Anupama Nair
There was then a twist in the story. In 1580, Spain conquered Portugal and it opened the doors of India to other European powers like the Dutch and the British. The Dutch arrived first, and later the British. The merchants of the East India Company arrived in Bombay in November 1583 and toured through Bassein, Thane, and Chaul. Then the Portuguese King John IV gave Bombay as a dowry for the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Portugal on 8 May 1661. The British Crown sold Bombay to the East India Company in 1668 for a mere sum of ten pounds or Rs. 1,48,000 today.
In the beginning, the British had less interest in Bombay compared to Calcutta or Madras as it was not a great asset to the company but only helped it to keep a foothold on the west coast. At the time the Mughals and Marathas under Chhatrapati Shivaji were more powerful. Even the famed British naval power was no match for the Mughals, Marathas, Portuguese, and Dutch, all of whom had interests in the region. The British later established their stronghold and fortified the city naming it Fort St. George in 1769.
After the Revolt of 1857, like the rest of the country Bombay also came under the rule of the British Crown. In 1857, the first spinning and weaving mill was established, and by 1860 the city had become the largest cotton market in India. The American Civil War (1861–65) which resulted in the cutoff of cotton supplies to Britain caused a trade boom in Bombay. However, with the end of the Civil War, cotton prices crashed and the bubble burst. However, by that time, the hinterland was opened, and Bombay become a strong center of import trade. The opening of the Suez Canal, greatly facilitated trade with Britain and continental Europe which also contributed to Bombay’s prosperity.
As the population increased, unkempt, overcrowded, and unsanitary conditions became more widespread. There was a Plague Pandemic in 1896. The City Improvement Trust was established to open new localities for settlement and Back Bay to reclaim an area of 1,300 acres was proposed in 1918, but could not be finished till the completion of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Road from Nariman Point to Malabar Point, which was the first two-way highway of its kind in India. It was built after World War II. In the post War years, the development of residential quarters in suburban areas begun, and the administration of Bombay city came under the Municipal Corporation and was extended to the suburbs of Greater Bombay.
Under the British, the city had served as the capital of the Bombay Presidency and during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, it was a center of the Indian Nationalist movement. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in the city in 1885. In the 1942 Session of the Congress, the Party passed the “Quit India” resolution, which demanded complete independence for India. Finally, after 190 years, we did see the ‘dawn of freedom’.
(to be continued….)
