Girangaon

Girangaon was the name commonly used to refer to an area which is now a part of central Mumbai. At one time this area had almost 130 textile mills, with the majority being cotton mills. Girangaon covered an area of 2.4 square kilometers, without including the workers' housing. The mill workers lived in a community, and they fostered a unique culture which shaped Mumbai at the turn on the century.

Mumbai was considered the economical capital of India because of the textile mills that laid the foundations of the city we know today. Mumbai's first textile mill, the Bombay Spinning Mill, was set up in 1856. During those days, Britain imported cotton from the United States. When the civil War broke out in America, the supplies stopped, which resulted in a boom for the Indian textile industry.