Khojas in Early Bombay: by I.I.Dewji
In a great many ways, the phenomenal success of the present day global Khoja community is a result of their 19th century migration from Kutch-Kathiawar, to the fast-growing English port-city of Bombay, located just to the south of Gujarat, on India’s western seaboard and within the Indian Ocean littoral trading networks.
Though legend has it that Bombay derives its name from Mumbadevi, a Hindu goddess, it likely originates from “Bom Bahia,” the beautiful bay, so named by the Portuguese, to whom it was originally ceded by the Sultan of Gujarat in 1534. (1)
By that date, Khoja merchants from Gujarat were already trading with the Portuguese (see Khoja Shams-ud-din Gillani) and so, it quite also likely they were operating in Bombay when it was “given” as dowry to the British in 1661.
More Bombay – Khoja Wiki.
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