BOMBAY (Hind. Hambai, Malay flambe', after the Bamlu' .Mumbo, through popu lar etyinology turned by the Portuguese into Dom bahia: bon, Lat. bonus, good, fair bahia, haven, port). The capital of the province of the same name, British India. lies in latitude 18' 56' N., longitude 72° 54' E., on the former island of Bombay, now a peninsula artificially connected with Trombay, Salsette, and other adjacent islands, and with the mainland (Map: B 5). Bombay Island, miles long, from :3 to 4 miles broad, has an estimated area of 22 square miles, and with the city forms an administrative district. The city ocenpies the entire breadth of the south end of the island, and has two water-fronts, one on the outer Back Bay and the other on the splendid inner land-locked harbor, which has an area available for shipping purposes 14 miles long by 5 miles broad. it is defended by batteries equipped with modern armament, and by a small navy comprising torpedo-boats. torpedo-catchers, and two conspicuous monitors. Bombay vies with Calcutta as the commercial capital of India. sur passing the former as a centre of distribution and having double the coasting trade. It is the terminus and departing point of various Euro pean steamship and mail lines, and of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, and of the Bombay, nimbi and Central India Railway. It pos sesses one of the finest railway depots in the world, extensive docks, basins, graving-docks, and ship-building slips: the Government dock yard covers about 200 acres. The principal por tion of the city, with long, wide streets, tra versed by street railways and lined by fine com mercial establishments of every description, pre sents a thoroughly European aspect. The ob jects most worthy of note are the town hall, the library of the Asiatic Society, the mint, cathedral and various (-Lurches, the University Library. University Ilall, custom-house, post-office, pub lic-works office, missionary houses, the Elphin stone Institution. the Grant Medical College, Sassoon's high School, the damsetjee Hospital, and the Jamsetjee Obstetric The city possesses a chamber of commerce, two English theatres and a native theatre. and besides those especially noted, numenms other educati(mal. be nevolent. and charitable institutions. Since 1892 the city has owned a modern system of water works, supplied from Lake Tansa, 65 miles north. It is lighted by gas and electricity. and owns and maintains abattoirs, markets, piddle swimming and other baths, gardens. with weekly band concerts, and the esplanade, a favorite prom enade. The streets of the native quarter are narrow and winding, but marked by cleanli ness; and the well-stocked bazars, temples, and curiously painted houses, thronged by polyglot. Oriental crowds, present a most picturesque ap. pearanee. Besides several native newspapers. there are three published in the English language.
Always favorably situated for foreign trade, Bombay profited largely by the opening of the Suez Canal. as saving more distance in pro
portion than any other emporium in the East, and also as being on the direct line between _Madras and Calcutta on the one side and Aden on the other. When the Civil War in the Unit ed States caused a sudden cessation of American supplies, cotton began to be exported from Bom bay in vast quantities. and although the re opening of the Southern ports soon checked the extraordinary activity of trade. Bombay was permanently benefited by the stimulus its com merce received. The chief articles of export are cotton, shawls, emboli, coffee, pepper, ivory, and gums. The local industries include the manufacture of yarn, cotton cloth, copper and brass utensils, wood-carving, lacquer-work, pot tery. gold and silver thread, leather, and dye ing. _More than seventy steam mills are in opera tion. The chief imports are piece goods, thread, yarn, metals. wine, beer, tea, and silk. Boinhay is the seat of various foreign representatives, including a United States consul. The average. temperature is 79.2° F., and the average rain fall 70.30 inches. The population, which is ex ceedingly heterogeneous and dense, amounted in 1891 to 821,800; in 1901 to 770.800. The bu bonic plague, in the fall of 1896, proved most destructive among the poorer classes. The Hin dus form the largest section of the population. the Parsees number about 50.000. and the rest are .Mussulmans, native Christians, Europeans, Indo-Portuguese, Jews, etc. Amid these various classes, the Parsecs, or Persians, descendants of the-worshipers• driven from their homes by Mo hammedan bigotry, rank next to the English in respectability and influence. The late Sir Jam setjee Jeejeebhoy and Sir Dinshaw S[anoekjee Petit. stand forth as models of merchant princes in enterprise and integrity, in munificence and patriotism; and ever since the ship-building lousiness was established in 17:35, the Lowji fam ily, assisted chiefly by operatives of the same race. has been at the very head of this, one of the most important interests of the city—not merely the Indian Navy, but several Imperial men-of war, both frigates and line-of-battle ships, having been almost exclusively the work of Parsecs. Iludyard Kipling is numbered among the celeb rities born in Bombay.
The Portuguese visited Bombay in 1509, about a year before the capture of Con, and by 1530 it had passed into their possession. In 1661 the island Was ceded to Charles II. of England, as part of the dowry of his bride, the Infanta Catharine. Ile granted it. to the East. India, Company in 1685, who then transferred their presidency from Surat to Bombay. Consult: Windham. "The Town and Isles of 'Bombay. Past and Present," hi Vol. NUN. of Society of Arts Journal (1.ondon, 1901) : Eastwick, Handbook to Bombay (London, 1881) ; Bunter, Bombay, le85-90 (London, 1890).