Bombay to Mumbai andThe Battle of Diu – 1507: that changed the history of the world.

I was always curious about Mahim and Vasai while growing up in Bombay. I used to hear
(literally only hear) about the Portuguese forts and trading, but it was never taught in our school
history. Wonder why? My young mind had guessed the answer then, and later in life learned that
my guess was correct though without much evidence to support full theory. That childhood guess
was, that Indians then thought as they even think today that that is European history and they
have nothing to do with it.
The knowledge of reality also puts a big hole in the phony argument that is made to support the
name change of Bombay to Mumbai. Because at this crucial battle there was no presence of any
of the Maratha fighters, or even in and around later day Bombay. English stablished their trading
fort at Surat, in 1608, which was plundered three time by Maratha chieftain Shivaji, but not from
anywhere close to later day Bombay. Kanho ji Angre the Maratha admiral is known to have
operated from Thane creek but there is no mention of Bombay.
Bombay, Bombaim in Portuguese, became the financial and commercial capital of India. At the
time of arrival of the Portuguese, current Bombay was an archipelago of seven islands. Between
the third century BCE and 1348, the islands came under the control of successive Hindu
dynasties. The Muslim rulers of Gujarat, who had been ruling current Thane and Vasai for a few
decades, annexed the islands in 1348 that were later governed by the Gujarat Sultanate from
1391 to 1534. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun, Sultan
Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein (Vasai) with the
Portuguese Empire on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the seven islands of Bombay,
the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The
territories were later surrendered to Portuguese on 25 October 1535.