Churches of Greater Mumbai – a physio-cultural appraisal

• Authors: Charlotte Braganza , Dipti Mukherji
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Greater Mumbai is a mosaic of diverse languages, cultures and religions. Churches in Mumbai reflect the long association of Mumbai City and Salsette Island which comprise the present day Greater Mumbai. The churches of Greater Mumbai are relics of art, architecture and culture, as well as multi-lingual and religious tolerance. They enjoy a great history which dates back to the 16th century. With the coming of the Portuguese and British, the churches and their surrounding environment have undergone a spatial and temporal change to withstand the needs of the society with increasing population and prevalent intra-urban migration. The contributions of East Indians, Goans, Mangaloreans, Tamilians and Keralites to the progress and development of the Church in the area is immense. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the environmental history of the churches chronologically with sketches and maps. The study also analyses the geographical background and population composition in and around the churches. It brings out the emerging spatial pattern of churches in Greater Mumbai as well as the changes that have taken place over a period of time. Moreover, the paper describes the contribution of sociofugal and sociopetal forces for generating the socio-environmental scenario in the contemporary spatial framework.

Keywords

EN

Salsette; urban environment; landscape; sociopetal; sociofugal

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 21
• Issue: 21
• Pages: 31-40

Dates

published

2013-09-01

online

2013-08-14

Contributors

author

Charlotte Braganza

• S K Somaiya College of Arts Science and Commerce, Vidyavihar, Mumbai, India

author

Dipti Mukherji

• University of Mumbai, Department of Geography, Vidyanagari, 400098 Mumbai, India

References

• Cunha Da, J.G, 1900: Origin of Bombay, New Delhi: Asian Educational Services, pp 68-259.
• Gazetter of Bombay 1909: City and island, Bombay.
• Dossal, M., 2010: Theatre of conflict, city of hope: Bombay/ Mumbai 1660 to Present Times, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• The Catholic Directory of the Archdiocese of Bombay, 1982, pp. 249-267.
• The Catholic Directory of the Archdiocese of Bombay, 2009.
• Joshi, C.B., 1956: The historical geography of the islands of Bombay. In: Bombay Geographical Magazine, Vol. IV, No. 1, pp. 5-13.
• Survey of India,Toposheets-47E/3,47A/15,47A/11
• Srivastava, S. and Mukherji, D., 2008: The environmental history of Maritime Forts in and around Mumbai, Mumbai: Maritime History Society in Mumbai.
• Kapoor, P. and Masselos, J., 2010: Bombay then Mumbai Now, New Delhi: Roli Books, pp. 36-105. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Mumbai

Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/bog-2013-0018