Unlike the western cities, Indian cities did not grow in the 1800s. In the early 1900s only 11% of India’s population lived in cities. Bombay was the premier city of India. It went from 644,405 citizens in 1872 to 1.5 million in 1941.$^0$
In the 1600s, Bombay was a group of islands owned by the Portuguese. After the islands were given to the British, in 1661, the East India Company moved their base to Bombay.$^0$
In the beginning it was the main outlet for cotton textiles. in the 1800s, it acted as a major port where large amounts of raw materials would pass. Eventually, it became an important administrative center. At the end of the 19th century, it became a major industrial area.$^0$
After Bombay became the capital of the Bombay Presidency in 1819, the city expanded rapidly. Large communities of bankers, traders, artisans, and shopkeepers came as it flourished with the trade of opium and cotton. Another such surge in migration occurred in 1854 after the establishment of cotton textile mills. From 1881 to 1931 the number inhabitants born in Bombay was only a quarter of that of the total population. $^0$
Women formed 23% of the mill workforce, between 1919 and 1926. After 1926, it steadily dropped to less than 10%.By the late 1930s many of the women’s jobs were taken over by machines or men.$^0$
Bombay was incredibly crowded. In 1872, London had an average of 8 people per house, Bombay’s population density reached as high as 20.$^0$
Bombay did not grow according to any plan. House were often interspaced with gardens. This was even more prevalent in the Fort area. Bombay Fort was the heart of the city. Early on, it was divided into two sections, the ‘native section’ where many Indians lived and the ‘white section’ where all of the European’s lived.$^0$
Because the city grow unplanned, the water and housing crisis became apparent in the mid 1850s. The textile mills only made this problem more dire.$^0$
The rich and the elite lived in large spacious bungalows. On the other hand, more than 70% of the working class lived in the densely populated chawls of Bombay. The chawls were multi-storied structures built in the native sections. Similar to the tenements of London, they were owned by private landlords.$^0$
Due to the scarcity of housing, and the high rent, many familles resided in each chawl. The windows had to be closed due to the filthy gutters, privies, and buffalo stables. In these chawls, water was scarce. These neighborhoods had an unofficial head. They would settle disputes and organize food supplies. They also brought important information on political developments.$^0$
The ‘depressed classes’ often found it even harder to find housing. Those of lower castes were kept out of chawls. They had to make their own shelter from corrugated(material or surface shaped into a series of parallel ridges and grooves so as to give added rigidity and strength) sheets, leaves, or bamboo poles.$^0$
The Bombay Improvement Trust was established in 1898. It was focused on clearing poorer people out of the city center. The reason for this concern was fear of an epidemic. By 1918, 64,000 people were taken out of their houses, but only 14,000 were rehoused.$^0$
The Rent Act of 1918 was meant to keep rent reasonable, but actually made the housing crisis worse as many landlords withdrew their land from the housing market.$^0$
Through land reclamation policies, the seven islands of Bombay were joined. The first project began in 1784, when the Bombay Governor approved the construction of a sea wall to prevent the low-lying areas from being flooded.$^0$
Since the first project, the increased need for commercial land led to the government and private companies creating different plans.$^0$
In 1864, the Back Bay Reclamation Company won the rights to the reclamation of one area. By the time that these companies closed down due to high costs, in the 1870s, the city had expanded by nearly 22 square miles.