Bombay

Bombay (now officially renamed as Mumbai).

Facts & Figures about Bombay City:

Area of Mumbai: 437.71 km²
Elevation: 8 m (26 ft)
Climate:

Bombay sees 3 seasons with Winter, Summer and Monsoon. The maximum temperature in summer can climb as high as 42 degree C while the winter lows have gone down to 7 degree C in some years.

The rainy season stretches from June to September. Bombay sees an annual rainfall of 1800 mm and the average humidity is also high around 80%.

Bombay is the commercial capital of India. It is also the capital of the state of Maharashtra. It is a natural harbour. Along with being the commercial capital of India, Bombay is also the entertainment capital of India with the Hindi (or more widely known as the Bollywood) film industry located here. It is also India’s premier manufacturing, services & transportation hub.

Along with the estimated 11 million population of India living in Bombay alone, it is the most populated city of India. Housing Asia’s biggest slum Dharavi, new immigrants come to Bombay every day from all parts of India in the hopes of achieving a good livelihood or to become Bollywood stars or simply to achieve their dreams.

It is no surprise that there are many slums in Bombay and the civic problems are immense since the amenities created by the British have become redundant and marginal enhancement in some of them by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) havnt been able to cope with the rise in population. Yet the living standards here are considered high compared to the villages especially.

Inspite of this, Bombay houses most of India’s famous and richest people. From politicians to sportstars to film starts, they all live right here. Bombay has many of India’s top financial institutions and business houses with the BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), NSE (National Stock Exchange), WTC (World Trade Centre), RBI (Reserve Bank of India) being just some of the financial institutions being located here.

History:

Bombay has been shaped due to the various inhabitants & rulers who occupied this island. Originally consisting of seven islands separated by the sea. It still occupies a low lying area and some areas like Matunga East or Dadar East lie below sea level. The islands have been linked together by land filling & building causeways.

The name Mumbai is an eponym for goddess Mumba, still worshipped as Mumbadevi. The original inhabitants of the islands were fishermen folk called kolis. Mumbadevi is the patron goddess of Mumbai.

Mumbai’s former name, Bombay, comes from the Portuguese Bom Bahia, meaning "Auspecious Bay." Native Mahârâstrians have always referred to Mumbai as Mumbai rather than Bombay which is a colonial word.

Bombay was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995.