Koli Christians are a religious subgroup of the Koli people, known as East Indians, the indigenous people of the Seven Islands of Bombay and the Bombay metro area, which is now also called Mumbai (Bombay). The Koli Christians were of the Son Koli caste, before their conversion from Hinduism to Christianity, in the former Bom Bahia of Portuguese India. Christian Kolis are also known as Thankar and Gaonkar Kolis in Maharashtra, where they played an important role in building churches and convents in the northern Konkan division of Maharashtra.