MPPSC 2018 Prelims Paper-I · Question 23 of 100

Correct — A, Surat. In the early period of the East India Company, its centre of operations on the western coast was Surat in Gujarat, where the Company set up its first factory in 1613 under a firman from the Mughal emperor Jahangir. Surat was the headquarters of the Company's western trade until the seat was later shifted to Bombay in the late 17th century.

• (b)Satara — Satara was a seat of Maratha power in the Deccan interior, not an East India Company presidency.
• (c)Bombay — Bombay became the Company's western headquarters only later (the seat moved there around 1687); in the early period it was not the western presidency — this is the main trap because 'Bombay Presidency' is the familiar name.
• (d)Panaji — Panaji (Goa) was the centre of Portuguese, not English East India Company, power on the west coast.

The East India Company organised its Indian trade into 'presidencies' — administrative units each headed by a President and council. On the west coast the earliest such centre was Surat (factory from 1613); it was later superseded by Bombay, which the Company obtained and developed after 1668. The other two presidencies grew at Madras (1639) in the south and Calcutta (1690) in the east.

Because the later, famous name is 'Bombay Presidency', students instinctively pick Bombay. The question specifies the EARLY period — before the shift to Bombay — when Surat was the western headquarters. Anchor the timeline: Surat first (1613), Bombay later.

• The Company's first factory on the west coast was at Surat, 1613.
• Permission came from the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
• Surat was the western headquarters before Bombay.
• The seat shifted to Bombay in the late 17th century (around 1687).

• Picking Bombay because of the later 'Bombay Presidency' name
• Confusing English EIC centres with Portuguese Goa or Maratha Satara

MPPSC and UPSC frequently ask where/when the English set up their first factory, and match European powers to their earliest Indian settlements.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The English East India Company established its first factory at Surat in 1613 with the permission of which Mughal emperor?

  • (a)Akbar
  • (b)Jahangir
  • (c)Shah Jahan
  • (d)Aurangzeb

  Answer(b) Jahangir — his firman followed Captain Hawkins' and later Sir Thomas Roe's efforts.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The seat of the East India Company's western presidency was later shifted from Surat to which city?

  • (a)Calcutta
  • (b)Madras
  • (c)Bombay
  • (d)Panaji

  Answer(c) Bombay — which the Company developed into its new western headquarters in the late 17th century.