The importance of Bombay harbour was felt first by Portuguese and later it was capitalised by British East India Company. It became the centre hub for trade to such an extent the other provinces were extended under Bombay Presidency with it’s beginning in the city of Bombay.
The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India. The Bombay territory was acquired during the Treaty of Bassein (1802).
There were total major 3 presidencies such as The Bombay Presidency, the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency. These were the centres of British power in South Asia.
About Bombay Presidency/Province
The districts and provinces of the presidency were directly under British rule, while the internal administration of the native or princely states was in the hands of local rulers.
The Bombay Presidency was bounded on the
- north by Baluchistan, the Punjab and Rajputana;
- east by Indore, the Central Provinces and Hyderabad;
- south by Madras Presidency and the Kingdom of Mysore; and
- west by the Arabian Sea.
Above image: The Bombay Presidency in 1909, northern portion
Extension of the Presidency
The East India Company acquired Bombay in 1661, through the royal dowry of Catherine Braganza by way of his marriage treaty with the Portuguese princess, daughter of John IV of Portugal. The English East India Company transferred its Western India headquarters from Surat to Bombay Harbour in 1687.
In 1803, the Bombay Presidency included only Salsette,. The Gujarat districts were taken over by the Bombay government in 1805 and enlarged in 1818. Later in 1818, Baji Rao II, the last of the peshwas, was defeated in the Battle of Khadki and many regions such as Pune, Ahmednagar, Nasik, Solapur, Belgaum, Kaladgi, Dharwad, etc. were included in the Presidency, the settlement of which was completed by Mountstuart Elphinstone, governor from 1819 to 1827
In 1947, Bombay Province became part of the Dominion of India. When provinces were replaced with states when the Constitution of India came into force on 26 January 1950, the day India became the first republic in the Commonwealth of Nations, Bombay Province became the Bombay State, a Part-A state.
Also read: Governors of Bombay
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