Mumbai also known by its former name Bombay, is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fifth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million.
The Koli, an aboriginal tribe of fishermen, were the earliest known inhabitants of present-day Mumbai, though Paleolithic stone implements found at Kandivli, in Greater Mumbai, indicate that the area has been inhabited by humans for hundreds of thousands of years. The city was a centre of maritime trade with Persia and Egypt in 1000 BCE. It was part of Ashoka’s empire in the 3rd century BCE, and in the 2nd century CE it was known as Heptanesia to Ptolemy, the ancient Egyptian astronomer and geographer of Greek descent.
The city was ruled in the 6th–8th century by the Chalukyas, who left their mark on Elephanta Island (Gharapuri). The Walkeswar Temple at Malabar Point was probably built during the rule of Shilahara chiefs from the Konkan coast (9th–13th century). Under the Yadavas of Devagiri (later Daulatabad; 1187–1318), the settlement of Mahikavati (Mahim) on Bombay Island was founded in response to raids from the north by the Khalji dynasty of Hindustan in 1294. Descendants of the Yadavas are found in contemporary Mumbai, and most of the place-names on the island date from that era.
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