes Zee Marathi, Zee Talkies, ETV Marathi, Star Pravah, Mi Marathi, DD Sahyadri (Marathi language television, All Marathi channels), news channels such as ABP Majha, IBN-Lokmat, Zee 24 Taas, sports channels like ESPN, Star Sports (Indian TV network), Star Sports, National entertainment channels like Colors (TV channel), Colors, Sony Entertainment Television (India), Sony, Zee TV and Star Plus, business news channels like CNBC Awaaz, Zee Business, ET Now and Bloomberg UTV. News channels entirely dedicated to Mumbai include Sahara Samay Mumbai. Zing (TV channel), Zing a popular Bollywood gossip channel is also based out of Mumbai. Direct broadcast satellite, Satellite television (DTH) has yet to gain mass acceptance, due to high installation costs. Prominent DTH entertainment services in Mumbai include Dish TV and Tata Sky. There are twelve radio stations in Mumbai, with nine broadcasting on the Frequency modulation, FM band, and three All India Radio stations broadcasting on the Amplitude modulation, AM band. Mumbai also has access to Commercial broadcasting, Commercial radio providers such as Sirius Satellite Radio, Sirius. The Conditional Access System (CAS) started by the Government of India, Union Government in 2006 met a poor response in Mumbai due to competition from its sister technology Direct broadcast satellite, Direct-to-Home (DTH) transmission service.

, the Hindi film industry based in Mumbai, produces around 150–200 films every year. The name Bollywood is a blend of Bombay and Cinema of the United States, 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, Mumbai, Film City, are the location for most movie sets. The city also hosts the Marathi cinema, Marathi film industry which has seen increased popularity in recent years, and TV production companies. Mumbai is a hub of Indian film making. Several other Indian language films such as Bengali language, Bengali, Bhojpuri,

, Malayalam, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu language, Telugu and Urdu are also occasionally shot in Mumbai. Slumdog Millionaire, an English language British film, was shot entirely in Mumbai and has garnered 8 Oscar awards.

Education

Schools

Schools in Mumbai are either "municipal schools" (run by the MCGM) or private schools (run by trusts or individuals), which in some cases receive financial aid from the government. The schools are affiliated with either of the following boards: * Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board, Maharashtra State Board (MSBSHSE) * The All-India Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) * The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) * The Central Board of Secondary Education, Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) * The International Baccalaureate (IB) * The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). Marathi or English is the usual language of instruction. The primary education system of the MCGM is the largest urban primary education system in Asia. The MCGM operates 1,188 primary schools imparting primary education to 485,531 students in eight languages (

, Urdu, English language, English, Tamil language, Tamil, Telugu language, Telugu, and

). The MCGM also imparts secondary education to 55,576 students through its 49 secondary schools.

Higher education

Under the 10+2+3 plan, 10+2+3/4 plan, students complete ten years of schooling and then enrol for two years in junior college, where they select one of three streams: arts, commerce, or science. This is followed by either a general degree course in a chosen field of study, or a professional degree course, such as law, engineering and medicine. Most colleges in the city are affiliated with the University of Mumbai, one of the largest universities in the world in terms of the number of graduates. The University of Mumbai is one of the premierIndia Today Best Universities 2013: University of Mumbai – , Photo1 , India Today ,
''India Today''.intoday.in (15 March 1978). Retrieved 16 July 2013. universities in India. It was ranked 41 among the Top 50 Engineering Schools of the world by America's news broadcasting firm ''Business Insider'' in 2012 and was the only university in the list from the five emerging BRICS nations viz Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Moreover, the University of Mumbai was ranked 5th in the list of best universities in India by ''India Today'' in 2013 and ranked at 62 in the QS BRICS University rankings for 2013, a ranking of leading universities in the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Its strongest scores in the QS University Rankings: BRICS are for papers per faculty (8th), employer reputation (20th) and citations per paper (28th). It was ranked 10th among the top Universities of India by QS in 2013. With 7 of the top ten Indian Universities being purely science and technology universities, it was India's 3rd best Interdisciplinarity, Multi Disciplinary University in the QS University ranking. IITBMainBuildingCROP

The IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay), Mumbai, Institute of Chemical Technology (formerly UDCT / UICT), VJTI, Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), which are India's premier engineering and technology schools, along with SNDT Women's University are the autonomous universities located in Mumbai. In April 2015,

launched the first U.S.-India joint EMBA program alongside

. Thadomal Shahani Engineering College is the first and the oldest private engineering college affiliated to the federal University of Mumbai and is also pioneered to be the first institute in the city's university to offer undergraduate level courses in Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Biomedical Engineering and Biotechnology. Grant Medical College established in 1845 and Seth G.S. Medical College are the leading medical institutes affiliated with Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhoy Group of Hospitals and KEM Hospital respectively. Mumbai is also home to National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), S P Jain Institute of Management and Research, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and several other management schools. Government Law College, Mumbai, Government Law College and Sydenham College, respectively the oldest law and commerce colleges in India, are based in Mumbai. The Sir J. J. School of Art is Mumbai's oldest art institution. It also has one of the best law schools or universities of the country which is Maharashtra National Law University, Mumbai, National Law Universities (NLU). Mumbai 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

