Salsette Island: Difference between revisions

The word ''Sasashti'' (also shortened to ''Sashti'') is Marathi for "sixty-six," referring to the original "sixty-six villages" on the island.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Census of India |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924071135820/cu31924071135820_djvu.txt |last=India. Census Commissioner.|publisher=Government Central Press, Bombay|year=1901 |access-date=16 April 2012}}</ref> It was inhabited by (Aagri, Kunbi) farmers, agriculturists, (Bhandaris) [[toddy tapper]]s, (Sutar, Malis) artisans, and (Kolis) fisherfolks who trace their conversion to Christianity back to 55 [[AD]] with the arrival of Christ's disciple [[Bartholomew the Apostle|St Bartholomew]] in north [[Konkan region]]. They were later converted to the [[Latin Church in India]] by four [[religious orders]]—the [[Dominican Order|Dominican]]s, [[Franciscan]]s, [[Augustinians|Augustinian]]s& [[Jesuit]]s— who arrived in the 15th century with the Portuguese. These original inhabitants of Salsette are the [[Bombay East Indian Catholics]] and [[Koli people|Kolis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.freewebs.com/east_indian/Bom_gaz.pdf| title= Populations. Christians. history|access-date=25 March 2012|work= Bombay Gazetteer}}</ref>▼

109 [[Buddhist]] caves, including those at Kanheri, can be found on the island, and date from the end of the 2nd century.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alexander Kyd Nairne|title=History of the Konkan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzPCcILP-XwC&pg=PA9|year=1894|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0275-5|page=9}}</ref> Salsette was ruled by a succession of Hindu kingdoms, the last of which were the [[Silhara dynasty|Silharas]] and later the [[Mahratta]]s{{dn|date=February 2022}}. In 1343, the islands were annexed by the [[Sultan of Guzerat]]. In 1534, the [[Portuguese empire]] seized the islands from Sultan [[Bahadur Shah]]{{dn|date=February 2022}}. Sashti became part of the northern province of [[Portuguese India]], which was governed from [[Vasai (Bassein)]] on the north shore of Bassein creek. It was leased to [[Dom (title)]] [[Diogo Rodrigues]] from 25 October, 1535 to 1548. In 1554, the islands were handed over to [[Garcia de Orta]], a renowned physician and botanist and the author of ''Colloquies on the Simples, Drugs and Materia Medica of India'', a seminal work on Indian [[Eastern medicine]] of its time.▼

In 1661, the seven Bombay (Mumbai) islets were ceded to [[United Kingdom|Britain]] as part of the [[dowry of Catherine Braganza]] to [[Charles II of England]] while Salsette remained in Portuguese hands. Charles II in turn, leased the Bombay islets to the [[English East India Company]] in 1668 for £10 per year. The company found the deep harbour at [[Mumbai (Bombay)]] eminently apposite, and the population rose from 10,000 in 1661 to 60,000 by 1675. In 1687, the East India Company transferred their headquarters there from [[Surat]]. In 1737 the island was captured by the [[Maratha]]s, all of the Portuguese northern province of Konkan except [[Damaon, Diu& Silvassa]], was invaded by the Mahrattas in 1739, [[Marquis de Pombal]] formally ceded [[Greater Bombay]] to the [[Peshva]] Brahmin ruler of the Mahratta caste in the 1750s.▼

The British occupied Salsette in 1774,<ref name=Naravane>{{Cite book |last=Naravane |first=M.S. |title=Battles of the Honorourable East India Company |publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation |year=2014 |isbn=9788131300343 |pages=53}}</ref> and it was formally ceded to the East India Company in the 1782 [[Treaty of Salbai]]. In 1782, [[William Hornby (governor)|William Hornby]], then Governor of [[Bombay Province]], initiated the project of connecting the islets of Bombay. By 1845 the seven southern islands had been connected to form [[South Mumbai]], with an area of 435&nbsp;km². Railway viaducts and causeways were built in the 19th century to connect Bombay Island to the mainland via Salsette. The channels separating Mumbai from Salsette and Trombay were bridged by the [[Sion Causeway]] in 1803.<ref>{{cite book|author=Alexander Kyd Nairne|title=History of the Konkan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nzPCcILP-XwC&pg=PA124|year=1894|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0275-5|page=124}}</ref> Accessibility considerably increased after construction of this causeway.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anne Bulley|title=The Bombay Country Ships, 1790-1833|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEAVlScUWjwC&pg=PA99|year=2000|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-7007-1236-6|page=99}}</ref> Mahim and Bandra were connected by the [[Mahim Causeway]] in 1845.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dancewithshadows.com/mumbai_history.asp|title=City by the sea|access-date=24 March 2012|work=Dance with Shadows.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040911080938/http://www.dancewithshadows.com/mumbai_history.asp|archive-date=11 September 2004|df=dmy-all}}</ref> These railway lines and roads encouraged wealthier merchants to build villas on Salsette. By 1901, the population of Salsette had increased to 146,993 and the area began to be referred to as [[Greater Bombay]].▼