Mumbai was built on the proceeds of a stockmarket boom. During the American civil war, money rushed into the city, then known as Bombay, as merchants sought alternative sources of cotton to the blockaded southern states. The boom spread from textiles to railways, to link cotton-growing districts with the coast, and to land-reclamation companies, to fill the gaps between the city’s seven islands. New land provided newly flush brokers with space for new houses. The frenzy ended, but many of the companies endured.
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