MUMBAI CITY

Mumbai was originally an archipelago of seven islandsthat,

after a several transfers of power, landed with the British as part
of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza when she married Charles
II of England. By 1845, the seven islands were merged as part of
multiple land reclamation projects. The island city that we know
today, one that extends up to Mahim/Sion, is a result of these
reclamations. Over the centuries, Mumbai became an important
port for the British thanks to its natural harbor. But Mumbais
fortunes really rose during the American Civil War, which cut off
cotton supplies from America to Great Britain. Traders made as
much as 80 million pounds during this period giving rise to a
new elite, Bombays very own merchant princes! Remnants of
this glorious past from dilapidated palatial bungalows to
abandoned cotton factories remain scattered in and around
south Mumbai to this day