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About the city
A dowry gift, a derelict outpost and a clutch of swampy islands: that was the Bombay of yore. Today Bombay stands tall as India's commercial capital and its' most cosmopolitan city, often being compared with New York. Recently renamed Mumbai, it derives its name from "Mumbadevi", the patron goddess of the Koli fisher folk, its oldest inhabitants. A mere 440 sq kms in area, the megapolis has a population of about 15 million growing exponentially. Since Mumbai is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, the local and official language is Marathi, but Hindi, English, Gujrati, and that unique lingo called Hinglish are used commonly.
The original inhabitants of the city were the Koli fisher folk whose shanties still occupy parts of the shoreline. The islands were ruled by a succession of Hindu dynasties, invaded by Muslims in the 14th century and then ceded to Portugal by the Sultan Bahadurshah of Gujarat in 1534. In 1661 King Charles II of England married Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal and the island of Mumbai was given to the British as her dowry. From thereon the city's fortunes went on the upswing. It soon developed as a trading port thanks to its excellent harbor and the number of merchants who were attracted from other parts of India by the lure of religious freedom and land grants that the British held out. Among those who came to seek their fortunes were large communities of Parsis, Gujaratis, and south Indian Hindus fleeing Portuguese persecution in Goa. These groups and their intermingling is the basis of the marvelously multi-cultural society that the city boasts of today.
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