Q 01/05

Mumbai is the capital of which Indian state?

A) Maharashtra

B) Gujarat

C) Karnataka

D) Rajasthan

Answer · why

A) Maharashtra

With about 12.5 million people in the city proper and 23 million in the metro region, it is India's most populous city and its financial capital.

Q 02/05

The city's English name was officially changed from Bombay to Mumbai in which year?

A) 2000

B) 1995

C) 2005

D) 2010

Answer · why

B) 1995

The Shiv Sena party had just won the state elections and argued the old name echoed colonial rule.

Q 03/05

The name Mumbai derives from Mumbadevi, patron goddess of which native fishing community?

A) Bhandari

B) Agri

C) Koli

D) Warli

Answer · why

C) Koli

The 'ai' ending means 'mother' in Marathi; the Portuguese wrote 'Bombaim' after 1512.

Q 04/05

Mumbai was built on an archipelago of how many islands?

A) Three

B) Five

C) Twelve

D) Seven

Answer · why

D) Seven

Ptolemy called the cluster Heptanesia in 150 CE; the Hornby Vellard causeway later joined them into one.

Q 05/05

The islands passed to England in 1661 as part of whose dowry on her marriage to Charles II?

A) Henrietta Maria

B) Mary of Modena

C) Catherine of Braganza

D) Anne of Denmark

Answer · why

C) Catherine of Braganza

The Portuguese had held them since 1535; the East India Company then leased them for £10 a year from 1668.