Image: Klaus Rosmanitz

 


Mumbai

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is India’s most populous city. Millions of people live on an island which is connected to the mainland. Mumbai is the center of banking and business, as well as India’s film industry, Bollywood. Originally a Portuguese trading post, Mumbai was given to the British in the 17th century.


Delhi

Today the city is divided. Old Delhi, with many historic buildings and mosques, was built in the 1600s. New Delhi, which became India’s capital, was built in the early part of the 20th century. It is a designed city with many broad roads and government buildings.

Kolkata

Kolkata is the largest city in the eastern part of India. Also known as Calcutta, the city lies in the Ganges River delta, about 150 km from the coast.Today,it struggles with overpopulation and poverty. 

Bangalore

Bangalore is regarded as India’s Silicon Valley. The city has many universities and research institutes.


Chennai

Chennai is the biggest industrial and commercial center of Southern India.


Hyderabad

The city developed into a major center of Islamic culture in India. In former times it was the center of pearl trading.



Lotus temple in New Delhi
Image: A.Savin, FAL, via Wikimedia Commons




Hyderabad
Image:Ravikan Rao (Ravikiranr), CC BY-SA 4.0,
via Wikimedia Commons



Words

  • broad = wide
  • capital = most important city; where the government is
  • century = a period of a hundred years
  • commercial = business
  • connected = linked
  • delta = area of low land where a river divides itself into many smaller rivers  and flows into the sea
  • designed = planned
  • develop = grow
  • divided = separated, split
  • formerly = once, some time ago
  • in former times = in the past
  • mainland = the main part of a country , without the islands around it
  • major = important
  • mosque = building in which Muslims pray
  • most populous = with the most people
  • originally = at first
  • overpopulation = too many people on a small area of land
  • pearl = a small white object that forms inside an oyster, it is a valuable jewel
  • poverty = the situation of being poor
  • regard = to look or think about something as ... 
  • research = to study a subject in order to find out new facts about it
  • struggle = here: fight with
  • trading post = place that is set up for merchants and other people to buy and sell goods