Colaba Causeway, officially known as Shahid

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was a charismatic Indian revolutionary* * who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer * * in what was to be retaliation for the death of an Indian national ...

Road, is a commercial street, and a major

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

or land link between

Colaba Colaba (; or ISO: Kolābā) is a part of the city of Mumbai, India. It is one of the four peninsulas of Mumbai while the other three are Worli, Bandra and Malabar Hill. During Portuguese rule in the 16th century, the island was known as Kolbh ...

and the

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 Mumbai. The Colaba Causeway built in 1838, connected this last island to the mainland of Mumb ...

in the city of

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It lies close to the

Fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

area, and to the east of

Cuffe Parade Cuffe Parade is a historic and significant business district of the city of Mumbai, India. It is home to a collection of commercial and office high-rises. It is bordered to the north by Nariman Point which, along with Cuffe Parade, forms the gre ...

, an upmarket neighbourhood in

South Mumbai South Mumbai, colloquially SoBo from South Bombay in Anglo-Indian English, administratively the Mumbai City District, is the city centre and the southernmost precinct of Greater Bombay. It extends from Colaba to Mahim and Sion neighbour ...

, and close by are Mumbai's famous landmarks, the

Gateway of India The Gateway of India is an arch-monument built in the early 20th century in the city of Mumbai (Bombay), India. It was erected to commemorate the landing of King-Emperor George V, the first British monarch to visit India, in December 1911 a ...

and Taj Mahal Palace & Tower.

History

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Fort area and part of older town were overcrowded, as the island of Colaba, the southern tip of the city, had already been declared a

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

area in 1796, barring all construction by the civilian population. Soon the boat traffic to area increased in the next few decades, and several people died due to the capsizing of overcrowded boats, making the construction of the causeway imperative. What also added to the urgency to its construction was that,

Mountstuart Elphinstone Mountstuart Elphinstone (6 October 1779 – 20 November 1859) was a Scottish statesman and historian, associated with the government of British India. He later became the Governor of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he is credited with the open ...

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

(1819–1827), had already built the first home on

Malabar Hill Malabar Hill (ISO: Malabār Hill ələbaːɾ is a hillock and upmarket residential neighbourhood in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Malabar Hill is the most exclusive residential area in Mumbai. It is home to several business tycoons and ...

, following which the rich quickly started moving into the centrally placed, Fort) area. The Causeway as it is known to the locals, was constructed by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, during the tenure of Sir Robert Grant (1779–1838) as the governor of Bombay (1835–1838), and its construction completed in 1838, which used the Old Woman's Island as a part of it; with this the last two islands of Colaba and Old Woman's Island (out of the Seven islands of Bombay), which were first taken in 1675, got connected with the mainland of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

. Until 1839, Colaba was accessible only during the low tide, though soon it saw rapid development in the area, especially after the construction of the ''Cotton Exchange'' at Cotton Green in 1844. The Causeway was later further widened in 1861 and 1863. Horse-drawn tram-cars were introduced here, in 1873 by Stearns and Kitteredge, for their offices on the west side of the Causeway, where the Electric House now stands.

Overview

Today, it is termed as the 'Culture Square' of Mumbai.Mumbai's Culture Square - For the Foodie
by Sarika Mehta, ''

Business Line ''Business Line'' or ''The Hindu Business Line'' is an Indian business newspaper published by Kasturi & Sons, the publishers of the newspaper '' The Hindu'' located in Chennai, India. The newspaper covers priority industry verticals, such as A ...

'', a ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'' Group publication, 24 December 2004. The architecture of the area is reminiscent of old Mumbai, fact highlighted by buildings like,

National Gallery of Modern Art National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(NGMA),

Regal Cinema The Regal Cinema is an Art deco movie theatre located at Colaba Causeway, in Mumbai, India. Built by Framji Sidhwa, the first film to be aired at the Regal was the Laurel and Hardy work '' The Devil's Brother'' in 1933. According to the '' ...

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Museum, previously known as Mughal Museum, is a museum planned to be built in the city of Agra, India. The museum was announced by then-Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav in 2015, and construction beg ...

and Cusrow Baug, a

Parsi Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...

residential colony built in 1934, covering an area of 84,000 square yards, which is home to over 500 families. Plus the area is also a hub of various art galleries, which makes this area a natural destination for artist community. Apart from upmarket retail showrooms, and small shops dealing in electronic goods, cosmetics, clothes and music, it has a pavement book stall dating back several decades, besides having numerous small shops and footpath outlets selling everything from artifacts to shawls, carpets and minor antiques to slippers of all kinds, which makes tourists, backpackers and locals from South Mumbai throng the area all through the year. Among the restaurants, cafes and roadside eateries that make the street popular with tourists and locals alike are the Indian Mughlai fame Delhi Darbar restaurant, Piccadilly restaurant, Cafe Churchill, Mings Palace, Kailash Parbat and

Gokul Gokul is a town in the Mathura district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Mathura. According to Bhagavata Purana, Krishna spent his childhood in Gokul. Geography The town has an average elevation of . Demo ...

. Cafe Mondegar, and Cafe Leopold were founded by Iranians in 1871. Other visitors' attractions in the area are historical structures like Aghan Church in the nearby

Navy Nagar Navy Nagar is a cantonment area in Mumbai, India, and was established in 1796. The area is owned and managed solely by the Indian Navy and entry to this area is highly restricted. Entry and exit points to the area are heavily manned by Naval Pol ...

, built to commemorate the dead of the disastrous

First Afghan War The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Afghanistan, Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking si ...

of 1838, and the

Sassoon Docks Sassoon Docks, built in 1875, is one of the oldest docks in Mumbai and was the first wet dock constructed in Bombay. It is one of the few docks in the city open to the public. It is situated in Mumbai harbor in South Mumbai area of Colaba. It ...

, built in 1875,History of Colaba and Cuffe Parade
/ref> by

Albert Abdullah David Sassoon Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet, (25 July 181824 October 1896) was a Baghdad-born businessman and philanthropist. Biography Life and career Sassoon was born on 25 July 1818 in Baghdad, Ottoman Empire, into the Sassoon family o ...

(1818–1896), son of David Sassoon, a philanthropist

Baghdadi Jew The former communities of Jewish migrants and their descendants from Baghdad and elsewhere in the Middle East are traditionally called Baghdadi Jews or Iraqi Jews. They settled primarily in the ports and along the trade routes around the Indi ...

.Mumbai Attractions - Colaba Causeway
''mustseeindia.com''. Today, the Sassoon Docks house one of the largest fish market of Mumbai city
''mapsofindia.com''.

Gallery

Image:Sevenislandsofbombay.png, Original Seven islands of Bombay Image:LeopoldCafe gobeirne.jpg, Leopold Cafe and Bar since 1871 Image:Cafe Mondegar, on Colaba Causeway.jpg, Cafe Mondegar, marking the beginning of Colaba Causeway, with Taj Hotel in the background

References

External links

Legends of the causeway (Photo Feature)
{{Tourist attractions in Mumbai Streets in Mumbai Retail markets in Mumbai Shopping districts and streets in India Culture of Mumbai Causeways Transport infrastructure completed in 1838