History of Bombay under British rule (1661–1947)
aspect of history
Bombay, also called Bom baim in Portuguese, is the financial and commercial capital of India and one of the most populous cities in the world.
The city was once an archipelago of seven islands, obtained by the Portuguese via the Treaty of Bassein (1534), from the Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.
The island group would later form part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal. Her 23 June 1661 Marriage Treaty gifted the islands to Charles II of England, along with the port of Tangier, trading privileges in Brazil and the Portuguese East Indies, religious and commercial freedom for English residents in Portugal, and two million Portuguese crowns (about £300,000), on completion of the marriage.
The Islands of Bombay were regarded as a political and financial liability and were leased by Charles, to the English East India Company, on 27 March 1668, for a nominal £10 rent.
Establishment of the Company Settlement (1661–1817)
1660s
On 18 January 1665, King Charles II of England granted Humphrey Cooke the possession of Bombay. However, Salsette, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala still remained under Portuguese possession. Later, Cooke managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala for the English. Sir Gervase Lucas, 1st Baronet, who was appointed Governor of Bombay on 5 November 1666, reported that Bombay included all the islands except Colaba and Old Woman's Island.
On 21 September 1668, the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668 led to the transfer of Bombay from Charles II to the English East India Company for an annual rent of £10.
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This entry incorporates text from “History of Bombay under British rule (1661–1947)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.