Colaba
Encyclopedia
- For the fort in Alibaug, see Kolaba fortKolaba FortKolaba Fort is an old military fortification in India. It is situated in the sea at a distance of 1–2 km from the shores of Alibag, 35 km south of Mumbai, in the Konkan region of Maharashtra, India...
Colaba is a part of the city of Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and also a Lok Sabha constituency
Kolaba (Lok Sabha Constituency)
Kolaba Lok Sabha constituency was a Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra state in western India till 2008. The area which comrpised this erstwhile constituency was part of Raigad district.-Assembly segments:...
. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Candil. After the British took over the island in the late 17th century, it was known as Colio.
History
Old Woman's Island
The Old Woman's Island, also known as Little Colaba is one of the seven islands composing the city of Mumbai, India, and part of the historic Old Bombay....
). The island of Colaba was one of the Seven islands of Bombay
Seven islands of Bombay
The seven islands of Bombay were an archipelago of islands that were, over a span of five centuries, connected to form the area of the modern city of Mumbai in India. The seven islands were gradually physically united through land reclamation projects...
ruled by the Portuguese
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...
.
The Portuguese had acquired these lands from the Sultanate of Cambay by the Treaty of Bassein (1534)
Treaty of Bassein (1534)
The Treaty of Bassein was signed by Sultan Bahadur of Gujarat and Portugal on December 23, 1534 while on board the galleon São Mateus. Based on the terms of the agreement, the Portuguese Empire gained control of the city of Bassein, as well as its territories, islands, and seas...
. The group of islands was gifted by Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
to Charles II of England
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
as dowry when he married Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza
Catherine of Braganza was a Portuguese infanta and queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles II.She married the king in 1662...
. The cession of Bombay and dependencies was strongly resented by Portuguese officials in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
and Bombay, who resisted transfer of possession for several years, while the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
representatives were confined to the island of Anjediva while negotiations continued. Angered by the backtracking, Charles II leased these lands to the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
for a nominal annual rent. Gerald Aungier
Gerald Aungier
Gerald Aungier was the second Governor of Bombay. He was made the president of the Surat factory and the governor of Bombay in 1672, which posts he held till 1675...
, second Governor of Bombay (1672), and the president of the English settlement of Surat
Surat
Surat , also known as Suryapur, is the commercial capital city of the Indian state of Gujarat. Surat is India's Eighth most populous city and Ninth-most populous urban agglomeration. It is also administrative capital of Surat district and one of the fastest growing cities in India. The city proper...
, took possession of Colaba and Old Woman's Island
Old Woman's Island
The Old Woman's Island, also known as Little Colaba is one of the seven islands composing the city of Mumbai, India, and part of the historic Old Bombay....
on behalf of the Company in 1675.
Portugal continued to hold Little Colaba island for several decades more before ceding it to the English in about 1762, subject to the retention of Portuguese ownership of a house on the island, that is now the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Middle Colaba. This was leased by the Portuguese Government of Goa to the Bishop of Damao, the head of the Padroado
Padroado
The Padroado , was an arrangement between the Holy See and the kingdom of Portugal, affirmed by a series of treaties, by which the Vatican delegated to the kings of Spain and Portugal the administration of the local Churches...
party in Bombay, as his residence. After an attempt by the Propaganda Fide party to seize the chapel, a court ruled that the house remained the property of the Government of Portugal and evicted the Propaganda Fide party.
Richard Broughton
Richard Broughton, alias Rouse, was a Catholic priest and antiquarian.-Life:...
at Rs. 200 yearly, and the lease was renewed in 1764. By 1796, Colaba had become a cantonment. Colaba was known for the variety of fishes – the bombil (Bombay duck
Bombay duck
The Bombay duck or bummalo is, despite its name, not a duck but a lizardfish. It is native to the waters between Mumbai and Kutch in the Arabian Sea, and a small number are also found in the Bay of Bengal. Great numbers are also caught in the South China Sea...
), rawas
Rawas
Rawas is a village in West Papua, Indonesia. The village is located in the central part of the Bird's Head Peninsula.A dirt road connects it to Greemakolo in the southwest....
, halwa, turtles, crabs, prawns and lobsters.
A Colaba Observatory
Colaba Observatory
Colaba Observatory was an astronomical, timekeeping, geomagnetic and meteorological observatory located on the Island of Colaba, Mumbai , India.-History:...
, a meteorological
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
observatory
Observatory
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...
was established in 1826 in the part that was called Upper Colaba. The Colaba Causeway
Colaba Causeway
The Colaba Causeway is a commercial street , and a major causeway or land link between Colaba and the Old Woman's Island in the city of Mumbai, India....
was completed in 1838, and thus, the remaining two islands were joined to the others. Gradually, Colaba became a commercial center, after the Cotton Exchange was opened at Cotton Green
Cotton Green
Cotton Green is a suburb of Mumbai, and a noted residential and commercial area east of Parel, in central Mumbai, 8 km north of Colaba. It is also the name of a railway station on the Mumbai suburban railway, which lies along the Harbour line, which is a part of the Central...
in 1844. The real estate prices in the area went up. The Colaba Causeway was widened in 1861 and 1863.
