Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
No edit summary Tags: Visual edit Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
||
Line 55:
On the island of Mazagaon, the Jesuits had set up base claiming the land. The Portuguese king refused to entertain their claim and in 1572 permanently leased the island to the de Souza e de Lima family. By now, there was a large Roman Catholic population. The Portuguese also brought with them African slaves known as "Kaffirs"{{dubious|date=October 2021}}, who soon entered the ethnic mix of the people. The [[Portuguese East Indies]] had their capital in [[Old Goa]], which lay south of the Bombay islands in India. Goa was then known as the "[[Rome of the East]]" due to its prominence, the islands were never important to the Portuguese.{{cn|date=February 2022}} Nine churches were built on Salsette island by the Portuguese; Nirmal (1557), Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (1557), Sandor (1566), Agashi (1568), Nandakal (1573), Papdy (1574), Pale (1595), Manickpur (1606)& Nossa Senhora das Mercês (1606). The [[St. Andrew's Church, Mumbai|St Andrews Church]] and the [[Mount Mary's Basilica]] in Bandra, the Cross at [[Cross Maidan]], [[Gloria Church]] (1632) in Mazagaon and the remnants of a church in Santa Cruz are the sole places of worship that have survived till today.
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
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 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]].
| |||