Historically, The Bund (taken from a Hindi word meaning 'embankment') is the location where Shanghai grew from a small settlement in the 19th century into today's metropolitan city of 20 million people. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking, following the first Opium War, forced China to yield five strategic coastal cities: Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Amoy (now Xiamen) and Canton (now Guangzhou) as 'Treaty Ports' for free trade to take place under foreign governance. The Bund, at the western bank of the Huangpu River became a harbour for merchants ships coming in to Shanghai from around the world.
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