Up to the eighteenth century, Bombay consisted of several small islands. In 1661, seven of these islands were ceded by the Portuguese to the British as part of the dowry of
Catherine of Braganza when she married
Charles II of England. The harbour proved eminently apposite, and the British planned to shift their base from
Surat. The
Siddis, who were of African descent and noted for their navies, had allied themselves with the
Mughals. The British, through the
East India Company, and the Mughals were constantly waging war on each other. As allies of the Mughals, the Siddis also viewed the British as enemies. Faced with relentless attacks by the Siddis in 1672, The British constructed several fortifications in the area, and in 1680 the Sewri fort was complete. It stood on the island of Mazagaon, on a hill overlooking the eastern seaboard. In 1689, the Siddi general, Yakut Khan, with an army of 20,000 men, invaded Bombay. The fleet first captured the
Sewri Fort, then the Mazagon Fort, before sacking the town of
Mahim. In April 1689, the Siddis laid siege to the
British fortification to the south. The British governor
Sir John Child appealed to the Mughal
Aurangzeb to reign in Sakat for a price. In February 1690, the Mughal emperor agreed, on the conditions that rupees 1.5 lakhs (150,000) (over one billion USD at 2008 conversion rates) be paid, and Child be sacked. Child's untimely death in 1690, however, resulted in his escaping the ignominy of being sacked. Enraged at barter, Sakat withdrew his forces on 8 June 1690, after razing the Mazagaon Fort. In 1884, the British developed Bhandarwada Hill as a major water
reservoir. It supplies water to South and Central Mumbai. A popular recreation ground, the ground is named after
Joseph Baptista, a freedom fighter and close aide of the Indian freedom movement activist,
Bal Gangadhar Tilak. ==See also==