History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v5.c83.s1.2

v5.c83.s1.2

In 1633 the English agent at Masulipatam on the Madras coast sent a commercial mission to Orissa. The Mughal subahdar received them very kindly at Cuttack and gave them permission to trade in that province without molestation or duty (5th May.) The result was that an English factory was opened at Balasore and another at Hariharpur, 25 miles south-east of Cuttack. A little later, in 1640, the building of Fort St. George was begun at Madras, on a piece of land bought from a Hindu Rajah of the Vijaynagar dynasty, and thus "the English established their first independent station in India." It lay, however, outside the Mughal empire.