View From Malabar Hill Bombay, 1900 Postcard
A 1900 postcard with a view from Malabar Hill in Bombay (Mumbai). This view is when looking towards the east, the western side is that of Chowpatty Beach and Back Bay. It shows a beautiful verdant landscape with buildings and tall chimneys. These were once the busy cotton mills of the city. Cotton was undoubtedly one of the major catalysts in the growth of Bombay.
In the period before the year 1600, the clothes that people wore in England were made of wool. The rich people had silk and linen, but the poor could not afford those expensive fabrics. Since there was a huge demand for cheaper fabric in England. The British set up trading settlements for procuring cotton fabric and spices in the 1600s. The main source was particularly South India for the calico and muslin cloths.
Read also in British Era Madras Harbour, Postcard 1915.
By the mid-19th century, the British introduced cotton cultivation to the farmers in the deep interiors of the Bombay Presidency. That became a cotton export mania from then on. The 1850s brought the first cotton mill to Bombay and the first railway line. The mill was established by a Parsi in 1854. Its success led to a profusion of textile mills in the city. Which became one of the factors transforming Mumbai into the financial metropolis that it is today.
Did you know- the success of the mills was also detrimental to the city’s growth and development.
From the collection- 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#13)., Britishers On Elephant Back India – Old Photo 1890., Inauguration of New Parliament Delhi – Old Print 1927., Standard “S” Vintage Car In Madras – Old Print 1914
