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  Salsette | |
| Geography | |
|---|---|
| Location | Arabian Sea |
| Coordinates | 19°12′N72°54′E / 19.200°N 72.900°E /19.200; 72.900 |
| Area | 619 km2 (239 sq mi) |
| Highest elevation | 467 m (1532 ft) |
| Highest point | Kanheri Peak,Sanjay Gandhi National Park |
| Administration | |
India | |
| Largest settlement | Mumbai |
| Demographics | |
| Population | 23,729,378 (estimated)[citation needed] |
| Pop. density | 38,335/km2 (99287/sq mi) |
| Ethnic groups | Maharashtrians (53%),Gujaratis (22%),North Indians (17%),Sindhis (3%),Telugus (2%), Others (3%)[citation needed] |
Salsette Island (Portuguese:Salsete,Konkani:साष्टी,romanized: sāṣṭī, Sashti) is anisland inKonkan division of the state ofMaharashtra, alongIndia's west coast. The cities ofMumbai (Mumbai City district andMumbai Suburban district),Thane andMira-Bhayandar (both part ofThane district) lie on it, making it verypopulous and one of themost densely populated islands in the world.[citation needed] The island forms the central part of theMumbai Metropolitan Region and has a population of more than 20 million inhabitants living on an area of about 619 square kilometres (239 sq mi).[citation needed]
Salsette is bounded on the north byVasai Creek, on the northeast by theUlhas River, on the east byThane Creek andMumbai Harbour, and on the south and west by theArabian Sea. The originalseven islands of Bombay, which were merged byland reclamation during the 19th and early 20th centuries to form the city of Mumbai, are now practically a southward protruding peninsula of the much larger Salsette Island.[1]
The island ofTrombay that was to the southeast of Salsette is today part of Salsette as much of the intervening swamps have been reclaimed. It containsSanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as Borivali National Park. The city ofThane is at the northeastern corner, onThane Creek, while the western suburbs of Mumbai which stretches fromBhayandar in the northwest corner toBandra which lies just before the Mumbai City district, lies on its western side while the eastern suburbs of Mumbai that stretch fromThane toKurla lie on the eastern half of the island. Both suburbs are separated by the Sanjay Gandhi National Park till the neighbourhood ofPowai in Andheri. Politically, theMumbai City district covers the peninsula south of Mahim and Sion while most of the original island constitutes theMumbai Suburban district. The northern portion lies withinThane district, which extends across Thane creeks onto the mainland.[2]
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The wordSasashti (also shortened toSashti) is Maharashtri Konkani term for "sixty-six", referring to the original "sixty-six villages" on the island.[3] It was inhabited by (Aagri, Kunbi) farmers, agriculturists, (Bhandaris)toddy tappers, (Sutar, Malis) artisans and (Kolis) fisherfolk who trace their conversion to Christianity back to 55AD with the arrival of Christ's disciple,Bartholomew the Apostle, in northKonkan region. They were later converted to theLatin Church in India by fourreligious orders—theDominicans,Franciscans,Augustinians &Jesuits— who arrived in the 15th century with the Portuguese. These original inhabitants of Salsette are theBombay East Indian Catholics, the Aagris &Kolis.[4]
109Buddhist caves, including those at Kanheri, can be found on the island, and date from the end of the 2nd century.[5] Salsette was ruled by a succession of Hindu kingdoms, the last of which were theSilharas and later theMarathas. In 1343, the islands were annexed by theSultan of Guzerat.
In 1534, thePortuguese empire seized the islands from SultanBahadur Shah. Sashti became part of the northern province ofPortuguese India, which was governed fromVasai (Bassein) on the north shore of Bassein Creek. It was leased to the explorerDiogo Rodrigues from 25 October, 1535 to 1548. In 1554, the islands were handed over toGarcia de Orta, a renowned physician and botanist and the author ofColloquies on the Simples Drugs and Medical Matter of India, a seminal work on IndianEastern medicine of its time.
