Mumbai India

Mumbai (formerly Bombay) — India's financial capital, home to 20 million people in the metropolitan area, the Bombay Stock Exchange (Asia's oldest, 1875), and Bollywood (the world's most prolific film industry, producing 800-1,000 films annually, more than Hollywood) — is the city of India's aspirations and contradictions. The world's most expensive home (Mukesh Ambani's Antilia, $2B, 27-floor private house with 600 staff) rises 3km from Dharavi — one of Asia's largest slums, home to 600,000-1,000,000 people in 2.4 sq km. Mumbai's history: seven islands merged by British colonial land reclamation; the East India Company established headquarters here in 1668; the city grew as India's primary colonial port and textile center. Architecture reflects British colonial ambition: the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (formerly Victoria Terminus, 1888) is a UNESCO Heritage building combining Victorian Gothic and Indian architectural elements. The 2008 Mumbai attacks (10 Pakistani militants, 4 days, 166 killed) transformed Indian security policy. The city receives 2.5 meters of monsoon rain in 4 months, creating annual flooding; the 2005 floods killed 1,000 people and paralyzed the city for days.