Bombay: A British Possession

A close-up of the map, showing Bombay pinpointed in capital letters.

A map showing Britain's Empire during the 1800s.

At first glance, it is clear that this map portrays Bombay as a British possession, naming it the ‘presidency of Bombay’[1]. The map legend highlights, in red, that Bombay was considered property of the British. This links to the context of the map’s creation, since the 1850s saw Britain’s influence in Bombay grow to considerable heights. In fact, there was an immense amount of work invested into Bombay’s harbour, which is shown on the map, ‘with improvements in 1841 and 1847’[2], with the harbour becoming a more popular destination for trade and commerce. At the same time, however, ‘there was a tacit competition between Bombay, Madras and Calcutta’[3], with these other hubs (as shown also on the map), competing for prominence.

A close-up of the map, showing the map legend highlighting British 'Possessions'.

A painting of Bombay's Harbour.

Bombay, as a Presidency for the British Empire, held more significance in terms of the events that then continued to occur there. Lighthouses were erected along Bombay’s harbour, such as the Prongs Lighthouse, and the Kennery Lighthouse, which was built after ‘the suggestion of Captain Barker’[4] to help navigators find Bombay’s harbour more readily, suggesting that it perhaps became a more prominent harbour in that more resources were invested into its improvement. Further, the British spent an overall expenditure of ‘£2,914,857’[5] on Bombay between 1837-38 to improve the pre-existing resources, such as Churches, and other elements of the harbour, at Bombay. This level of investment would suggest that Bombay was of particular significance to the British at the time, and so the map highlights Bombay as a British possession correctly since it was treated with utmost care, and with a vast amount of wealth.