Bombay Presidency

The Bombay Presidency was a province of British India. It was first established at Surat in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but it later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as part of the Arabian Peninsula and areas later included in Pakistan.

At its greatest extent, the Bombay Presidency comprised the present-day state of Gujarat, the western two-thirds of Maharashtra state, including the regions of Konkan, Desh, and Kandesh, and northwestern Karnataka state of India; it also included Pakistan's Sindh province (1843-1935) and the British territory of Aden in Yemen (1839-1939). It consisted of districts which were directly under British rule. It did not include the native or princely states, whose internal administration was the responsibility of local rulers, but it was responsible for managing the defence of many princely states and for British relations with them. Bombay Presidency along with Calcutta Presidency and Madras Presidency were the three major centres of British power.