What is Bombay Presidency?
[[Image:Bombay Prov north 1909.jpg|thumb|Bombay Presidency in 1909, northern portion]] [[Image:Bombay Prov south 1909.jpg|thumb|Bombay Presidency in 1909, southern portion]] The '''Bombay Presidency''' was a former province of [[British India]]. It began in the 17th century as trading posts of the [[British East India Company]], but later grew to include much of [[west]]ern and central [[India]], as well as parts of [[Pakistan]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. At its greatest extent, the Bombay Presidency was made up of 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 and the British territory of [[Aden]] in [[Yemen]]. It consisted partly of districts, which were directly under British rule, and partly of native or [[princely states]], which were ruled by local rulers under the administration of a governor. ==Early history== The first [[United Kingdom|British]] settlement in the Bombay Presidency was in 1618, when the East India Company established a factory at [[Surat]]. The British were protected by a [[charter]] from the [[Mughal empire|Mughal Emperor]] [[Jahangir]]. Bombay at the time was under the control of Portugal. In 1661 Bombay was given to the British government, as part of the [[dowry]] of [[Catherine of Braganza]] when she married [[Charles II of England]]. In 1668 Bombay was given to the East India Company for a yearly payment of £10. In 1687 Bombay became the [[capital (city)|capital]] of the Company's [[territories]] in India. However, in 1753 [[Calcutta]] was in charge of the Government of Bombay. ==Expansion== During the 18th century, the [[Maratha Empire]] grew quickly, conquering Konkan and much of eastern [[Gujarat]] from the Mughal Empire. In western Gujarat, including [[Kathiawar]] and [[Kutch]], the weakening Mughal control allowed lots of local rulers to become independent. The first batt