Thane (; previously known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city located on the northwestern side of the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

in India and on the northeastern side of

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

. It is an immediate neighbour of Mumbai city proper, and a part of the

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Mumbai Metropolitan Region (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Muṁbaī Mahānagara Pradēśa''; abbreviated to MMR and previously also known as Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area), is a metropolitan area consisting of Mumbai and its Satellite city, satellite tow ...

. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is situated entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven talukas of Thane district. It serves as the headquarters of the district. Thane city ranks as the 15th most populous city in India, with a population of 1,890,000 according to the 2011 census.

Etymology and other names

The ancient name of Thana was . It appears as in early medieval Arab sources. The name Thane has been variously Romanised as Tana, Thana, Thâṇâ, and Thame.

Ibn Battuta Ibn Battuta (; 24 February 13041368/1369), was a Maghrebi traveller, explorer and scholar. Over a period of 30 years from 1325 to 1354, he visited much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Iberian Peninsula. Near the end of his life, Ibn ...

and Abulfeda knew it as KukinTana; Duarte Barbosa as TanaMayambu. Before

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, the city was called "Thana", the British spelling of the city, until it was replaced with the more-local name.

History

A copper plate dating to AD 1078 was discovered near the foundations of Thane Fort in 1787. A land grant from Arikesara Devaraja, lord of Tagara, wherein he addresses the inhabitants of a city called "Sri Sthanaka". For a long time, it was a military training and recruitment center of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. The East India Company occupied Salsette Island, Thana Fort, Fort Versova and the island fort of Karanja at the start of

First Anglo-Maratha War The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782) was the first conflict 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. As per the treaty, th ...

, but after a short time it was recaptured by the forces of Haripant Phadke and Tukoji Holkar. After the conclusion of the Treaty of Salbai, both Thana Fort and the island of Salsette were taken over by the British.

Geography

Thana district Places of Interest 1896 map

Climate

Thane has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

that borders on 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 ...

. The overall climate is equable with high rainfall days and minimal days of extreme temperatures. Temperature in Thane varies from 22°C to 36°C. The region experiences winter temperatures that can drop to as low as 12°C at night, while summer temperatures can ascend to over 40°C at noon. The lowest daytime temperatures are typically observed during the peak of the summer monsoon in July and August, when temperatures can plummet to approximately 25°C. Around 80% of the total annual rainfall is concentrated in the period from June to October. The average annual rainfall is recorded at 2000–2500mm, and the humidity level ranges from 61% to 86%, rendering the area a humid zone. Thane has been ranked 12th best “National Clean Air City” (under Category 1 >10L Population cities) in India according to 'Swachh Vayu Survekshan 2024 Results'

Lakes

Demographics

The population of Thane according to the 2011 census is 1,886,941. The average literacy rate of Thane city is 91.36 percent for where male and female literacy was 94.19 and 88.14 percent respectively. The

sex ratio A sex ratio is 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. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of Thane city is 882 females per 1000 males. Child sex ratio is 900 girls per 1000 boys. Total children (0–6) in Thane city are 186,259 as per Census India report on 2011. There were 98,017 boys while 88,242 are girls. Children form 10.24% of total population of Thane City. The primary language spoken in Thane is Marathi, with widespread understanding and usage of Hindi. Some of the East Indian families in the Khatri ward of Thane still speak Portuguese. About 1,800 of India's approximately 5,000

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

live in Thane. At the time of the 2011 census, 48.50% of the population spoke

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

, 19.59%

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, 12.99%

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

, 3.93% Gujarati, 2.44%

Bhojpuri Bhojpuri may refer to: * Bhojpuri language, an Indo-Aryan language of India and Nepal * Bhojpuri grammar, grammatical rules of the language * Bhojpuri nouns, nouns of the language * Bhojpuri people, people who speak the language * Bhojpuri region ...

, 1.37%

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

, 1.29%

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

, 1.21% Bengali, 1.15%

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, 1.14% Marwari and 0.94%

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

as their first language.

