Timothy Walker wrote in answer to Sumit Gaha's query:

There is a Portuguese research initiative that may be helpful here:  The
"Bombay Before the British" project.

>From the project website (<http://cham.fcsh.unl.pt/bbb/home_eng.htm>):

    "Project's Summary

    The expression “Bombay Before the British” and the corresponding
acronym (BBB) designate a research project of the Centro de Estudos de
Arquitectura of the Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade
de Coimbra (CEARQ) and the Centro de História de Além-Mar of the
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da Universidade Nova de Lisboa
(CHAM). The project started in 2002.

    It is the contention of this research team that Bombay’s forma urbis
and the explosive growth of the territory’s urban occupation in the
late 19th century is largely explained by the history of the area in
the Portuguese period.

    The British probably established their occupation of the territory on
the network of little towns, forts and roads created during the 16th
and 17th centuries. This urban infrastructure possibly was the basis
for the urban sprawl of Bombay in the British period. It is also
wothwhile to note that the history of the Portuguese territory of
Bombay was prolonged until the 1920s and 1930s through the immigration
of Goan catholics who, after 1850, established themselves in the
former Portuguese settlements thus improving their urban character and
conditions."

The project researchers are listed on the website.

All best,

Timothy Walker
Assistant Professor of History
Associate Director; Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA  02747
U.S.A.

Tel:  1-508-999-8970
FAX:  1-508-999-8809

> From:    "Frank Conlon" <conlon@u.washington.edu>
> Date:    Wed, August 5, 2009 6:12 pm
> Subject: Query: Portuguese roots of EIC practices in 17th C Bombay
>
>
> From: Sumit Guha <guhas@history.rutgers.edu>
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> Soon after the English East India Company managed to finally take control
> of town of Bombay, the President and Council at Surat met to consider its
> civil administration. They recognized the diversity of its population and
> proposed that:
>
> "in order to preserve the Govern[ment] in constant regular method, free
> from that confusion which a body composed of so many nations will be
> subject to, it were requisite [that] [the] severall nations at pres[ent]
> inhabiting or hereafter to inhabit on the Island of Bombay be reduced or
> modelled into so many orders or tribes, & that each nation may have a
> Cheif (sic) or Consull of the same nation appointed over them by the
> Gover[nor] and Councell whose duty & office must be to represent [the]
> grievances w[hich] Moors of any of the s[aid] nation shall receive from
> the Christians or any other, also to answer for what faults any of said
> nation shall committ, [that] the offenders be brought to punishment &
that
> what dutys or fines are due to the Comp[any] may be timely satisfied; his
> office may be also to determine all Controversys w[hich] may arise between
> said nation, in case the partys are so agreed, otherwise they are to be
> brought before the Judge of the Courts of Judicature."
>
> Surat Letter to Court 5th February 1671 in George W. Forrest _Selections
> from the Letters, Despatches and other State Papers preserved in the
> Bombay Secretariat+ - Home Series 2 volumes Bombay: Government Central
> Press 1887, vol. 1, p.54
>
> As so much of the early administration continued Portuguese practice, I
> would like to know if there were Portuguese precedents for this effort to
> organize local residents into caste/community groups for administrative
> purposes. If yes, please also supply the source of the information and any
> citations of Portuguese sources that may be relevant.
>
> Many thanks,
>
>
> Sumit Guha
> Rutgers University.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Ed. note: I hope some of those expert on the Portuguese empire may be able
> to throw some light on this query.  I am curious about this issue also in
> that I have thought a bit about caste and community authority and
> recruitment in Bombay in my own work, e.g.
>
> "Caste, Community and Colonialism:  Elements of Population Recruitment and
> Urban Rule in British Bombay, 1665-1830," _Journal of Urban History_,
> 1985.
>
> I seem to recall that I encountered a suggestion once that Gerald
> Aungier--the person to whom the Bombay policy is attributed--was aware of
> the arrangements of the historic port of trade on the Italian peninsula,
> Livorno (Leghorn), but I was unable to pursue that question myself.
> ******************************************************************
>


Timothy Walker
Assistant Professor of History
Associate Director; Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA  02747
U.S.A.

Tel:  1-508-999-8970
FAX:  1-508-999-8809

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