1830 - FIRST ROAD ACROSS THE WESTERN GHATS INAUGURATED

A significant development after the cancellation of East India Company's monopoly on trade was the opening of the first road across the Western Ghats in 1830, which opened Bombay to trade.

1833 - TOWN HALL WAS BUILT

The idea of the Town Hall was conceived in 1811, followed by a lot of public debate before it was finally built in 1833. The hall was initially used for concerts, functions and political meetings and later became home to the Royal Asiatic Society of Bombay Library. Along with many other official pronouncements, Queen Victoria's declaration of transferring power from the East India Company to the Crown after the 1857 uprising was read from the Town Hall steps. The Town Hall played an active role in the educational, cultural and social life of the city. Since 1956, the State Central Library has occupied much of the building and as per a law, a copy of every book published in India has been sent here.

1853 - ASIA'S FIRST RAILWAY OPERATED FROM BOMBAY TO THANE

The inauguration of the first road across the Western Ghats in 1830 was followed by the construction of the first railway line in Asia, from Bombay to Thane, in 1853. The twenty-one miles of the suburban GIP railway tracks were laid from the terminus at Bori Bunder (later Victoria Terminus) and inaugurated on April 16, 1853. A holiday was declared on the day the railway line operated from Bombay to Thane. A decade later, the rail link was extended to Pune and Ahmedabad.

1854 - BOMBAY'S FIRST TEXTILE MILL OPENED

The year 1854 was a significant period in the history of Bombay. The establishment of Bombay Spinning & Weaving Company at Tardeo reversed the declining trend in the colonial cotton trade. Earlier, raw Gujarati cotton was shipped from Bombay to the mills of Lancashire and re-exported to the subcontinent as finished clothing. Later, Bombay began spinning, weaving and dyeing of textiles on its own. As a result of the American Civil War in 1861, the Lancashire mills in England were unable to procure raw cotton from that country and were forced to buy cotton from the Bombay market, which resulted in an incredible commercial boom.

1858 - BRITISH SOVEREIGNTY REPLACED THE EAST INDIA COMPANY

During this period of Indian uprising, the disappearance of the East India Company in 1858 was a landmark development, as the British Crown claimed sovereignty over a large part of India. From the steps of Bombay Town Hall, Queen Victoria read out the declaration transferring power from the Company to the Crown.

1864 - THE FORT WALLS WERE DEMOLISHED

The Fort Walls were demolished to boost cotton trade in the city. As a result of the American War, Britain's supply of cotton had temporarily exhausted, resulting in Bombay's cotton boom. The price of cotton increased by 800 per cent during this period and the city experienced an influx of 80 million pounds in just five years, creating the city's first speculative property boom. Recognising the boom, Governor Bartle Frere dismantled the obsolete Fort walls in 1864, as security was no longer an issue. Moreover, congestion and overcrowding inside the Fort was hampering business.

1869 - THE SUEZ CANAL CUT SAILING TIME TO ENGLAND

The massive expansion of the city's docks and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 cut travel time to England by 80 per cent, secured Bombay's primacy over east-facing ports like Calcutta, and earned it the civic motto Urbs Prima in Indis (First City in India).

1885 - FIRST INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS MET IN BOMBAY

The seeds of independence were sown in Bombay when the city hosted the first Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885. The INC, India's first nationalist movement, was financed by Bombay merchants and dominated by politicians over the next 30 years

1888 - VICTORIA TERMINUS WAS BUILT

This monument was designed by Frederick Stevens as the headquarters of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway Company. The structure was completed in 1887 at a cost of nearly 300,000 pounds. Described by Jan Morris in Stones of Empire as 'the central building of the entire British Empire,' it was built on the site of the city's dhobi ghat and an infamous public hanging ground. The first train in Asia ran from this spot to nearby Thane in 1853.

1896 - 1903 - BUBONIC PLAGUE KILLED 100, 000 PEOPLE

The deteriorating sanitation infrastructure in the city became evident with the outbreak of bubonic plague at the end of the century. It claimed at least 3,000 victims at the end of each week at its peak in 1899, causing half the population of the city to flee the countryside, and resulted in the 1901 census recording less people in Bombay than in 1864.