The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c15.75

v1.c15.75

The first 'factory' of the English East India Company was at Surat on the lower Tāpti, but Bombay, two hundred miles farther south, long ago supplanted Surat as the chief centre of European influence in Western India. The more northern town had an easy road of access to the interior by the Tāpti valley, but the silt at the river mouth made it difficult of approach from the sea. Bombay offered the security of an island, and has a magnificent harbour between the island and the mainland, far from the mouth of any considerable stream.