question_answer

Read the following extract taken from the textbook and answer the questions:

In 1899 G.G. Agarkar wrote about Bombay:

The enormous expanse of Bombay city; its great and palatial private and governmental mansions; broad streets which accommodate up to six carriages abreast.... the struggle to enter the merchants  lanes;  the  frequent troublesome noise of passenger and goods trains whistles and wheels; the wearisome bargaining in every market, by customers who wander from place to place making enquiries with silver and notes in their pockets to buy a variety of commodities; the throngs of thousands of boats visible in the harbour ... the more or less rushed pace of official and private employees going to work, checking their watches... The cloudy of black smoke emitted by factory chimneys and the noise of large machines in the innards of buildings ... Men and women with and without families belonging to every caste and rank travelling in carriages or horseback or on foot, to take the air and enjoy a drive along the sea shore in the slanting rays of the sun as it descends on the horizon ...'

G.G. Agarkar, 'The Obverse Side of British Rule or our dire poverty'.

 

(a) How was Bombay acquired by the British?

(b) How did it expand so quickly?

 

Answer:

(a) Bombay was given as dowry when king Charles II married the Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza. King Charles then gave it on rent to the East India Company.

(b) Bombay first became a major outlet for cotton textiles. It then became an important administrative centre and by the 19th century it became a major industrial centre. In 1819 Bombay became the capital of the Bombay Presidency. All these developments led large communities of traders, bankers, artisans, factory workers. etc. to migrate to Bombay.