Afghan Church
The Church of St John the Evangelist, better known as the Afghan Church is a Presbyterian Church in South Mumbai, India, built by the British to commemorate the dead of the disastrous defeat in the First Afghan War of 1838...
after the First Afghan War of 1838) began in 1847. The Church was consecrated in 1858, with the work on the steeple
Steeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
being concluded in 1865.
The horse-drawn tram-cars were introduced in 1873 by Stearns and Kitteredge, who had their offices on the west side of the Causeway, where the Electric House now stands.
The Prong's lighthouse was constructed at the southern tip of the island in 1875. The eponymous Sassoon Docks
Sassoon Docks
thumb|250px|The Sassoon DocksThe Sassoon Docks is the biggest dock in Mumbai and one of the few docks in the city open to the public. It is situated just off Cuffe Parade in South Mumbai, and is today one of largest fish markets in the city...
were built by David Sassoon
David Sassoon
David Sassoon was the treasurer of Baghdad between 1817 and 1829. He became the leader of the Jewish community in Bombay after Baghdadi Jews emigrated there.-Biography:...
on reclaimed land in the same year. The BB&CI Railways established the Colaba railway station or terminus
Terminal Station
Terminal Station is a 1953 film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:...
, the site of which is now occupied by the Badhwar Park
Badhwar Park
Badhwar Park is the residential complex of the Indian Central Railway and Western Railway officers. Located at Wodehouse Road in Colaba. The complex has been aptly named after Shri Fateh Chand Badhwar, the first Indian chairman of the Indian Railway Board...
layout. The development of Colaba pushed the native kolis to the edges of the island.
The Bombay City Improvement Trust
Bombay City Improvement Trust
The Bombay City Improvement Trust was created on December 9, 1898, in response to the Mumbai plague epidemic of 1896. It was created through an Act of the Parliament. The Municipal Corporation and the government handed over all vacant lands to this body. The CIT undertook a host of measures to...
reclaimed around 90000 yd2 on the western shore of Colaba. Eminent citizens of Mumbai, such as Sir Pherozeshah Mehta
Pherozeshah Mehta
Sir Pherozeshah Mehta, KCIE was an Parsi Indian political leader, activist, and a leading lawyer, who was knighted by then British Government in India for his service to the law...
, opposed the work, fearing that the reclamation would depress prices of land. However, the reclamation work continued and was completed in 1905. There was no fall in the land prices. In 1906, a seafront road with a raised sea-side promenade was completed, and named as "Cuffe Parade
Cuffe Parade
Cuffe Parade is an upmarket neighbourhood in South Mumbai. It is in the southernmost region of the city just north of Navy Nagar. To the north of Cuffe Parade lies Badhwar Park, Ambedkar Nagar the slum area of the Cuffe Parade.-History:...
" after T. W. Cuffe of the Trust.
Present
Gateway of India
Its design is a combination of both Hindu and Muslim architectural styles, the arch is in Muslim style while the decorations are in Hindu style. The Gateway is built from yellow basalt and reinforced concrete. The stone was locally obtained, and the perforated screens were brought from Gwalior.The...
, the art deco style Regal theatre, the cafes (Mondegar, Royal and Leopold), and the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower is a five-star hotel located in the Colaba region of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, next to the Gateway of India. Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this building is considered the flagship property of the group and contains 565 rooms...
hotel, all add to the atmosphere. The southern tip is occupied by a military cantonment, including the large Navy Nagar
Navy Nagar
Navy Nagar is a cantonment area, established in 1796 and now shared by the Indian Navy and Indian Army in the Colaba area of Mumbai, India.-Overview:...
layout built on reclaimed land. The older parts of the cantonment retains its large, wooded spaces and is the only bit of green left in this otherwise congested area. In the midst of Navy Nagar lies the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is a research institution in India dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is located at Navy Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai...
(TIFR), one of India's leading scientific institutions. Colaba is renowned for high-end boutiques, imitation consumer goods, and is popular with tourists. This is a place where rich Indian industrialists and business people prominently reside, for example the Ambani
Ambani
Ambani is a surname in IndiaThe people of that surname are originated from the small village Chorwad in Saurastra in Gujarat.- Billionaires :* Dhirubhai Ambani, an Indian businessman and founder of Reliance Industries in Mumbai...
s and Ratan Tata
Ratan Tata
Ratan Naval Tata is the present chairman of Tata Sons and therefore, Tata Group. Also, he is one among the few in the world...