Sports

Cricket is the most popular sport in Thane. Dadoji Kondadev Stadium, a sports arena of cricket is present in the city. Thane comes under jurisdiction of Mumbai Cricket Association, the governing body for cricket in Mumbai. Its players play for the

Mumbai cricket team The Mumbai cricket team is a cricket team which represents Mumbai in Indian domestic cricket. It is governed by Mumbai Cricket Association. Its home ground is Wankhede Stadium in Churchgate. The team also plays its home matches at Bandra ...

in Indian domestic cricket.

Transport

Railways

Thana Thana means " station" or "place" in South Asian countries. The word ''thana'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''sthana'' or "sthanak", meaning "place" or "stand", which was anglicized as ''thana'' by the British. * Thanas of Bangladesh, forme ...

was the terminus for the first ever

passenger train A passenger train is a train used to transport people along a railroad line, as opposed to a freight train that carries goods. These trains may consist of unpowered passenger railroad cars (also known as coaches or carriages) push-pull train, ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. On 16 April 1853, the

service was inaugurated between

Bori Bunder Bori Bunder (also known as Bori Bandar) is an area along the eastern shore line of Mumbai, India. Background This place was used as a storehouse for goods imported and exported from Mumbai. In the local language, 'Bori' mean sack and 'Bandar' ...

(Bombay) and Thane. Covering a distance of 34 km (21 mi), it was hauled by three locomotives: ''Sahib'', ''Sindh'' and ''Sultan''. The Thane viaducts, the first railway bridges, were built over the Thane creek when the Mumbai-Thane line was extended to Kalyan in May 1854. Thane is connected with neighbouring suburbs through Central and Trans-Harbour Line

Suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

railway network. Thane is a railway junction for the Thane-

Vashi Vashi is a residential and commercial node in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, across the Thane Creek of the Arabian Sea on the outskirts of city of Mumbai. Vashi is named after the largest village present in Vashi Node. Overview Vashi is well-c ...

Panvel Panvel () is a city and taluka in the 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 C ...

Harbour Line and Central Line. It is one of the busiest stations in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and handles 654,000 passengers daily. Thane railway station will soon be revamped, Work to start soon on Rs 800-crore project.

Metro

As of January 2021, the MMRDA, the nodal agency for building 300 km of vast Metro network, has proposed a plan to build an elevated depot for three Metro lines : 4 (Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavali), 4A (Kasarvadavali-Gaimukh), 10 (Gaimukh-Shivaji Nagar) and 11 (Wadala-General Post Office, CSMT) at one stop. This depot is proposed at Mogharpada, Thane. The total project cost is estimated to be ₹ 596.60 crore. As of 2019,

Wadala Wadala (also spelled Vadala, formerly spelt Wuddala, �əɖaːɭa is a neighborhood 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 ...

and Thane are being connected through a Metro line. On 26 August 2015, the MMRDA sanctioned ₹354 billion for 118 km

Mumbai metro The Mumbai Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Mumbai and the wider Mumbai Metropolitan Region in Maharashtra, India. While the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited is responsible for all metro rail projects being develope ...

network. This includes a 40-km

- Ghatkopar-Thane-Kasarvadavali Metro-4 corridor via Wadala GPO and R.A.Kidwai Marg costing ₹120 billion. On 16 August, 2024, the Union Government gave its approval for Thane Metro, a 29 km ring metro project. It will have 22 stations, and is expected to open in 2029. It will be executed by Maha Metro.

Thane Municipal Transport (TMT)

Thane Municipal Corporation started its transport service on 9 February 1989, known as Thane Municipal Transport (TMT). TMT provides services in Thane city and suburbs like Mulund, Borivali, Mira Road, Nala Sopara, Vasai, Bhiwandi and Navi Mumbai, among others.

Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT)

Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) operates AC and Non-AC buses from Thane Cidco Bus Stand to various parts of Navi Mumbai (Airoli, Rabale, Ghansoli, Mahape, Kopar Khairane, Vashi, Turbhe, Nerul, Belapur, Kharghar, Kalamboli, Panvel) and also to Purna (via Kalher) and Bhiwandi (via Mankoli).

