MMMS Book Project
From 2019 till the present, we at MMMS have undertaken a robust and successful education and outreach programme to raise awareness about Mumbai’s rich maritime heritage, with 39 talks and 18 walks covering the unexplored maritime stories of Mumbai and its surrounding districts. In continuation with this programme, we welcomed the suggestion by the Director General Publications of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India to compile a book on the History of Important Ports and Docks of Mumbai and its surrounding Districts. Our efforts are part of the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav by bringing back to public consciousness the historicity of the environment in which they are now living and working in Mumbai, its suburbs, the metropolitan region, and surrounding districts. MMMS is privileged to be part of the upsurge in interest in preserving our glorious maritime heritage through which the nation is inspired to go forward to achieve even greater glory.
"Mumbai is and has been a maritime city par excellence drawing from a rich and diverse historical past. Typically, studies on Mumbai -- or Bombay as it was known during Portuguese and British times -- have tended to focus almost entirely on the city as it came to be under colonial rule, detaching its connections from the broader eco-system of ports, docks and harbours on the western littoral. This volume is an exception as it looks at ports and docks around Mumbai, thereby filling a major gap in historiography. It is a series of valuable micro-studies of ports, infrastructure, their role in the local economy of the region over time, and their afterlives in the aftermath of Bombay/ Mumbai’s ascendancy as the financial and trading capital of the region. Additionally, it foregrounds a number of relevant themes that a maritime history perspective enables, namely how islands and sea-spaces foster modes of cosmopolitanism, generate new configurations of social and economic relationships between ports and hinterlands, and alter political orientations to coastal resources. The volume is an exercise in inter-disciplinary scholarship and consists of essays written by historians, geographers, naval experts and archeologists, giving the reader a rare and rich perspective on Mumbai and its eco-system." - Lakshmi Subramanian
