In 1668 Charles II gave Bombay to the East India Company for a rent of ten pounds of gold a year. In 1534 the Portuguese had captured a series of islands on the west coast of India and established a trading base there. They named it Bom Bahia (‘the good bay’) which the British pronounced ‘Bombay’. In October 1626 it was raided by the English and partly destroyed.
In 1662 the marriage dowry of Catherine of Braganza to King Charles II of England included Bombay, but Charles was reluctant to take control over the islands personally. Instead, he rented them to the East India Company. Bombay grew rapidly and in 1687 became the East India Company’s Indian headquarters.
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