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BOMBAY (THE CITY IN COLONIAL INDIA)

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Presidency cities

  • The pace of urbanization in India was slow during the Colonial period.
  • The capitals of Bombay, Bengal and madras presidencies in British India was known as Presidency Cities.
  • These were multi functioned cities- major ports, ware houses, homes and offices, army camps as well as educational institutions, museums and libraries.

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Formation of Bombay city

  • Bombay was the premier city of India.
  • It expanded very rapidly.
  • In 17th century Bombay was a group of seven Island under the Portuguese control
  • In 1661, the control of the islands passed into British hands after the marriage of British King Charles II to Portuguese princess
  • The East India company shifted its base from Surat to Bombay

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  • Initially Bombay was the major outlet of cotton textile from Gujarat.
  • In 19th century- as a port through which large quantities of raw materials such as cotton and opium would pass.
  • Gradually it also become the important administrative centre in Western India
  • End of 19th – major Industrial centre

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Population structure of Bombay City in 19th century

  • Bombay became the capital of the Bombay presidency in 1819 after the Maratha defeat in the Anglo Maratha war.
  • The city quickly expanded
  • Large communities of traders, bankers, artisans and shopkeepers settled in Bombay
  • The establishment of the textile mill increased the number of the migrants.
  • The first textile mill- 1854
  • 1921- 85 cotton mill and 146,000 workers
  • Large numbers flowed in from the nearby district of Ratnagiri

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  • In 1919- 1926: 23 per cent of mill workforce were the women community
  • Bombay dominated in maritime trade of India
  • Junction of two major railways, it also encouraged the higher scale migration
  • Famine in the dry regions of Kutch drove large number of people in to Bombay in 1888-89
  • Worried about the influx of population during the plague epidemic of 1898, district authorities sent about 30000 people back to their homes

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Accommodation facility in London City

  • Bombay was a crowded city
  • In early days, Bombay did not grow according to any plan and houses especially in the Fort area were interspersed with gardens.
  • The Fort area was divided in to two

Native town: Indians

White sections: Europeans

  • A racial pattern was true of all three Presidency cities
  • Because of the unplanned expansion of city the crisis of housing and water supply became acute

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  • 70 per cent of the working people lived in the thickly populated chawls of Bombay
  • Workers walked to their place of work, 90 per cent of mill workers housed in Girangaon, a mill village.
  • The private land lords, merchants, bankers and building contractors constructed a chawls for to earn the money
  • Chawls divide in to smaller one room tenements which had no private toilets.
  • Homes being small, streets and neighborhoods were used for cooking, washing, leisure activities and sleeping

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  • Liquor shops and akharas came up in the empty spot.
  • The Chawls were also the place of the exchange of news about jobs, strikes, riots and demonstrations.
  • The village headman settled the disputes, organized food supplies or arranged informal credit
  • He also brought important information on political developments
  • The depressed class found it even more difficult to find housing
  • They were made the shelters with sheets, leaves or bamboo poles

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  • The planning of Bombay came about as a result of fears about plague epidemic
  • The City of Bombay Improvement Trust was established in 1898, it focused the clearing of poorer homes out of the city centre
  • In 1918 Rent Act a passed to keep rents reasonable, so land lords withdrew houses from the market

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Land Reclamation in Bombay

  • First project: Bombay governor William Hornby, 1784- approved the building of the great sea wall which prevented the flooding of the low lying areas of Bombay.
  • Because of the demand of additional space led to the formulation of several plans, both government and private companies, for the reclamation of more land from the sea.
  • Private companies became more interested in taking financial crisis

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  • 1864- Back Bay Reclamation Company won the right to reclaim the western foreshore from the tip of malabar Hill to the end of Colaba.
  • Reclamation often meant the leveling of the hills around Bombay.
  • 1870- most private companies closed down due to the mounting cost, the city expanded to about 22 sq.miles
  • In early 20th century, every bit of the available area was built over and new areas were reclaimed from the sea

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  • 1914-18 A successful reclamation project was undertaken by the Bombay Port Trust had used the excavated earth to create the 22 acre Ballard Estate
  • Subsequently, the famous Marine Drive of Bombay was developed.

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Bombay the City of Mayapuri (dreams)

  • Many Bombay films deal with the arrival in the city of new migrants, and their encounters with the real pressure of daily life
  • Popular songs from the Bombay film industry speak of the contradictory aspects of the city.
  • 1896: Harishchandra sakharam Bhatwadekar shot a scene of wrestling match in Bombay
  • 1913: Dadasaheb Phalke made Harishchandra
  • As a result Bombay city became more popular
  • In1925, Bombay had become the India’s film capital

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  • 1947: 50 Indian film, invested 756 million
  • 1987: 520,000 people had employed in the film industry
  • Migrants from Lahore, Calcutta, Madras had contributed a national character of the industry
  • Those who came from Lahore and Punjab caused for the development of the Hindi film industry
  • Ismat Chughtai and Saddat Hasan Manto, were associated with Hindi cinema.
  • Bombay films have contributed in a big way to produce an image of the city as blend of dream and reality of slums and star bungalows.