Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, museum in Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was established in 1905, but its opening was delayed until 1922.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya: hookah bowlHookah bowl of blue glass painted with gold, Mughal, 18th century; in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
The museum is housed in a domed building in the Indo-Saracenic style that was completed in 1914. Its collections include Tibetan art, Chinese porcelain, Mughal and Rajput miniatures, and the Jehangir Art Gallery, completed in 1952. The jewelry and glass collections are also noteworthy. The natural history section of the museum started with the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society. The history section contains dioramas, and there is a collection of exhibits from the period of the Maratha confederacy (17th–18th century).
This article was most recently revised and updated by Kenneth Pletcher.
Mumbai is the capital city of Maharashtra state in southwestern India. It is the country’s financial and commercial center and its principal port on the Arabian Sea.
When did Bombay restore its name to Mumbai?
Bombay restored its name to Mumbai officially in 1995. It became known as Bombay during the British colonial period. The name Bombay was possibly an Anglicized corruption of Mumbai or perhaps of Bom Baim (“Good Harbour”), supposedly a Portuguese name for the locale.
What kind of climate does Mumbai have?
The climate of Mumbai is warm and humid with monthly temperatures varying from 91 °F (33 °C) in May to 67 °F (19 °C) in January. Cool weather prevails from December to February and hot weather from March to May. The rainy season lasts from June to September and the post-monsoon season from October through November.
Who were the early inhabitants of Mumbai?
The Koli, an aboriginal tribe of fishers, were the earliest known inhabitants of present-day Mumbai. Paleolithic stone implements found at Kandivli, in Greater Mumbai, indicate that the area has been inhabited by humans for hundreds of thousands of years.
Mumbai, city, capital of Maharashtra state, southwestern India. It is the country’s financial and commercial center and its principal port on the Arabian Sea.
What is life like in Mumbai?Overview of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
Located on Maharashtra’s coast, Mumbai is India’s most-populous city, and it is one of the largest and most densely populated urban areas in the world. It was built on a site of ancient settlement, and it took its name from the local goddess Mumba—a form of Parvati, the consort of Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism—whose temple once stood in what is now the southeastern section of the city. It became known as Bombay during the British colonial period, the name possibly an Anglicized corruption of Mumbai or perhaps of Bom Baim (“Good Harbor”), supposedly a Portuguese name for the locale. The name Mumbai was restored officially in 1995, although Bombay remained in common usage.
Mumbai, long the center of India’s cotton textile industry, subsequently developed a highly diversified manufacturing sector that included an increasingly important information technology (IT) component. In addition, the city’s commercial and financial institutions are strong and vigorous, and Mumbai serves as the country’s financial hub. It suffers, however, from some of the perennial problems of many large expanding industrial cities: air and water pollution, widespread areas of substandard housing, and overcrowding. The last problem is exacerbated by the physical limits of the city’s island location. Area about 239 square miles (619 square km). Pop. (2001) 11,978,450; urban agglom., 16,434,386; (2011) 12,478,447; urban agglom., 18,414,288.
The city of Mumbai occupies a peninsular site on Bombay Island, a landmass originally composed of seven islets lying off the Konkan coast of western India. Since the 17th century the islets have been joined through drainage and reclamation projects, as well as through the construction of causeways and breakwaters, to form Bombay Island. East of the island are the sheltered waters of Mumbai (Bombay) Harbor. Bombay Island consists of a low-lying plain, about one-fourth of which lies below sea level; the plain is flanked on the east and west by two parallel ridges of low hills. Colaba Point, the headland formed on the extreme south by the longer of those ridges, protects Mumbai Harbor from the open sea.
Mumbai: Girgaum ChowpattyPortion of southern Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, view from Girgaum Chowpatty along Back Bay, which opens into the Arabian Sea.
The western ridge terminates at Malabar Hill, which, rising 180 feet (55 meters) above sea level, is one of the highest points in Mumbai. Between Colaba Point and Malabar Hill lies the shallow expanse of Back Bay. On a slightly raised strip of land between the head of Back Bay and the harbor is an area called the Fort, the site of the 17th-century British fortifications (little of which remains standing) within and around which the city grew; the area is now occupied chiefly by public and commercial offices. From Back Bay the land stretches northward to the central plain. The extreme northern segment of Mumbai is occupied by a large salt marsh.
Mumbai HarbourGateway of India (right) and Taj Mahal Hotel (center) on Mumbai Harbour, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
The old city covered about 26 square miles (67 square km), stretching from Colaba Point on the southern tip of Bombay Island to the areas known as Mahim and Sion on its northern coast. In 1950 Mumbai expanded northward, embracing the large island of Salsette, which was joined to Bombay Island by a causeway. By 1957 a number of suburban municipal boroughs and some neighboring villages on Salsette were incorporated into Greater Mumbai—the metropolitan region surrounding Bombay Island and the city itself. Since then Greater Mumbai has continued to expand.
The natural beauty of Mumbai is unsurpassed by that of most other cities in the region. The entrance into Mumbai Harbour from the sea discloses a magnificent panorama framed by the Western Ghats mountain range on the mainland. The wide harbor, studded with islands and dotted with the white sails of innumerable small craft, affords secure shelter to ships, particularly when storms lash the coast. The largest of the harbor’s islands is Elephanta, which is famous for its 8th- and 9th-century Hindu cave temples.
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Typical trees in the city include coconut palms, mango trees, tamarinds, and banyan trees. Salsette Island was once the haunt of wild animals such as tigers, leopards, jackals, and deer, but those are no longer found there. Animal life now consists of cows, oxen, sheep, goats, and other domestic species, as well as monkeys. Birdlife includes vultures, pigeons, peacocks, cranes, and ducks.
Climate
The climate of Mumbai is warm and humid. There are four seasons. Cool weather prevails from December to February and hot weather from March to May. The rainy season, brought by monsoon winds from the southwest, lasts from June to September and is followed by the post-monsoon season, lasting through October and November, when the weather is again hot. Mean monthly temperatures vary from 91 °F (33 °C) in May to 67 °F (19 °C) in January. Annual rainfall is about 70 inches (1,800 mm), with an average of 24 inches (600 mm) occurring in July alone.
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