History Of Bombay Under Portuguese Rule (1534–1661)

Bombay, also called ''Bom Bahia'' or '' Bom Baim'' in Indo-Portuguese creole, Mumbai in the local language; is the financial and commercial capital of India and one of the most populous cities in the world. It's also the cosmopolitan city centre of the Greater Bombay Metropolitan Area, and the cultural base of the Bollywood film industry. At the time of arrival of the Portuguese Armadas, Bombay was an archipelago of seven islands. Between the third century BCE and 1348, the islands came under the control of successive Hindu dynasties. The Delhi Sultanate had been ruling the area along with Chaul, New Bombay (Thana) & Damaon; with the local administration at Bassein (Vasai) since the raids of Malik Kafur in the Konkan region and across the Indian subcontinent. This territory in North Konkan along with the Bombay islands were later taken over by the Sultan of Guzerat from 1391 to 1534, when he had declared the end of the suzerainty to Delhi, after the Timurid invasion of it. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Moghal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein on 23 December 1534; according to which, the Seven Islands of Bombay, Fort San Sebastian of Bassein in strategic town of Bassein (Vasai), and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese East Indies. The places were only later officially surrendered on 25 October 1535, by the Sultan of Guzerat.

The Portuguese in Goa-Anjediva and Bombay-Bassein were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their Latin Christian religion in Bombay and the neighbouring area. They called the island by various names, which finally took the written form ''Bom Baim'', when the islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. Portuguese Franciscans and Jesuits built several churches in and around Bombay (Mumbai); the prominent ones are the St Michael's Church at Mahim, St John the Baptist Church at Andheri, St Andrew's Church, the Basilica of Mount Bandra (Bombay) at Bandra, the Gloria Church at Byculla & the Holy Spirit Church Nandakhal at Virar. The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the Bombay Castle, ''Castella de Aguada'' (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort) and Madh Fort.

The Marriage Treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine de Braganza, daughter of John IV of Portugal was proposed on 23 June, 1661. According to the treaty, the Seven Islands of Bombay along with the port of Tangiers were to be presented to the English Crown. It also granted the English trading privileges in Brazil and the Portuguese East Indies, religious freedom for English residents in Portugal, and two million Portuguese crowns (£300,000), as parts of the dowry of Catherine to Charles, the contract was ratified on 28 August, 1661, and the marriage took place on 31 May, 1662. After their marriage the Portuguese viceroy in Goa retained control of Salsette island ( Bombay Suburban district), New Bombay & Bassein (Vasai) of the pre-partition Thana district until the Mahratta Invasion of Bassein in 1739.

The Seven Islands of Bombay were regarded as a political and financial liability and were leased by Charles, to the English East India Company, on 27 March 1668, for a nominal £10 rent, as a station in western India, to compete with Dutch East Indies.

The East India company was initially at odds with the Portuguese viceroy and vying for hegemony over the seven islands of what would become the capital city of the British Bombay Presidency, as both the English and the Portuguese recognised Bombay Harbour's strategic isolation from land-based attacks such as the sack of Surat and the sackings of Goa-Anjediva and Bombay-Bassein. The viceroy at Goa disobeyed the Portuguese crown and delayed a complete handover of the seven islands. Hence, even after the treaty some villages in the seven islands of Bombay remained under the capital of Velha Goa, only later were the islands fully acquired by the English East India Company after the Battle of Bassein in 1739.

Arrival of the Portuguese

From the third century BCE to 1534, the islands had been under the control of the following dynasties in succession: Mauryas (3rd century BCE – around 185 BCE), Satavahanas (Around 185 BCE – 250 CE), Abhiras and Vakatakas (250 CE – early 5th century), Kalachuris (5th century), Konkan Mauryas (6th and early 7th century), Chalukyas (later 7th century), Rashtrakutas (mid-8th century), Silharas (810 to 1260), Yadavas (late 13th century – 1348), Muslim rulers of Gujarat (1348–1391), and the Gujarat Sultanate (1391–1534). At the time of arrival of the Portuguese, Bombay was ruled by Sultan Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate, and was an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island (''Bombaim''), Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as ''Little Colaba''). The Salsette group of islands were located east of Bombay, separated by the Mahim Bay

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