. Not only that, Colaba Causeway or just Causeway as it is known in Mumbai has the best buys of everything from bracelets to perfumes to clothes to watches, clocks, DVD's and CD's. Colaba has all that is needed, to name a few places, Subway, Barista
Barista Coffee (India)
Barista Lavazza is a chain of espresso bars in India. Headquartered in Noida, Barista currently has espresso bars across India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Middle East. It was founded in 1997 by Amit Judge and was part of his group of companies. He sold part of the equity to first Tata Coffee....
, Regal Cinema
Regal Cinema
The Regal Cinema is an Art deco Movie theater located at Colaba Causeway, in Mumbai, India. Built by Framji Sidhwa, the first film to be aired at the Regal was Laurel and Hardy starrer The Devil's Brother in 1933.-History:...
, Gokul
Gokul (restaurant)
Gokul is a pub in Colaba, Mumbai. Located behind the Taj Mahal Hotel next to Regal Cinema, it is renowned for its cheap alcoholic beverages sold almost at retail value...
, Taj Mahal Hotel (a 5 star hotel) and for the shoppers there's Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Woodlands, Arrow, Levi's, Levi Skyes, Lee, United Colors of Benetton, and much more. Colaba is the hippest neighbourhood in Mumbai serving as the major shopping district for both tourists and locals. It has an old English charm and a very modern feel as well. Colaba is also the art centre of Mumbai, with all the major galleries and museums located in and around this area.
Colaba boasts of rich football heritage. PIFA Colaba FC has one of the biggest fan base in Mumbai and plays its home matches at the Cooperage Stadium. The club plays in the MDFA Elite Division as well as AIFF 2nd Division I league. The U17 team has played in a FIFA approved tournament in South Africa where the played against Inter Milan. Players from this community have represented the Indian National team.
Nearest railway stations:
- ChurchgateChurchgateChurchgate is an area in downtown South Mumbai. During the eighteenth and up to the mid 19th century, Bombay was a walled city. The city walls had three gates, and Church Gate, named after St. Thomas Cathedral, Mumbai was one of the gates. The gate was situated near the present day location of...
- Chhatrapati Shivaji TerminusChhatrapati Shivaji TerminusThe Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus , is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and historic railway station in Mumbai which serves as the headquarters of the Central Railways. Situated in the Bori Bunder area of Mumbai, it was built as a new railway station on the location of the Bori Bunder Station in 1887...
(CST)
Bookstores
- Oxford Bookstore
Visitors attractions
- Colaba CausewayColaba CausewayThe Colaba Causeway is a commercial street , and a major causeway or land link between Colaba and the Old Woman's Island in the city of Mumbai, India....
- Colaba ObservatoryColaba ObservatoryColaba Observatory was an astronomical, timekeeping, geomagnetic and meteorological observatory located on the Island of Colaba, Mumbai , India.-History:...
- Cowasji Jehangir HallCowasji Jehangir HallThe Cowasji Jehangir Hall is a museum of modern art and was part of the Institute of Science prior to 1996. The hall was built in 1911 by George Wittet and funded by Cowasji Jehangir. It is located in Colaba area of Mumbai, India.-References:*...
- Cathedral of the Holy NameCathedral of the Holy Name, MumbaiThe Cathedral of the Holy Name is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Indian city of Mumbai and the seat of the Archbishop of Bombay and headquarters of the Archdiocese of Bombay . The cathedral is located in the Colaba area in South Mumbai...
- Prong's LighthouseProng's LighthouseProng's Lighthouse is a lighthouse situated at the southernmost point of Bombay , India in the Colaba area. It was built in 1875 by Thomas Ormiston at the cost of Rs. 6 Lakh. Its beam can be seen at a distance of . It is one of three lighthouses of the city. The lighthouse had a cannon during...
- Gateway of IndiaGateway of IndiaIts design is a combination of both Hindu and Muslim architectural styles, the arch is in Muslim style while the decorations are in Hindu style. The Gateway is built from yellow basalt and reinforced concrete. The stone was locally obtained, and the perforated screens were brought from Gwalior.The...
Terrorist attack in November 2008
On 26 November 2008, terrorist strikes occurred at various places in Colaba, notably the Taj Mahal Palace & TowerTaj Mahal Palace & Tower
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower is a five-star hotel located in the Colaba region of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, next to the Gateway of India. Part of the Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, this building is considered the flagship property of the group and contains 565 rooms...
, Leopold Café
Leopold Cafe
The Leopold Cafe is a large and popular restaurant and bar on Colaba Causeway, in the Fort area of Mumbai, India, located across from the Colaba Police station.It was one of the first sites attacked during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks...
and Mumbai Chabad House. The attacks resulted in over 100 deaths and significant damages.
External links
- History of Colaba
- MyColaba.com — an online community