Early Map of Bombay Presidency 1838

This is an old 1838 map of the Bombay Presidency map. The map shows the Bombay Presidency in 1838 before its expansion. Visible are the areas under the British Bombay Presidency which were a bare minimum. But by the 1890s Bombay Presidency covered a vast area like North Canara in the south to Sind in the north (in present-day Pakistan).

Which included parts of today’s Gujarat, Karnataka, and western two-thirds of present-day Maharashtra. Uniquely the Presidency also included Aden. King Charles II of England acquired the seven islands of Bombay (Mumbai) in 1661 as a royal dowry. He had married the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza.

The King leased the seven islands to the East India Company. The company then shifts its Western India headquarters from Surat to Bombay Harbour in 1687 (after it was ransacked by the Marathas). The Bombay Province had its beginning from here. The reclamation of the seven islands took shape by unifying them into one, the reclamation steadily progressed for more than a century. Click on the photo for better view.

See post British Era Bombay Presidency Map, 1900.

Did you know- in 1803, the Bombay Presidency included only Salsette, Surat and Bankot; but between 1803 and 1827 the framework of the presidency took shape.

From the collection- 11 Picture Postcards On Raja Ravi Varma Oil Paintings., British India Family In Simla – Old Photo 1895., Queen’s Statue Esplanade Road Mumbai-Old Postcard., Brahmin Family In India – Old Print 1861.