chawl

thumb|A chawl in Mumbai thumb|Chawls in Dadar, Mumbai A chawl (Marathi: चाळ) is a type of residential building found in western India, similar to a tenement. Typically low quality housing, chawls are generally associated with poverty. The first chawls were constructed in the early 1700s, as housing for industrial workers.

==History== Chawls are rooted in the history of Bombay's (now Mumbai) colonial past. Workers migrated to Bombay from far and wide, as it was the center of trade for the East India Company. However, due to the land being unequally divided, British merchants and officials lived in sprawling bungalows, leaving little space for the working class. To accommodate this workforce, Chawls sprung up. These were tiny one room apartments shared by up to five people. Being highly congested, unsanitary, and unsafe, these were also more expensive than comparable accommodation in other Indian cities.