Your city through history
Mumbai,
through time.
Mumbai’s colonial history follows changes in control of its island settlement and the growth of transport connections. These moments help explain how a coastal place became linked to a wider commercial hinterland.
The marker locates present-day Mumbai. It does not show the extent of the original seven islands, historical reclamation, or the city’s earlier administrative limits.
A timeline of Mumbai
- 1661
A royal marriage changes island claims
The marriage of Catherine of Braganza and Charles II placed Bombay in the English Crown’s dowry arrangements. The transfer should not be read as an instant redrawing of all local boundaries.
Source: Mumbai City District — History
Explore 1666 CE on the map ↗Atlas context: 1666 CE is a nearby available snapshot, rather than a reconstruction of this exact event.
- 1668
The Company leases Bombay
The English Crown leased Bombay to the East India Company, giving a trading corporation an enduring coastal base.
Source: Mumbai City District — History
Explore 1666 CE on the map ↗Atlas context: 1666 CE is a nearby available snapshot, rather than a reconstruction of this exact event.
- 1853
A railway links Bombay and its hinterland
The first passenger railway from Bombay opened in 1853. Rail transport became part of the city’s expanding connections beyond the coast.
Source: Mumbai City District — History
Explore 1857 CE on the map ↗Atlas context: 1857 CE is a nearby available snapshot, rather than a reconstruction of this exact event.
Another place, another story.
Pune
Pune connects the early life of Shivaji Maharaj with the later political world of the Peshwas. Lal Mahal and Shaniwar Wada preserve different chapters of that history, while reconstructed buildings require care when reading the past.
Kolkata
Kolkata grew around settlements and trading networks on the Hooghly. Company expansion and the later transfer of the imperial capital connect its local history with larger changes in Bengal and British India.
Related reading
Maratha Swarajya and Expansion
Trace Shivaji Maharaj’s coronation, connected forts and the later expansion of Maratha power.
August 1947Independence and Partition, 1947
Read independence and Partition together: the new dominions, boundary decisions and the human consequences of displacement.
Find your city
5 cities in our sourced pilot
Hyderabad
Hyderabad’s history connects a Qutb Shahi urban foundation, the nearby fortress of Golconda, and the later reshaping of the Deccan. Its monuments offer a way into this layered regional story.
Read the city’s history ↗Pune
Pune connects the early life of Shivaji Maharaj with the later political world of the Peshwas. Lal Mahal and Shaniwar Wada preserve different chapters of that history, while reconstructed buildings require care when reading the past.
Read the city’s history ↗Mumbai
Mumbai’s colonial history follows changes in control of its island settlement and the growth of transport connections. These moments help explain how a coastal place became linked to a wider commercial hinterland.
Read the city’s history ↗Delhi
Delhi is a landscape of successive capitals rather than one unchanged city. Sultanate rule, the upheaval of 1857, and the imperial capital announcement of 1911 form three entry points into that urban history.
Read the city’s history ↗Kolkata
Kolkata grew around settlements and trading networks on the Hooghly. Company expansion and the later transfer of the imperial capital connect its local history with larger changes in Bengal and British India.
Read the city’s history ↗