Salsette Island
Template: Infobox Island / Maintenance / height missing
Salsette ( Portuguese: Salsete, Marathi: साष्टी, Sasti, Sashti ) is a 619 square kilometer island off the west coast of the Indian state of Maharashtra. On it are the two cities Mumbai and Thane million and the city Mira Bhayandar -. A total of about 15.1 million people inhabit the island, part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR ) is.
Geography
Salsette is bordered to the north by Vasai Creek, in the northeast by the Ulhas River, on the east by the Thane Creek and the port of Mumbai and the south and west by the Arabian Sea. On the southern peninsula is the city center of Mumbai, in the center to the outskirts of Mumbai, in the northeast of the city and Thane in the north- west of the island, the town of Mira Bhayandar -. Before the southeast coast of Salsette, in the Bay of Mumbai, there are more islands: Elephanta, Butcher Iceland, Middle Ground Coastal Battery, Oyster Rock East Ground.
Salsette mostly consists of black basalt rocks and is mostly flat shape. The north and center of the island to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (formerly Borivali National Park ) are partly hilly with heights up to 496 meters, while parts of the peninsula are in the south below sea level. The three largest rivers on the island are Dahisar and Oshiwara in the north and in the south of Mithi. The Dahisar River rises near the Kanheri Caves and empties into the Gorai Creek, the Oshiwara River rises in the Tulsi Lake and empties into the Malad Creek and the Mithi River originates in the Powai Lake and empties into the Mahim Bay. In the center of the island of Salsette are the lakes Tulsi, Powai and Vihar.
The swampy northwest part of the island with its dense mangrove forests is a recognized by the government reserve. Other wetlands are located in the eastern and southern part of Salsette. The small southern part of the eastern waterfront of the peninsula forms the port of Mumbai. The western coast of Salsette hosts numerous beaches. The most famous is Girgaum - Chowpatty Beach. Other beaches are Dadar Beach, Juhu Beach, Mahim Beach, Gorai Beach, Manori Beach and Worli Beach.
History
The area existed until the arrival of the Europeans from a large and several small islands, which were later merged through land reclamation to an island. At an early settlement of the islands can archaeological finds of handaxes and other stone tools close. Dravidian Fischer ( Kolis ) inhabited even before the Aryan immigration around the year 1500 BC the region. First traces left Aryan settlers in the 8th century BC During the subsequent two millennia the archipelago belonged to different realms.
1508 sailed the Portuguese explorers and traders Francisco de Almeida with his ship into the deep natural harbor of the island of Bombay. Pleasantly impressed by the geography and the conditions, he called it Bom Bahia ( good bay ). With the arrival of the Portuguese, the island group was in possession of the Muslim Shah Murabak I and served as a military outpost of the Sultanate of Gujarat. 1533 the Portuguese conquered the fortress of Bassein on the mainland north of Bombay. On December 23, 1534 signing of the Treaty of Bassein, after which the Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat to the King of Portugal, the islands Bassein, Bombay, Karanja and Salsette gave and bequeathed took place. The islands were part of the northern province of Portuguese India.
On June 23, 1661 Bombay island was handed over by a marriage contract between the English King Charles II and the Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza to the King of England. Salsette remained in Portuguese possession. 1668 gave the king of England Bombay for the payment of ten pounds sterling per year, the British East India Company. 1737 the Marathas conquered Salsette and more occupied by the Portuguese territories on the mainland. In 1774 the British took a Salsette. The Treaty of SAlBAi with the British East India Company on 17 May 1782 Maratha kingdom renounced all claims over the island.
William Hornby, Governor of the Presidency of Bombay, initiated in 1782 one of the first projects for land reclamation, to consolidate the southern islands of Salsette Bombay, Colaba, Old Woman's Iceland, Mahim, Mazagaon, Parel and Worli to an island. Through the construction of a dam on the breakthrough in Mahalaxmi ( between the islands of Bombay and Worli ) the lagoon between the five main islands were drained. Until 1862, the major projects were completed and seven small islands was a large island. This now 70 -square-kilometer island Bombay was in the 20th century with the northern islands of Salsette ( 533 square kilometers) and Trombay, too, connected by land reclamation. Since 1948, the island is part of the independent state of India. The land reclamation measures go in the 21st century and shape the development of the region