Question

Why did the london and bombay grew into big cities?

Answer 1

Bombay, now known as Mumbai, is home to around 10 million people. It is a thriving cosmopolitan, multi-cultural city, and is the centre of India's entertainment industry.

Mumbai has been growing for five hundred years, even though it was built on what initially looked like very weak foundations.

At first there were just seven islands separated by swamps: the land was dangerous and unhealthy. A thousand years ago the islands were part of the Magadhan empire. Later they belonged to the Silhara family and in 1343 they became part of the lands of the Sultan of Gujarat.

In 1534, the Portuguese captured the islands and established a trading centre (or 'factory') there. The Portuguese called the place Bom Bahia, meaning 'the good bay', which the English pronounced Bombay.

This trading place slowly grew, with local people trading products such as silk, muslin, chintz, onyx, rice, cotton and tobacco. By 1626, there was a great warehouse, a friary, a fort and a ship building yard. There were also new houses for the general population, and mansions for the wealthy.
 (i) London was a city of clerks and shopkeepers.
(ii) It was a city of small masters and skilled artisans.
(in) It was a city of growing number of semi skilled and sweated out workers, of soldiers and servants, of casual labourers, street sellers and beggars.
(iv)Apart from the London dockyards, five major types of industries that employed large number of people were : Clothing and footwear, wood and furniture, metals and engineering, printing and stationery and precision products such as surgical instruments, watches and objects of precious metal.
(v) During the Fire World War. London began manufacturing motor care and electrical goods and the number of large factories increased until they accounted for nearly one- third of all jobs in the city.