Bombay in the 19th Century

• Unlike western cities, India did not grow exponentially in the 19th century
  • The pace of urbanisation in India was slow under colonial rule.
  • Very less people lived in the cities
• The people who lived in bombay were residents of the presidency cities
• The Bombay population expanded greatly in the late 19th century
• Towards end of 19th century Bombay became a major industrial center

Presidency cities

• They were multifunctional cities
  • Shops
  • Educational institutions
  • Museums
  • Libraries
  • Homes
  • Offices
  • Army camps
• Calcatta, Bombay and Madras were the presidency cities
• At first bombay was a outlet for cotton textiles from gujarat
• Later it functioned as a port thro which large quantities of raw materials would pass
  • Opium
  • Cotton

Work and People in Bombay

• The city expanded greatly as there was a growth in trade of cotton and opium
• More artisans, merchants, traders and bankers came to settle in Bombay
• The establishment of textile mills lead to a new surge in population
• Women started working in the factories. However, they were soon replaced by men and machines

! Housing and Neighbourhoods

• Bombay became a very crowded city
• The Bombay Fort area which formed the heart of the city in the early 1800s was divided between a ‘native’ town, where most of the Indians lived, and a European or ‘white’ section.
• A European suburb and an industrial zone began to develop to the north of the Fort settlement area, with a similar suburb and cantonment in the south. This racial pattern was true of all three Presidency cities.
• Like the European elite, the richer Parsi, Muslim and uppercaste traders and industrialists of Bombay lived in sprawling, spacious bungalows.