Bombay

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Bombay is a city on the north west coast of India. It was originally built on seven low lying islands which formed a sheltered deepwater harbour. The islands were occupied by Portuguese colonists in 1534. The territory was ceded to Britain in 1661 as part of Catherine of Braganza's dowry when she married Charles II. He leased it to the East India Company in 1688 for £10 per annum.

It became the East India Company's headquarters on the west coast of India in 1668. As British influence and rule spread, it grew into one of the largest trading cities of the Empire and capital of the Bombay Presidency, the area ruled by the British in the north and west of India.


SPOILER WARNING:  Plot or ending details for "HMS Surprise"  follow.

In the Canon

In HMS Surprise, Jack Aubrey refits HMS Surprise in Bombay after a stormy passage from Britain. Stephen Maturin enjoys mingling with the many cultures found in Bombay and encounters the Indian girl Dil. He also seeks out and meets Diana Villiers again and asks her to marry him. She tells him that she will answer him later.



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