Nine churches were built on Salsette island by the Portuguese; Nirmal (1557), Nossa Senhora dos Remédios (1557), Sandor (1566), Agashi (1568), Nandakal (1573), Papdy (1574), Pale (1595), Manickpur (1606), and Nossa Senhora das Mercês (1606). TheSt Andrews Church and theMount St Mary's Church in Bandra, the Cross atCross Maidan,Gloria Church (1632) in Mazagaon and the remnants of a church in Santa Cruz are the sole places of worship that have survived to the 21st century.
In 1661, the seven Bombay (Mumbai) islets were ceded toBritain as part of thedowry ofCatherine de Braganza toCharles II of England; while Salsette remained in Portuguese hands. Charles II in turn, leased the Bombay islets to theEnglish East India Company in 1668 for £10 per year. The company found the deep harbour atMumbai (Bombay) eminently apposite, and the population rose from 10,000 in 1661 to 60,000 by 1675. In 1687, the East India Company transferred their headquarters there fromSurat. In 1737, the island was captured by Mahratta violence, all of the Portuguese northern province in India, exceptDamaon, Diu & Silvassa, as it was frequently invaded by the Mahratta forces until 1739.Marquis de Pombal formally ceded what would become Greater Bombay, toPeshwaBalaji Bajirao of theMahratta Confederacy in the 1750s.
The British occupied Salsette in 1774,[6] and it was formally ceded to the East India Company in the 1782Treaty of Salbai. In 1782,William Hornby, then Governor ofBombay Province, initiated the project of connecting the islets of Bombay. By 1845, the seven southern islands had been connected to formSouth Bombay, with an area of 435 km². Railway viaducts and causeways were built in the 19th century to connect Bombay Island to the mainland via Salsette. The channels separating Mumbai from Salsette and Trombay were bridged by theSion Causeway in 1803.[7] Accessibility considerably increased after construction of this causeway.[8] Mahim and Bandra were connected by theMahim Causeway in 1845.[9]
These railway lines and roads encouraged wealthier merchants to build villas on Salsette. By 1901, the population of Salsette had increased to 146,993 and the area began to be referred to asGreater Bombay.
Salsette is dominated by a central mass of hills surrounded by tidal flats. A number of much smaller islands lay on its western flank. These includedBandra,Khar Danda,Juhu (an old linear sand bar rising above sea level by just a metre or two),Versova,Marve Island,Dharavi Island and Rai Murdhe, all with aknoll core and fringing wave-cut platforms and sandy beaches. These islands seem to have remained separate until as late as 1808.
At the time of writing of the old Gazetteer of Thana in 1882, these islands could be reached during low tides by walking across the tidal inlets in between, except for the island of Dharavi in present-dayGorai (not to be confused with the slum near Mahim), which had to be reached by a boat. These are no longer separate, being joined to Salsette via reclamation. The highest point is the conical peak of Kanheri (467 metres) inBorivali National Park on the northern reaches of the island.[10] Thisnational park is the world's biggest within city limits.
The island is at the confluence of a number of fault lines.[11] This makes the areaearthquake-prone, up to a magnitude of 6. The island is mostly composed of blackbasalt rock. Since it is along the sea coast, it has a sandy belt on its western coast. The southern region of Old Mumbai is mostly at sea level. However, the parts which were erstwhile shallows are below sea level. Many parts of the city are hilly.[citation needed]
There are three major lakes on the island:Powai Lake,Tulsi Lake andVihar Lake. The latter two supply part of Mumbai's water requirements. Numerous other smaller ponds and lakes are present.
TheMithi River (Mahim),Poisar River,Oshiwara River andDahisar River originate in the national park and empty into the Arabian Sea. The Mithi River originates at Vihar Lake. Vasai and Thane creeks areestuarinedistributaries of theUlhas River.
A number of saline orbrackish creeks extend inland from the coastline. Mahim Creek separates the city from the suburbs in the west. Further north on the western coast, the Oshiwara river empties into Malad (or Marvé) Creek and the Dahisar River into Gorai Creek. The eastern waterfront also has many small creeks.
The small southern part of the eastern waterfront of Salsette forms Mumbai Harbour.
North of this region lie vast amounts of protectedwetlands atSewree, home to migratory birds. The northern and northwestern part of the island and parts of Mahim River have government-protected marshlands. These swampy regions form massive, densemangrove forests.
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