History of Mumbai
After the Partition of India on 15 August 1947, over 100,000 Sindhi refugees from the newly created Pakistan were relocated in the military camps five kilometres from Kalyan in the Maharashta Region. It was converted into a township in 1949, and named Ulhasnagar by the then Governor-General of India, C. Rajagopalachari. In April 1950, Greater Bombay District came into existence with the merger of Bombay Suburbs and Bombay City. It spanned an area of and inhabited 2,339,000 of people in 1951. The Municipal Corporation limits were extended up to Jogeshwari along the Western Railway and Bhandup along the Central Railway. This limit was further extended in February 1957 up to Dahisar along the Western Railway and Mulund on the Central Railway. In the 1955 "Lok Sabha" discussions, when Bombay State was being re-organised along linguistic lines into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat. But the States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bi-lingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat, with Bombay as its capital. However, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement opposed this, and insisted that Bombay native of Marathi be declared the capital of Maharashtra. The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay was established in 1958 at Powai, a northern suburb of Bombay. Following protests by the Samyukta Maharashtra movement in which 105 people were killed by police firing, Maharashtra State was formed with Bombay as its capital on 1 May 1960. Flora Fountain was renamed Hutatma Chowk ("Martyr's Square") as a memorial to the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.
History of Mumbai
The islands were incorporated into the Maurya Empire under Emperor Ashoka of Magadha in the third century BCE. The empire's patronage made the islands a centre of Hindu and Buddhist religion and culture. Buddhist monks, scholars, and artists created the artwork, inscriptions, and sculpture of the Kanheri Caves in the mid third century BCE and Mahakali Caves. After the decline of the Maurya Empire around 185 BCE, these islands fell to the Satavahanas. The port of Sopara (present-day Nala Sopara) was an important trading centre during the first century BCE, with trade contacts with Rome. The islands were known as "Heptanesia" (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE. After the end of the Satvahana rule in 250 CE, the Abhiras of Western Maharashtra and Vakatakas of Vidarbha held dominion over the islands. The Abhiras ruled for 167 years, till around 417 CE. The Kalachuris of Central India ruled the islands during the fifth century, which were then acquired by the Mauryas of Konkan in the sixth and early part of the seventh century. The Mauryas were feudatories of Kalachuris, and the Jogeshwari Caves were constructed during their regime between 520 and 525. The Greek merchant Cosmas Indicopleustes visited Kalyan (near Mumbai) during 530–550. The Elephanta Caves also dates back to the sixth century. Christianity arrived in the islands during the sixth century, when the Nestorian Church made its presence in India. The Mauryan presence ended when the Chalukyas of Badami in Karnataka under Pulakeshin II invaded the islands in 610. Dantidurga of the Rashtrakuta Dynasty of Karnataka conquered the islands during 749–750.
The Silhara dynasty of Konkan ruled the region between 810 and 1260. The Walkeshwar Temple was constructed during the 10th century and the Banganga Tank during the 12th century under the patronage of the Silhara rulers. The Italian traveler Marco Polo's fleet of thirteen Chinese ships passed through Mumbai Harbour during May — September 1292. King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in "Mahikawati" (present day Mahim). He belonged to either the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri in Maharashtra or the Anahilavada dynasty of Gujarat. He built the first Babulnath temple in the region and introduced many fruit-bearing trees, including coconut palms to the islands. The Pathare Prabhus, one of the earliest settlers of the city, were brought to Mahim from Patan and other parts of Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev during his reign. He is also supposed to have brought Palshis, Pachkalshis, Bhandaris, Vadvals, Bhois, Agris and Brahmins to these islands. After his death in 1303, he was succeeded by his son Pratapbimba, who built his capital at Marol in Salsette, which he named Pratappur. The islands were wrested from Pratapbimba's control by Mubarak Khan, a self-proclaimed regent of the Khalji dynasty, who occupied Mahim and Salsette in 1318. Pratapbimba later reconquered the islands which he ruled till 1331. Later, his brother-in-law Nagardev for 17 years till 1348. The islands came under the control of the Muslim rulers of Gujarat in 1348, ending the sovereignty of Hindu rulers over the islands.