Mira Bhayandar Municipal Transport (MBMT)

Mira-Bhayandar Municipal Transport (MBMT) started from 2006. The buses ply from

Dahisar Dahisar (Marathi pronunciation: ̪əɦisəɾ is the northernmost suburb (and railway station) of Mumbai. (Not to be confused with Dahisar Mori in Navi Mumbai). It is the last local railway station in Mumbai while travelling towards Dahanu Roa ...

Check naka towards Versova haneCheck naka. So till now majority of MBMT buses can be taken up at the Check naka only. MBMT has started new services to Thane City from January 2010.

Vasai-Virar Municipal Transport (VVMT)

Vasai Virar Municipal Transport (VVMT) operates two routes in Thane. First from Vasai to Mulund Via Thane/Ghodbunder road and second from Nala Sopara to Thane Kopri.

Future of transport in Thane

A light rail network covering 42 km has been proposed in three phases. In the first phase, consultants have suggested connectivity between Balkum and Kolshet via Naupada. It will be 16.05 km long with 14.65 km elevated, and only 1.4 km on the surface, and 11 stations in all.

Education

Schools

* D.A.V. Public School, Thane * Euroschool, Thane West * Hiranandani Foundation School * Holy Cross Convent High School *

Little Flower High School, Thane Little Flower High School is a convent school located at Pokharan Road No. 2 near Upvan Lake in Thane, Maharashtra, India. The school is recognized as a high school by the Education Department of the government of Maharashtra.by Rev. Fr. Valeri ...

* New Horizon Scholars School, Thane * Podar International School * Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania School * Sri Ma Vidyalaya, Patlipada, Thane *

St. John the Baptist High School, Thane St. John the Baptist High School and Junior College is a Catholic school in the city of Thane, Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is b ...

* Vasant Vihar High School

Colleges and Institutes

* A. P. Shah Institute of Technology * Dr. V. N. Bedekar Institute of Management Studies And Law * Institute of Management and Computer Studies * KC College of Engineering * Rajiv Gandhi Medical College * Rustomjee Academy for Global Careers * Vidya Prasarak Mandal's Polytechnic

Notable people

Amrita Arora Amrita Arora Ladak (née Arora; born 31 January 1981) is an Indian actress, Model (person), model, television presenter and video jockey (VJ), who primarily appears in Hindi cinema, Hindi-language Indian films, films. Early and personal life A ...

, film actress * Malaika Arora, film actress and dancer * Jitendra Awhad, Indian politician * Anand Dighe, former politician, popular by honorific "''Dharmaveer''". He was unit chief of

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

Thane district Thane district (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ʰaːɳe previously named Taana or Thana) is a districts of Maharashtra, district in the Konkan Division of Maharashtra, India. At the 2011 Census it was the most populated district in the c ...

. * Hruta Durgule, Indian television actress * Poorva Gokhale, television actress * Avinash Jadhav, politician * Suhas Joshi, film-television actor * Umesh Kamat, film-television actor * Sanjay Mukund Kelkar, politician * Prajakta Koli, youtuber * Kavita Lad, film-television actress * Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician *

Priya Marathe Priya Marathe Moghe is an Indian actress An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in mo ...

, television actress * Sanjeev Naik, politician * Anand Paranjpe, politician * Prakash Vishvanath Paranjape, politician * Ravindra Phatak, politician * Satish Pradhan, local politician * Pratap Sarnaik, politician * Prithvi Shaw, professional cricketer *

Eknath Shinde Eknath Sambhaji Shinde (born 9 February 1964) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of deputy chief ministers of Maharashtra, Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since December 2024, alongside Ajit Pawar under Devendra Fadnavis. ...

, present

Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra The deputy chief minister of Maharashtra is the deputy head of the executive branch of the Government of Maharashtra and the second highest ranking minister of the Council of Ministers. List of deputy chief ministers Statistics List by de ...

* Shrikant Shinde, Indian politician * Anant Tare, local politician * Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, Indian

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

activist * Rajan Vichare, local politician

References

External links

Thaneweb.com
��The city portal
Official Website of Thane Forest Circle

ThaneMahapailika.com
—Thane Municipal Corporation (Local Body)
Official website of Thane City

Thane District
{{Mumbai metropolitan area Cities and towns in Thane district Cities in Maharashtra Smart cities in India