Factory Records: Bombay

Consultations, 1670-1704 Copies of letters despatched, 1674-1710 Copies of letters received, 1670-1704

The Company's ships appear to have visited Bombay for the first time in or around 1626. By the 1650s factors at Surat had noted the advantages of Bombay's location. With a fine harbour and situated further down the coast than Surat, Bombay was an excellent point from which to organise trading activity up and down the west coast of India. The Company tried unsuccessfully to seize the town from the Portuguese but in 1661, as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza on her marriage to Charles II, the island of Bombay was ceded to the English. In 1668 the king granted it to the Company and in 1687 Bombay replaced Surat as the headquarters of trade in western India and places westward. Bombay therefore assumed a supervisory role over the factories around the Persian Gulf and on the Red Sea coast, although as the port was less easy to reach from the Gulf than Surat had been, the Persian factories from that date acquired more autonomy. Over the eighteenth century, trade on the west coast of India began to decline. Bombay remained a centre of trade but in relation to Bengal and Madras, its importance decreased. In 1773 the Government of Bombay was placed under the overall control of the Government of Bengal.

Unrestricted

The sub-series of consultations continues in the Bombay General Proceedings series. See also Miscellaneous Factory Records (G/40/4,5)