The Baroda Residency was one of the

residencies of British India The Residencies of British India were political offices, each managed by a Resident, who dealt with the relations between the Government of India and one or a territorial set of princely states. History The Residency system has its origins in ...

, managing the relations of the British with Baroda State between 1806 and the 1930s. Silver rupee of Sayaji Rao III of Baroda

Baroda was an Indian princely state, ruled by the

Gaekwad Gaekwad (also spelt Gaikwar and Gaikwad; mr, Gāyǎkǎvāḍǎ) is a surname native to the Indian state of Maharashtra. The surname is found among the Marathas, Kolis and in Scheduled castes. It is also a common surname among Bharadis, Dhor, an ...

dynasty from its formation in 1721. Following the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

of 1803–1805, the Gaekwads of Baroda made peace with the British, entering into a

subsidiary alliance A subsidiary alliance, in South Asian history, was a tributary alliance between a South Asian state and a European East India Company. Under this system, an Indian ruler who formed a treaty with the company in question would be provided wi ...

which acknowledged British suzerainty and control of the state's external affairs in return for retaining internal autonomy. With wealth coming from the lucrative cotton trade as well as rice, wheat and sugar, it was one of the largest and richest of the hundreds of princely states existing alongside

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. It was thus one of the states which had a British Resident appointed to deal with no other princely state. In 1937 the princely states of the Baroda Residency, which in between had become the Baroda Agency, were merged with those of the agencies adjacent to the northern part of the Bombay Presidency —

Rewa Kantha Agency Rewa Kantha was a political agency of British India, managing the relations (indirect rule) of the British government's Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states. It stretched for about 150 miles between the plain of Gujarat and ...

, Surat Agency,

Nasik Agency Surgana State was a princely state of the Bombay Presidency during the era of the British Raj. It was the only state belonging to the Nasik Agency. Its capital was Surgana in Nashik District of present-day Maharashtra. It was ruled by Kolis of ...

Kaira Agency Cambay, Kambay or Khambhat was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The City of Khambat (Cambay) in present-day Gujarat was its capital. The state was bounded in the north by the Kaira district and in the south by the Gulf of Cam ...

and Thana Agency— in order to form the

Baroda and Gujarat States Agency Baroda and Gujarat States Agency was a political agency of British India, managing the relations of the British government of the Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states. The political agent, who was also Collector of the Briti ...

. On 5 November 1944 the Baroda and Gujarat States Agency was merged with the

Western India States Agency The Western India States Agency (WISA) was one of the agencies of British India. This agency was formed on 10 October 1924 as a part of the implementation of the Montague Chelmsford report on constitutional reforms. It was formed by merging the ...

(WISA) to form the larger

Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency The Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency was an agency of the Indian Empire, managing the relations of the Provincial Government of the Bombay Presidency with a collection of princely states. The political agent in charge of the a ...

.S. S. Shashi, ''Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh'' Volume 100 (1996), p. 6 The autonomy of the state ended in 1949 when it acceded to the newly formed Union of India.

Notes

Historical Indian regions Residencies of British India History of Vadodara 1806 establishments in the British Empire {{Vadodara-geo-stub de:Baroda (Staat)

See also

Notes