Mumbai has urbanised over the past 60 years and urbanised rapidly from its origins as a fishing village.
The site of the fishing village soon became a port region as the site favoured development. Protected from the Arabian Sea by a peninsular art the southern end of Salsette Island, it had access to sea on two sides and the British colonial administration in India developed the sheltered inlet into a major port.
As with many major global ports area around the port became industrialised – processing goods for export and handling imports.
The city grew during British rule as variety of services grew up around the port and continued to grow after British left in 1947.
The other significant factor to note is that slum dwellers make up an ever increasing proportion of the population, creating numerous problems for people and planners. It should be noted that the original urbanisation phase of Mumbai focussed upon the southern tip of Salsette Island, and outside of this the city suburbanised in a Northern direction.
New urbanised areas such as Vashi, New Bombay, Vasai, and Mahim Creek were developed to ease this congestion and provide space for new suburbs and industrial parks.
Adjacent to the commercial sector is Asia's largest slum, known as Dharavi.
In terms of population size Mumbai is India's largest city, and is the financial capital of the country, being home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Up until the 1980s, Mumbai owed its wealth to its historical colonial past, textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has since been diversified and now Mumbai is home to most of India's specialised technical industries, having a modern industrial infrastructure and vast, skilled human resources. Industries include aerospace, optical engineering, medical research, computers and electronic equipment of all varieties, shipbuilding and salvaging, and renewable energy. Mumbai serves as an important economic hub of India, contributing 10% of all factory employment and 40% of India's foreign trade. Many of India's numerous Trans National Corporations (including the State Bank of India, Tata Group, Godrej and Reliance) are based in Mumbai. Other formalized workers include many state and government workers.