History of Bombay under British rule 1947, finally India was declared independent. The last British troops to leave India, the First Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, passed through the arcade of the Gateway of India in Bombay on 28 February 1948. The 282-year-long period of the British period in Bombay ended after India's Independence in 1947. History of Bombay under British rule The History of Bombay (earlier known as Bombay) under British rule recounts the development of Mumbai into a modern port and city. On 18 January 1665, King Charles granted Humphrey Cooke the possession of Bombay. However, Salsette, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and
Political warfare in British colonial India by appointment, rather than election, and the councils were restricted to a consultative role. The East India Company increased its power in India by playing local rulers off against each other and the declining Mughal Empire. Lord Dalhousie, the Company Governor General between 1848 and 1856 established a principle, the Doctrine of Lapse, that if any princely state or territory under the direct influence (paramountcy) of the British East India Company would automatically be annexed if the ruler was either "manifestly incompetent or died without a direct heir". This allowed the Company to remove rulers it viewed as troublesome. After