Salsette
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Salsette
Large island forming the Salsette taluka of Thana District, Bombay, lying between 18 53' and 19 19' N. and 72 47' and 73 3' E., extending 16 miles from Bandra northwards to the Bassein inlet, and connected with Bombay Island by bridge and cause- way. The area is 246 square miles , and the island contains thiee towns, BANDRA (population, 22,075), THANA (16,011), the head-quarters of the District and taluka, and KURLA (14,831), and 128 villages, including VESAVA (5,426). The population in 1901 was 146,933, com- pared with 126,518 in 1891. It is the most densely populated taluka m the District, with an average of 597 persons per square mile. Land revenue and cesses in 1903-4 amounted to about 2-6 lakhs. Along the centre of the island, from north to south, runs a broad range of hills, which, after subsiding into the plain near Kurla, crops up again in the southernmost point of the island at Trombay. The central and highest, Thana peak, is 1,530 feet above sea-level; and on the north is a detached sharp peak 1,500 feet high. Spurs from the main range run west towards the sea, while the low lands are much intersected by tidal creeks, which, especially on the north-west, split the sea-face of the taluka into small islands. There are no large fresh-water streams , but the supply of water from wells is of fair quality and pretty constant. The staple crop is rice ; and most of the uplands are reserved for grass for the Bombay market. The coast abounds m coco-nut groves, and the palmyra palm grows plentifully in most parts. This beautiful island is rich m rice-fields, diversified by jungles, and studded with hills. The ruins of Portuguese churches, convents, and villas attest its former importance, and its antiquities at KANHERI still form a subject of interest. Eighteen estates, consisting of 53 villages, were granted in Salsette by the East India Company, some freehold, and others on payment of rent, and liable to assessment. The lines of the Great
VOL. xxi. p d
Indian Peninsula Railway and of the Bombay, Baroda, and Central India Railway traverse the taluka. Since the first outbreak of plague m Bombay, a large number of villa residences have been built by the wealthier merchants of Bombay near the latter railway. An additional Assistant Collector was appointed m 1902 to plan new roads and control building operations Seized by the Poituguese early in the sixteenth century, Salsette should have passed to the English, together with Bombay Island, as part of the marriage portion of the queen of Charles II, The Portuguese in 1662, however, contested its transfer under the marriage treaty, and it was not till more than a century after- wards that possession was obtained. The Marathas took it from the declining Portuguese m 1739. The English captured it from the Marathas in December, 1774, and it was formally annexed to the East India Company's dominions in 1782 by the Treaty of Salbai.