. Bombay Veterinary College now Mumbai Veterinary College is the oldest and premier Veterinary College of India and Asia. Its foundation stone is laid in the year of 1886. The ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) is a Deemed to be University and institution of higher learning for fisheries science in Mumbai,

. CIFE has over four decades of leadership in human resource development with its alumni aiding in the development of fisheries and aquaculture worldwide, producing notable contributions to research and technological advancements to its credit. The institute is one of four deemed to be universities operating under the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR); the other three being the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), the [National Dairy Research Institute] (NDRI) and the Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI)

Sports

Cricket is more popular than any other sport in the city. Mumbai is home to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Indian Premier League (IPL). Mumbai cricket team, the first-class cricket, first-class team of the city has won 41 Ranji Trophy titles, the most by any team. The city based Mumbai Indians compete in the Indian Premier League. Mumbai has two international cricket grounds, the Wankhede Stadium and the Brabourne Stadium. The first cricket test match in India was played in Mumbai at the Bombay Gymkhana. The biggest cricketing event to be staged in the city so far is the 2011 Cricket World Cup Final, final of the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup which was played at the Wankhede Stadium. Mumbai and London are the only two cities to have hosted both a World Cup final and the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy Final, final of an ICC Champions Trophy which was played at the Brabourne Stadium in 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, 2006. Association football, Football is another popular sport in the city, with the FIFA World Cup and the English Premier League being followed widely. In the Indian Super League, the city is represented by Mumbai City FC. While the city based Kenkre FC competes in the I-League (matches in the city are played at the Cooperage Ground). When the Elite Football League of India was introduced in August 2011, Mumbai was noted as one of eight cities to be awarded a team for the inaugural season. Mumbai's first professional American football Franchise (sports), franchise, the Mumbai Gladiators, played its first season, in

, in late 2012. In Field hockey, Hockey, Mumbai is home to the Mumbai Marines and Mumbai Magicians in the World Series Hockey and Hockey India League respectively. Matches in the city are played at the Mahindra Hockey Stadium. The Indian Badminton League (IBL), now known as the Premier Badminton League is also visiting Mumbai since its inaugural edition in 2013 when the final was held in Mumbai's National Sports Club of India. In the second season, the final of the 2016 Premier Badminton League was held between home-squad Mumbai Rockets and the Delhi Dashers (formerly Delhi Acers), the visitors eventually claiming the title. The opening ceremony was also held in Mumbai while the finals in

. In the 2017 Premier Badminton League (also known as Vodafone PBL 2017 for sponsorship reasons) the Mumbai Rockets beat the Hyderabad Hunters (Badminton team), Hyderabad Hunters 3–1 to proceed to the final. In the final they lost 3–4 to the Chennai Smashers. U Mumba is the team representing Mumbai in the country's professional Kabaddi league, Pro Kabaddi. The Mumbai Leg of Pro Kabaddi League, Pro Kabaddi is held at the NSCI, Worli. Rugby union, Rugby is another growing sport in Mumbai with league matches being held at the Bombay Gymkhana from June to November. Every February, Mumbai holds derby (horse race), derby races at the Mahalaxmi Racecourse. United Breweries Group, Mcdowell's Derby is also held in February at the Royal Western India Turf Club, Turf Club in Mumbai. In March 2004, the Mumbai Grand Prix was part of the F1 Powerboat Racing, F1 powerboat world championship, and the Force India F1 team car was unveiled in the city, in 2008. In 2004, the annual Mumbai Marathon was established as a part of "The Greatest Race on Earth". Mumbai had also played host to the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open, an International Series Tournaments, International Series tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP World Tour, in 2006 and 2007. Mumbai will host the 140th IOC Session in 2023. Regional and Professional Sports Teams from Mumbai Former Regional and Professional Sports Teams from Mumbai

Sister cities

Source: ''Hindustan Times'' * Antananarivo, Madagascar * Barcelona, Spain * Busan, South Korea * Honolulu, U.S. * Jakarta, Indonesia * Los Angeles, U.S. * Nadi, Fiji * New York City, U.S. * Odessa, Ukraine * Shanghai, China * St. Petersburg, Russia * Stuttgart, Germany * Yokohama, Japan * Zagreb, Croatia

References

Sources

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External links

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Official website of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai
. * {{Authority control Mumbai, Cities and towns in Mumbai City district Cities in Maharashtra Indian capital cities Metropolitan cities in India Populated coastal places in India Port cities in India Port cities and towns of the Arabian Sea Populated places established in 1507 Former Portuguese colonies 1507 establishments in India