1874 Map Of Bombay Before The Reclamation Was Completed
Although the map dates to the 1870s–1880s, the islands are still shown as separate. This is because many officially reclaimed areas (especially shallow tidal flats) were still drawn as water, well into the 1870s. Bombay’s land reclamation was largely completed by the 1850s, after nearly two and a half centuries of work. The group of islands was joined to form the present-day Bombay (Mumbai).
The legend on the top right corner reads “Environs of Bombay” and “Railways shown thus __”. One main railway is shown heading north-east via Thana–Kalyan, marked as the route “to Calcutta.” Another line is shown heading south-east, marked “to Madras.” Both were owned by the Great Indian Peninsula Railways (GIPR), the line commenced from the Victoria Station (now Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, or CSMT). The first railway line in India was from Bombay to Thane, opened in 1853 under the GIPR. The other railway shown on the map is the Bombay Baroda & Central India Railways (BB&CI), which ended at Colaba Station at the time.
The map covers:
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Thana (Thane), Kalyan, Panvel
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Bassein (Vasai), Trombay, Elephanta Island
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Rivers like the Ulhas River and Ghodbandar River (now Vasai Creek)
Salsette Island now constitutes Mumbai’s suburban mainland, encompassing Bandra, Andheri, Borivali, Goregaon, Malad, and parts of the present-day Thane district. The historical map clearly depicts Juhu, Bandra, Chembur, and Trombay as distinct islands. Notably, before the land reclamation, Kurla and Sion lay directly along the seashore on the southern part of Salsette and the northern part of Bombay City, respectively. These settlements were linked by the Sion Causeway, which served as the crucial land connection to Sion, Bombay City, and Trombay.
This map was not a mass-market decorative type, but a practical reference map, just the kind carried by officials and travellers at the time.
Did you know – the British once considered abandoning Bombay because the reclamation costs were too high. Imagine if that had happened, India’s financial capital might’ve been Surat instead.
