page_title: Bombay Presidency
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Bombay Presidency / Origins / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: Silver rupee of the Bombay Presidency, in the name of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (ruled 1719-1748), minted in Bombay in his regnal year 12
context_page_description: The Bombay Presidency, also known as Bombay and Sind from 1843 to 1936 and the Bombay Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India headquartered in the city of Bombay,
  The Bombay Presidency was created when the city of Bombay was leased in fee tail to the East India Company by a Royal Charter from the King of England, Charles II, who had in turn acquired it on May 11, 1661, when his marriage treaty with Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed the islands of Bombay in possession of the English Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles. The English East India Company transferred its Western India headquarters from Surat, its first colony in that region, to Bombay in 1687. The Presidency was brought under British Parliament control along with other parts of British India through Pitt's India Act. Major territorial acquisitions were made during the Anglo-Maratha Wars when the whole of the Peshwa's dominions and much of the Gaekwad's sphere of influence were annexed to the Bombay Presidency in different stages till 1818.
context_section_description: The first English settlement in the Presidency known as Western Presidency was begun in 1618 at Surat in present-day Gujarat, when the East India Company established a factory, protected by a charter obtained from the Mughal Emperor Jahangir. In 1626 the Dutch and the English made an unsuccessful attempt to gain possession of the island of Bombay in the coastal Konkan region from Portugal, and in 1653 proposals were suggested for its purchase from the Portuguese. In 1661 Bombay was ceded to the Kingdom of England as part of the dowry of the infanta Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to King Charles II. So lightly was the acquisition esteemed in England, and so unsuccessful was the administration of the crown officers, that in 1668 Bombay was transferred to the East India Company for an annual payment of £10, and the company established a factory there. At the time of the transfer, powers for the island's defence and for the administration of justice were also conferred on the company; a European regiment was enrolled; and fortifications were erected which in 1673 proved sufficient to deter the Dutch from an intended attack. As English trade in Bombay increased, Surat (which had been sacked by Shivaji in 1670) began its relative decline. In 1687, Bombay was made the headquarters of all the East India Company's possessions in India. However, in 1753 the governor of Bombay became subordinate to that of Calcutta.
caption: Silver rupee of the Bombay Presidency, in the name of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (ruled 1719–48), minted at Bombay in c. 1731. Most of the gold and silver coinages of the Presidencies were in the Mughal style.
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