Introduction: Bombay and the New Century
Bombay is all about transaction—dhandha. It was founded as a trading city, built at the entrance to the rest of the world, and everyone was welcome as long as they wanted to trade.
-Suketu Mehta, "Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found"
The city of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is a site of negotiable borders. As a trading port between India and the outside world, it has historically served as a vital entrepot for both goods and culture: a melting pot of European and Indian languages, customs, and beliefs. We may even apply Yuri Lotman’s semiotic designation of the “eccentric city” to its status as a proximal gateway between cultural spaces [1].
The map above depicts Bombay at the height of its industrial and cultural interchange. Described by its purveyor, Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, as “one of the finest and most detailed 19th century maps of Bombay [they] have come across,” it depicts the city at the turn of the 20th century, circa 1895. This chronology is somewhat hazy due to the inclusion of several anachronistic landmarks. We may tentatively situate it between the years 1903 and 1915, based on its inclusion of the renowned Taj Mahal Hotel (completed in 1903), but not the adjacent and equally famous Gateway to India (begun in 1915).
This uncertainty aside, the map’s agenda appears clear on first glance. It was published by The Times of India, an English-language daily publication, and seems to cater to the city’s European rulers by highlighting sites of industry and leisure. By examining the map’s various inclusions, however, it is possible to read the map as a more nuanced document that respects Bombay’s ethnic and religious diversity while also reaffirming its status as a colonial subject.
[1] Lotman, Yuri M. Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. London: Tauris, 2001. Print. Tauris Transformations.
[2] Geographicus Rare Antique Maps, Web. 21 Nov 2016.