Navi Mumbai

Sister cities

• Caracas

History

In the late 1500s, the Siddis of Janjira built the Belapur Killa, located atop a small hill near the mouth of the Panvel Creek. In 1682, the fort was captured by the Portuguese, who had managed to annex the regions controlled by the Siddis. In 1733, the Marathas, led by Chimaji Appa, wrested control of the fort from the Portuguese. Appa had made a vow that if it were to be successfully recaptured from the Portuguese, he would place a garland of beli leaves in the nearby Amruthaishwar temple, and after the victory, the fort was christened as Belapur Fort. The Marathas ruled the area until 23 June 1817, when it was captured by Captain Charles Gray of the British East India Company. The British partially destroyed the fort under their policy of razing any Maratha stronghold in the area. Navi Mumbai’s journey began in the early 1970s, when the Maharashtra government recognized the need for an alternative urban area to relieve the growing pressure on Mumbai, which was then struggling with issues like overcrowding, inadequate housing, and strained infrastructure.

Most-observed species

• House Crow

  Corvus splendens Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  20,787
• Black Kite

  Milvus migrans (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  19,480
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  17,091
• Common Myna

  Acridotheres tristis (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  14,714
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  14,219
• Asian Koel

  Eudynamys scolopaceus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,246
• Large-billed Crow

  Corvus macrorhynchos Wagler, 1827 · Aves
  12,948
• Red-vented Bulbul

  Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  12,384

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2019-07-24
  25 km WSW of Shirgaon, India