Bombay Presidency

The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainland territory was acquired in the Konkan region with the Treaty of Bassein (1802). Mahabaleswar was the summer capital.

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Presidency of Bombay
1662–1947
Flag Coat of arms
The Bombay Presidency in 1909, northern portion
The Bombay Presidency in 1909, southern portion
Capital	Bombay
Governor
• 1662-1664	Abraham Shipman
• 1943-1947	Sir John Colville
Historical era	New Imperialism
• Ceded by the Portuguese	1662
• Regulating Act of 1773	1773
• Government of India Act 1858	1858
• Scindia ceded Panchmahal to British	1861
• North Canara transferred from Madras	1862
• Separation of Aden	1932
• Separation of Sind	1936
• Independence of India	1947
• Bombay Province becomes Bombay State	1950
• Dominion of India	1947
Preceded by Succeeded by Portuguese India Maratha Empire Bombay State Sind Province (1936–55) Colony of Aden
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bombay Presidency". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Colonial India
Imperial entities of India
Austrian India 1778–1785 Swedish India 1731–1813 Dutch India 1605–1825 Danish India 1620–1869 French India 1668–1954
Portuguese India (1505–1961)
Casa da Índia 1434–1833 Portuguese East India Company 1628–1633
British India (1600–1947)
EEIC in India 1600–1757 Company rule in India 1757–1858 British rule in Portuguese India 1797–1813 British Raj 1858–1947 British rule in Burma 1824–1948 Princely states 1721–1949 Partition of India 1947–0000
v t e

The Bombay province has its beginnings in the city of Bombay that was leased in fee tail to the East India Company, via the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668 by King Charles II of England, who had in turn acquired Bombay on 11 May 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 in the Gulf of Cambay after it was sacked, to the relatively safe Bombay Harbour in 1687. The province was brought under Direct rule along with other parts of British India through Pitt's India Act, after the nationalisation of the East India Company. Major territorial acquisitions were made by the company after 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 stages up until 1818. Aden including Socotra were placed under Bombay in 1839, Sind was annexed by the company in 1843 after defeating the Talpur dynasty in the Battle of Hyderabad.

At its greatest extent, the Bombay Province comprised the present-day state of Gujarat, the western two-thirds of Maharashtra state, including the regions of Konkan, Desh, and Kandesh, and northwestern Karnataka state of India; it also included Pakistan's Sindh Province (1847–1935) and Aden in Yemen (1839–1932).[1] 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 presidency, however, managed the defence of princely states and British relations with them through political agencies. The Bombay Presidency along with the Bengal Presidency and Madras Presidency were the three major centres of British power in South Asia.[2]