Difference Between Mumbai and Bombay

Mumbai vs Bombay

Mumbai is the financial capital of India, and the most populous city in the country. It is ahead of all metros in Asia when it comes to GDP and has a population exceeding 20 million people. It is located in the state of Maharashtra and lies on the western coast of India. Mumbai is actually a collection of 7 islands that were ruled by Portuguese before coming under the rule of East India Company. It was Portuguese that named the city as Bombay, and the name stuck for centuries. Surrounded by Arabian Sea on most of the sides, the seven islands were constituted into a single landmass in 1845. Though, the official name of the city is Mumbai today (it was changed by an act of the parliament in 1997), foreigners and many residents still call the city as Bombay, the name given to it by the Portuguese.

The origin of the word Bombay is also very interesting. Before 18th century, there was no city and just seven islands full of villages in the area. Some of these villages like Girgaum and Worli were large and find mention in the writings of famous travelers like Ibn Batuta. When the British made a port near the harbour in the 18th century, the infrastructure improved greatly, and it led to an increase in population in the surrounding area. It became so large that it eventually engulfed all villages. The British called it Bombay, which is perhaps a corruption of the Portuguese word Bom Bahia, which means good bay. However, the name ‘Bombay’ became very famous all over India, and even in different parts of the world, only after it became a commercial hub of the world, after the independence of India. The local people  of Bombay, mostly Marathi and Guajarati, felt that the city should be named after an old Kali Goddess, a temple of whom stands in Bhileshwar, a suburb of the city. The name of the goddess being Mumba Devi, the city got its name in 1997 as Mumbai, and since then, it is known as Mumbai and not Bombay.